Page 148 of Wicked Refusal

He tips sideways. His glass shatters on the deck. That’s what finally turns heads towards us, but it’s too fucking late.

Desya’s here.

I grab Maksim before he can fall. His jacket flutters with the motion, revealing the entry point: upper right side of the chest. Not his heart, but his lung, probably.

“Hey.” I force him to look at me. “You’re okay. It’s just a flesh wound.”

But why did he target Maksim?

That’s when I do the math. Six bullets. One was for Slavik. One for Rurik. Then Zhenya, Anton, Kazimir…

And Mia.

But Mia’s off-limits now. I took her off the board. So Desya decided to find himself a replacement.

Maks.

Maks, who’s my right arm.

Maks, who’s been with me at every turn.

Maks, who held Desya down as I gouged out his eye.

Maks, who’sfamily.

“GET AWAY FROM THERE!”

Kazimir’s shout yanks me back to the present. When I raise my head, I see exactly why he’s yelling: a red dot on Maksim’s forehead.

I don’t think; I act.

I tighten my hold and throw my second-in-command to the ground. He hits the deck with a grunt of pain, but I can’t afford to be gentle with him. I’m too busy keeping him alive.

Desya’s bullet misses. Doesn’t burrow into mybrigadir’s head like he wanted. Instead, it bites into my shoulder.

Pain explodes through my arm. I clench my teeth, force myself not to scream. Remind myself I’ve felt worse things than this. But it still hurts like fucking hell.

Chaos erupts on deck. My people start moving, raising their weapons. But soon, Desya’s silenced bullets aren’t the only thing piercing through the crowd.

It’s men in camouflage.

Prizrak.

They start boarding en masse, a flood of shadows and gunshots. Recruits start dropping, turning me into a liar in a matter of minutes.

No one dies tonight.Yeah, fucking right.

Failure burns on my tongue. But I can’t give up. Kazimir is still breathing—and so is Maks.

I drag us to the side of the yacht. The dark waters of the Hudson churn under us. It’s a steep drop, but it might be the only chance we’ve got.

Except that Maks is already struggling to breathe.

Blyat’.He’s got a punctured lung—there’s no way he can swim.

So I’ll have to play this differently.

I think back to everything Desya’s said and done. How he’s been hurting everyone around me—everyonebutme. And then I understand what I’ve got to do.