Page 45 of Wicked Refusal

Five to go.Six orange pips. Six bullets for six heads.

My fivevory?—

And Mia.

15

YULIAN

I don’t get home until deep into the night.

It’s to be expected: avorhas been killed. No, not just “killed”—murdered in his own home. A cowardly gesture, but bullets don’t become less lethal just because whoever shot them has no honor.

If that were true, my family would still be breathing.

It takes me all day to get Slavik’s affairs in order. Maksim agrees to take temporary charge of his slice of the operation—the money laundering. Thanks to Slavik’s meticulous bookkeeping, the transition goes as smoothly as possible. It’s never easy when avordies, but if there’s one thing Slavik was good at, it was making things easier for me. The only one who did, really.

I wonder if Desya knew. If that’s why he shot him first—so I’d be left without my most efficient soldier right off the bat.

By the time I get back to the penthouse, everyone’s asleep. I kept an eye on updates from Nikita throughout the day:Going to get Eli from school, Taking a detour for ice cream, Camping out in your guest bedroom for the night.Itwas the only reason I could stay sane throughout it all, knowing they were safe.

For now.

There’s a cold slice of pizza in the fridge. Pepperoni, extra spicy, my preference. Stuck to the plate, a note in Mia’s handwriting:Eat!

My gaze travels over to her bedroom door. I dig my nails into my palm, reminding myself of all the reasons I shouldn’t cross it. All the reasons I can’t. Our argument from this morning bubbles up into my mind again, her words fresh as a wound.

“You don’t get to demand my forgiveness. Not when you haven’t even apologized.”

Exhaustion catches up to me. I leave the pizza in the fridge, shrug off my jacket, and go sit on the couch for a minute. To gather myself—figure out my next move.

I don’t realize I’m falling asleep until it’s already too late to fight it.

The night is black as sin.

I step on the invisible pier. Everything is invisible tonight. No moon to shine the way, no stars. Even the water churns without a single reflection, like a maw to hell itself.

Perfect. I wouldn’t have settled for anything less. For thismudak,this filthy traitor, hell is too good.

“You can’t do this!” Desya kicks and screams, held down by three of my men. Maksim is one of them. His voice is young. Twenty-ish—like mine. “Please, Yul! I’m your best friend!”

“You were,” I spit. “Then you killed my family. You’re nothing to me now.”

“It wasn’t me!” he gasps, tear-eyed and snotty-nosed. “I swear, I didn’t do it!”

Liar.All my life, he’s been lying to me. And now, with his last breath, he’s lying again.

I never should have trusted him. Never should have let him in, treated him like family.

I made a mistake, yes.

But it’s the last one I’ll ever make.

I wave my hand. Maksim and the others drag Desya to the edge of the pier. He’s screaming like a lamb, but it doesn’t matter. No one will dare save him from the knife. Not in my territory.

Despite Desya’s betrayal, the Lozhkin Bratva survived. It survived throughme.

But the Bogdanov name will die with him.