forward. I waited for Dimitri to move a bit closer…just a little closer—
I spun around and struck.
He shouted and stumbled backward, grasping at the pen that now stuck out of his neck. I tripped over a barstool, forcing myself not to get sick at the sight of him pulling the pen from his neck and opening the stem of blood flow from the wound.
He scowled at the bloody pen, chucked it across the room, then turned a murderous glare on me. The byki behind him retrieved their weapons from their holsters, seemingly about to aim them at me.
Dimitri gnashed his teeth. “Blyad’, Alexia! Why did you have to fucking do that?”
I turned and ran.
Why I headed for the spiral staircase instead of the distilling room where there were back exits, I had no idea. I only had seconds to make a decision and all I could think was my gun is upstairs.
I waited for it to end any second. Waited for a bullet to hit my back or my skull and prepared for pain.
A gun went off.
A bullet whizzed past my head, pinged off the metal staircase in front of me, and ricocheted somewhere. I jumped in shock, but I didn’t stop.
“No!” Dimitri yelled. “Don’t shoot her! Both of you will die if she is hit by a bullet.”
I skimmed my way around the scattered tables and chairs, heart racing. I reached the staircase and made it up only two steps before I was tackled from behind. I hit my head hard on the metal railing in the process, the pain jarring my entire body.
Taking advantage of my disorientation, Dimitri grappled with my arms and legs and managed to turn me onto my back. Hands manacling my wrists, he restrained my arms to the sides and lowered himself over me. Dizziness and nausea consumed me in equal measure. It took me several moments to make out only one Dimitri above me instead of three.
“Alexia, you must stop,” he gritted out, grunting as I struggled beneath him. “Not all members of the Voiny wanted to keep you alive. They think you’re a liability. I’m saving you by marrying you.”
“They’re going to kill me anyway!” It was all I could do to try and buck him off, but he was too big and strong. “If they betrayed my father, what makes you think they won’t betray you, too?”
He snarled. “I’ll slaughter all of them before I let any of them near you. You might think I’m a monster now. But I am still the same man who only wants to protect you from harm.”
I honestly believed him. He truly thought he was protecting me.
Dimitri had just lost his way.
The next thing my brain registered was another gunshot. Or was I hallucinating? I was still feeling lightheaded.
Dimitri’s head snapped in the direction of the front doors, where it sounded like a scuffle was taking place. Perhaps a fist fight. It was hard to tell—my vision was too blurry.
“Freeze!” a male voice shouted. “Let her go! Now, or I shoot some more.”
That wasn’t a voice I recognized.
Not Nico or any of his brothers.
My head swiveled around, but all I could make out from that distance was a tall, bulky man with his gun pointed at Dimitri. I couldn’t make out facial features, but the man’s size seemed imposing.
“And who do we have here?” Dimitri sneered. “You aren’t a Rossetti.”
When the other man spoke, I could tell he was grinning. “I’m worse, asshole. Detective Bryce Connelly. NYPD.”
Dimitri snorted. “You are a cop. You cannot shoot me.”
“Tell that to your comrades on the floor.”
I squinted through my mental fog and saw two vague shapes writhing around on the floor by the door. Still alive. Batya was lying in the same spot in the middle of the room. I only prayed he was still breathing.
Dimitri’s voice oozed confidence, though his body was tense. I felt his hand reach behind him, near his waistband where I knew he always kept a pistol.
“Got a bead right on your head, Novikoff,” Detective Connelly said in warning. “And I’m a damn good shot. A fast shot. You willing to risk it?”
Several heavy beats of silence passed before Dimitri finally began to ease off me. As he straightened, his hand kept inching for the gun at his lower back. When he grabbed ahold of it and went to point it at the detective, I shoved him back with all my might.