Prima - Alta Hensley Page 0,101

in the air. I’d known this was coming but hearing it spoken, watching its meaning sinking into the mind of the man who had been sentenced was nothing I’d prepared for.

Grigori turned to look over at us. “Do any of you wish to change the verdict?”

I had spent years thinking of things I wanted to tell this man if I’d had the freedom to do so without fear of his retribution… not on me, but on those I cared for. I saw my grandmother’s face in my head, and all the hatred and fear evaporated because the man beside me had kept Nikolai from harming her.

“Power isn’t a substitute for love, Nikolai. It doesn’t comfort you or keep you warm at night. Demanding respect won’t give it to you… earning it by living your life by example does that. You’ve missed so much by wasting your life in hatred and fear of being seen as weak. For that I am truly sorry. But for your crimes, I, too, sentence you to death,” I said.

“You sealed your fate the moment you laid your hand on Clara in anger,” Alek said. “My verdict is death.”

That left Yuri who pushed off the door, walked to the table, and stood over Nikolai who had already leaned back as if that bit of extra space would somehow protect him.

“You robbed me of my father and tore my mother’s heart from her chest. For that alone you deserve to die.” Drawing back his arm, Yuri slammed his fist into Nikolai’s abdomen, doubling the man over. Yuri hit him again and then again, each blow causing Nikolai to moan in pain as he learned how it felt to be beaten. Finally, Yuri had to reach down and drag Nikolai up from the floor where he’d fallen then threw him back on the table. “My verdict is death.”

Grigori inclined his head as Yuri turned and gave him a nod before moving to stand at my other side. I’d seen him beat a man to within an inch of his life, and yet I’d never felt more protected in my life than I did standing between the two brothers.

“No! Wait! Please… you… you can’t…” Nikolai begged, his eyes swollen and yet on his uncle as he begged for his life.

“I have,” Grigori said and stepping forward, drew his gun, and pressed it between his nephew’s eyes. “For my son,” he said and pulled the trigger.

We learned the proper disposal of a body when Grigori lifted the lever on the iron door and I discovered it wasn’t a refrigerator as I’d thought, but an oven. Alek moved to help Yuri carry Nikolai’s body to the chamber, laying him on the tray, along with the ropes that had restrained me to the bed and a napkin from the hotel. Yuri added the items used to clean up the blood and brain matter killing a man caused. Grigori placed the cane on top of Nikolai’s body. I stepped forward, not because of any morbid curiosity, but because I needed to be a part of the actual deed. Once the men pushed the drawer in, I was the one who lowered the bar, and I was the one who moved to push the button to activate the gas, which, according to the dial, would reach 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit and burn Nikolai’s body and any incriminating evidence to nothing more than a pile of ash.

He was on his way to hell.

Perhaps death made life more precious…

Possibly it was the fact the line between good and evil had been breached and yet the only thing that had happened was justice had finally won…

Or maybe I was finally truly free…

Whatever it was, when Alek and I were finally alone once we’d dropped Yuri at his loft after watching Grigori’s plane lifting off, we made love that taught me the difference between sex and sharing one’s very soul.

Never had I been so exhausted and yet felt so euphoric.

Naked with my hair in tangles, my body glistening with sweat, I lay atop Alek who was just as deliciously dirty as I. I smiled and reached to caress his face with my fingertips.

“I love you,” I said.

“I love you,” Alek returned with a smile that had my insides quivering all over again. He wrapped an arm around me as he turned to reach toward his nightstand.

“God, you have the stamina of a racehorse,” I said, my exhaustion forgotten as I imagined his mouth, his lips, his tongue and his

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