will hunt me down. I’m not scared of them,” she laughed. “I practically raised Roman. He will be easy to predict and defeat.”
I turned my head to her slowly. “Don’t ever let your guard down, Titus,” I murmured. “Because the day you do, I will be there. You might not see me, but I will be there. Whether in your food or drink, maybe even a pretty bouquet of flowers you receive. I will be there.”
Tatiana didn’t appreciate my threat, a muscle in her jaw twitching. “You could’ve had it all,” she said, almost thoughtfully. “I’m afraid, Elena, if you’re not with me, you’re against me.”
“Obviously,” I growled.
She smiled faintly and waved a finger.
On her command, the men down below cocked their guns.
My stomach dropped like a lead balloon.
“Here is what is going to happen,” she said. “You’re going to leave. I don’t care where you go. But you will leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I hissed.
Tatiana shrugged. “Fine.” She waved a hand.
I snatched her fingers in the air before the gunshot sounded. “Do not.”
“Then agree to leave,” she replied. “Or else you can say goodbye to your precious family.”
“They’re your family, too.”
Tatiana’s eyes darkened. “My family was killed when I was child. Though I will not relish in their deaths, they are necessary to getting what I want.”
I assessed her. “And they say I am cold.”
“Make a decision, Elena,” she said.
“Why not just kill me?” I wondered.
Tatiana’s eyebrows rose in faint alarm. “And lose a mind as sharp as your own? No, no. You will come to your senses,” she said. “Why are you so resistant? Haven’t you wanted to leave the entire time? Why stay now?”
Why stay now?
I looked down at Roksana and Danika, still at the end of a gun. My eyes kept moving, resting on my abdomen.
Why stay now?
Tatiana laughed softly. “Oh, I see.”
When I looked back up to her eyes, she was smiling knowingly like she understood. Her hand caressed her stomach, the movement too loving to match her bloodthirsty expression.
I didn’t respond.
“I am slowly losing my patience, Elena,” Tatiana said. “Stay and be the reason Roksana and Danika are dead or leave and save their lives.”
I banded an arm around my stomach protectively, like the pressure would stop the pit welling inside of me.
I opened my mouth. “I—”
“Mama? Auntie Lena?”
We both turned, my lips parting in horror. A few feet away, dressed in his Spiderman pajamas, Anton stood. Wrapped up in his chubby little hand was the discarded gun.
30
Elena Falcone
“Anton, baby.” Tatiana gestured to him with a gentle hand. “Give Mama the gun.”
I took a step forward, catching his attention. “Anton, stay there. Do not move.”
Confusion filled his face at the conflicting instructions. His blue eyes darted between us, expecting us to make a cohesive decision.
“Darling,” fussed Tatiana. “Give Mama the gun. Come now, it’s not safe.”
Anton brought the gun closer to his chest, so vulgar in his innocent hands. “Mama?” His voice sounded unsure.
Even her son had picked up on a change.
Tatiana made an effort to smooth her expression, donning the mask she had been wearing for decades. “Anton, baby–”
A loud noise resonated throughout the hall. It shook the windows and chandeliers, rumbling through the wooden floors and plastered walls. Shouts followed after, then two gunshots.
I fled to the window, desperate to see.
Danika was on her feet, gun in hand and standing over a fallen man, with Roman on her left. Behind her, Artyom had an arm wrapped around Roksana’s waist, his expression monstrous. Konstantin’s bratok crossed over the gardens, heading for the house.
I turned to Tatiana. “The game is over, now.”
“Not yet it isn’t,” she hissed. She spun to Anton. “Give Mama the gun!” She went to grab it, but Anton started back.
The gun fell.
What happened next happened in a blink of an eye but somehow also over the course of one hundred years.
I heard more than saw the bullet leave the chamber. But I saw Tatiana double over, clutching her abdomen.
Her scream shattered the room.
My mind caught up before my heart did. Disbelief and horror held hands around my chest, squeezing tightly.
There was no way...
Anton began screaming too.
Tatiana leaned back, her hands reaching out.
Like they had been freshly painted, her hands were slicked with red.
Blood.
“Anton!” I went to grab him. He fell into my arms, his little body molding into the offered comfort. His crying did not stop, sounding in my ear like an alarm.
Tatiana fell against the wall, shock spreading her eyes and mouth wide open.
Her stomach...it was bleeding.
“Put pressure on