Til Death Do Us Part (Kornilov Bratva Duet #2) - Nicole Fox Page 0,89

I say. “I was keeping them safe from you and hoping that you would turn it around and become a human again. But no matter how hard I tried, you became more and more of a monster, and now, you are irredeemable. There’s nothing else to be done.”

His breathing is growing heavy, and I know that even without a final shot, Fedor will bleed out back here. He will lie in the grass and spill his blood until there is nothing left. It may take a while, but he’ll die.

“Giving up on me so easily?” he gasps. “I thought you would always protect me, Vik.”

His voice is a mix between a sneer and a plea, and I know it is his way of begging for his life. He is trying to appeal to my big-brother heart. He is trying to make me feel something for him, but he is too late.

“I am protecting you,” I say, kneeling down in front of him, looking into his eyes. “I’m protecting you from yourself.”

He opens his mouth to say something else, but before he can, I press my gun to his temple and pull the trigger.

25

Molly

We are backed into a dead end and Mario Mazzeo does not look well.

“Come on, Dad. We have to keep going,” Rio says, trying to rouse his father. But I can tell by the look in his eyes that he is wondering whether to go down with this ship or try to save himself.

Regardless of what he decides, I’m going to try to save myself. I’m not dying here like this.

We made it out of the hallway with the prison cells all right, but the moment we walked out of the stairwell on the first floor, all hell broke loose. Fedor has even more men fighting for him than I thought, and they were all congregated in the large entrance hall. They started fighting the moment we opened the door and haven’t stopped since.

The Italian dons put up a good fight, especially considering they were fighting a lot of their own men who went to Fedor’s side when they realized their leaders were locked in a prison cell upstairs. Mario is a hell of a shot, and Rio gave his dad as much cover as he could. I did my best to clear a path from the stairwell to a more covered location. It helped that many of the men weren’t armed. Apparently, they hadn’t been expecting three of their captives to burst into the room armed to the teeth.

But now, we are trapped in a back room with the door barricaded while Fedor’s men arm themselves and prepare to kill us all.

I circle the room several times in search of a window or a back door, but there is nothing. Unlike the room upstairs, this closet is not filled with weapons, but produce. It is some kind of pantry, and unless the Mazzeos know how to turn protein bars into weapons of mass destruction, I don’t see how we are going to get out of here alive.

Suddenly, there is a piercing alarm that fills the air and the sound of voices on the other side of the door fades to stunned silence.

Then, the alarm goes quiet, and I hear it. The sound I’ve been dying to hear for hours … days … weeks.

Viktor’s voice.

“Fedor is dead.”

Mario gasps and moves towards the door, pressing his ear against it to hear better.

“Fedor is dead,” Viktor repeats, talking through some kind of megaphone. “Put down your weapons and live or be shot on sight.”

“Holy shit,” Mario says, a smile spreading across his face. “Holy shit, we’re going to live.”

I run to the door and push him aside. I don’t know what is happening on the other side of that door, but I need to see Viktor. Now.

I ready my gun, take a calming breath, and open the door.

Fedor’s soldiers are standing around the room, looking confused, and when I walk out, they all return to high alert. Too many guns to count are pointed at me.

Then, the front door of the building bursts open and Viktor comes storming in.

“Put down your weapons,” he shouts, his voice echoing off the walls.

No one moves, and Viktor lifts his gun and shoots the first man he encounters. The bullet tears through his hand, forcing him to drop the weapon, and Viktor raises an eyebrow at everyone else. “Drop. Your. Weapons.”

Immediately, the sound of guns clattering to the floor echoes around the room, and