Til Death Do Us Part (Kornilov Bratva Duet #2) - Nicole Fox Page 0,83
and that was that.”
Fedor’s brow furrows. “How the fuck did you overpower Viktor?”
“You know how he is. He thinks he is stronger and smarter than everyone around him,” Hannah sneers. “His guard was down, and I drugged him. Hauling his beefy ass into the bathroom was a real bitch, but I got him in there, and he isn’t going anywhere.”
I squeeze my eyes closed, wishing I could stop listening to this. Wishing I could shut out Hannah’s words and make it not true.
Would Viktor really fall for a trap like that? Would Hannah really do that to him, even after I spared her life?
I should have let Fedor shoot her. After everything she did to me and the danger she put Theo in, I should have let him kill her. I should have let Fedor do it because now, I’ll have to kill her myself. This is unforgivable, and I’ll gladly put a bullet in her.
“I know you were going to kill me,” Hannah says, her voice going soft and seductive. “But that was only because you thought I wasn’t useful. Now, I’ve proven myself to you. I can help you. Plus, I’m just as guilty as you are now. I won’t go to the police. When you come pick up your brother, I’ll leave town and you’ll never see me again. All I want in return is my mom back.”
Her mom? I open my eyes and look up at Fedor. The gun is still trained on me, but he is staring straight ahead at the wall. I can almost see the gears in his head turning, trying to decide what to do about Hannah’s offer.
“Release my mom, and we’ll be even.”
“I don’t believe you,” Fedor says, drawing out the words, his eyes narrowed. “You were sobbing as you betrayed Molly, now you want me to believe you willingly betrayed Viktor?”
“I hate Viktor. I always have.” Hannah’s words are cold and harsh. I knew she and Viktor didn’t get along, but I never imagined she hated him this much. Enough to send him to his death. “He is a criminal and a monster, and he deserves whatever you have planned for him.”
“And Molly?” Fedor asks, turning to me, an eyebrow raised in amusement. Whatever Hannah is going to say, he wants me to hear it. This is what Fedor lives for. The emotional torment is as sweet to him as any physical torture.
Hannah sighs and the line goes quiet for a second while she thinks. “Molly brought all of this on herself when she kept your son from you. It is her fault you and your brother are fighting at all. She is my friend, but she is just as guilty as Viktor.”
Her words hit like a punch in the stomach, and the pain must register on my face because Fedor grins at me.
“So, do we have a deal?” Hannah asks. “Your brother in exchange for my mom?”
“Of course. Absolutely.” Fedor smiles at me and winks. “Now, where the fuck is my brother?”
Fedor is so excited about Hannah’s offer that he leaves the room without saying anything else, and I’m relieved. Because the moment he is gone, I bury my face in my hands and cry.
Is everything my fault?
On one hand, I know this is Fedor’s doing. He is criminally insane, and if he hadn’t raped me four years ago, none of this would be happening. However, Hannah’s theory makes a lot of sense, too.
What if I’d told Fedor about Theo? Would he have helped me raise him? Would he have given me money and a place to stay and taken care of us? Maybe Theo and I wouldn’t have been homeless.
Though, being homeless might have been preferable to living under Fedor’s thumb.
Multiple time lines spin out inside my head, stories where I took Theo and ran far away, leaving this city far behind. Stories where I told Fedor the truth and he took care of us, others where he had me killed before I could even give birth.
I try to stop the noise inside my head, but the words hit me in the chest again and again.
This is all my fault.
For years, I blamed myself for Fedor’s actions. I blamed myself for drinking when I was underage, for accepting a drink from a stranger, for wearing a tight dress. I found a thousand different ways that I was at fault, and it took me years to realize that all of the blame landed squarely on Fedor’s shoulders.