away from him rather than the truth: she left him because she found someone else, someone she truly loved. He’s convinced Matvei has taken Nikolas from him, when in reality Matvei had no idea of Nikolas’s supposed true parentage.
He doesn’t want the perfect life; he wants revenge. He wants to make everyone pay, and he’s become the judge, jury, and executioner.
The title all these magazines have given him is a misnomer. He’s not the Justice Killer. He’s the Vengeance Killer.
“You’re sick,” I whisper, staring at him.
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “These people are sick. Don’t you see it? All these horrible people in this town. The greedy politicians, the soulless businessmen, the pigs on the police force. They’re all sick. Even men like your father. I thought you’d at least understand that much.”
“You’re just like all of them.”
“No!” he shouts. “No, I’m not just like them. I’m nothing like them. I make my own rules. I don’t play by theirs.”
“You kill them because you think they’re bad, but who died and made you king? Where do you get off passing judgment on everyone? What makes you the one who determines who’s worthy of living or dying?” I can feel tears stinging at the corners of my eyes. I know that I’m arguing for my life here.
And it feels an awful lot like I’m losing.
Rogers points his gun at me, and I prepare myself for the shot. But if he’s going to shoot me, then I want him to know just how crazy he really is. I’m not going down without getting the last word in.
“You’re no hero. If you were, you wouldn’t have traded taking back your son for getting revenge on everyone who kept him from you. You’d just take Nikolas and leave. But you didn’t, because deep down, you know you’re not the good guy you pretend to be. You’re just as corrupt as everyone else in this city.”
He steps closer to me, gun still aimed at my chest. “Stop talking.”
“Why? You’re just going to kill me anyways!” I shout. “Just do it already. Rid the world of one more horrible person.”
He hesitates, and when he does, I look over his shoulder.
“Matvei!” I exclaim. It’s a lie, a last-ditch effort that shouldn’t work, seeing as how we’re not in a horror movie.
But to my surprise, it does.
Rogers swings around and fires blindly at the empty doorway, giving me a chance to grab a dusty old lamp from an end table. I swing it down on his head with a thundering crack. The man stumbles forward, blood dripping from the back of his head.
“Fuck!” he shouts. I push him aside and take off running to the door. Just as I near the threshold, there’s a gunshot. I expect to feel the pain hit.
But it doesn’t.
Instead, I turn to see a bullet hole in the wood of the front door. He missed. Rogers leaps forward, grabs me by the hair, and drags me back inside, kicking the door shut.
Blood streams down his neck from where I smashed him, but it only makes him look crazier, more violent. He forces me onto the couch and puts his gun to my temple.
“God, I wish I could do this right now. I wish I could end you. But I know Matvei will come looking for you. You deserve nothing less, you little bitch. He’s probably headed this way as we speak. Just like he tried to save his brother. When it comes to the ones he loves, Matvei Morozov will do everything in his power to save them. And when he gets here, I’ll make him watch me kill you before I put a bullet in his brain.”
He uses the barrel of the gun to shove my head, before stalking away to the front door. A moment later, I hear the click of the lock.
Matvei isn’t coming to save me. I know that much. He’s made it more than clear to me that, in his eyes, we don’t have a relationship. We’re just two people that have been forced into close proximity by necessity. We’ve slept together, but outside of that, Matvei isn’t capable of loving anyone other than his own kin.
Turns out that might be a blessing in disguise.
As long as Rogers thinks that Matvei is coming, he’s not going to kill me. His big plan is to make a Morozov watch him take away a lover the same way Dmitry took away Brianne. He won’t kill me without Matvei being