They're outnumbered. Somehow, some way, Maksym has brought his men with him to rescue me.
They use fists and knives, and it doesn't take long before the floor of the cell is covered in bloodied bodies. One final man stands, sparring with Maksym.
"I remember you," the man says. "You were the one—"
But he doesn't get any further, because Maksym attacks. He lunges for the man, his knife at his throat, and I scream as blood spurts everywhere. The floor is covered with crimson rivers of blood, but Maksym doesn't stop. He strikes again, and again, and I know this isn't just self-defense but vengeance. He's taken the lives of those who beat him, and his brothers have given him this. His retribution, their bodies on the floor of his place of torture.
Panting, streaked in blood and sweat, he looks to me. I stand, covered in blood, still naked. Shaking. But filled with so much relief I don't even know how to process the way I feel right now.
"Take this," Maksym says, ripping off his shirt and handing it to me. "Nicolai, give her something for fuck's sake."
Nicolai tears off his shirt, too, and they cover me in messy, ragged clothing, before Maksym picks me up. He opens the door of the cell, but his brothers are by his side, prepared in case of ambush.
"I don't want to leave," I tell Maksym. "Not until my father is dead. We can't," I tell him. "He will never leave us in peace."
"Find him," Maksym grits out. "Get her father."
"Already done, brother." Demyan stands a few yards in front of us with my father in restraints, marching him toward us. If the situation wasn't so dire, it would be almost comical watching my father's thin, wiry body manhandled by the much larger, stout Demyan. By the light of the moon I can see my father's face. He's accepted his grim fate and will leave this earth embracing nothing but hatred.
"You traitorous bitch," my father says, letting loose a string of vicious curses meant to hurt me. I laugh out loud and don't respond. As if he deserves my allegiance.
Maksym can't stand for that though. He places me down, steadies me, then decks my father so hard he falls to the ground. "That's the last fucking time you talk to her."
Maksym's brothers stand in a circle around him. Maksym steps on my father's neck, pinning him in place, and his gaze comes to mine. "Every breath he takes is stolen," he says to me. "He doesn't deserve a single one." He holds my gaze. "Do you want the honor, or shall I?"
I nod to him. "I trust you to."
A look of understanding passes between us when he pulls out his gun.
I make myself watch. I want to know he's dead. I want to know he won't ever hurt anyone else again, not ever.
"He deserves to suffer," Maksym says. "But you deserve peace." And with those final words, he places his gun to my father's temple. He holds my gaze when he pulls the trigger.Chapter 19Maksym
I swear the fury I felt when he took Olena from me made me nearly lose my mind. Something nicked my neck and my world went hazy, but Demyan was at my side with Larissa. A superficial wound, he said. Larissa had found the location of The Thieves during my captivity and had no doubt that was where they headed next.
We quickly formed a plan, grabbing the black clothing off the men who lay dead on the ground near our compound, taking their weapons, and pulling on hoods as we went after them. Nicolai, our spy, told us how to infiltrate their ranks with ease and in the dark, blinded by fury and revenge, Yuri suspected nothing.
I wanted him to pay for what he did to her. I wanted to punish him for the torture he inflicted on both me and her. But in the end, the peace of knowing Yuri no longer posed a threat to any of us was what mattered the most.
I would save her life no matter what it took. And when I saw her… naked, given as an offering to the fucking bastards that worked for Yuri… I knew that she hadn’t betrayed me.
She’d given herself over to him instead. An act of self-sacrifice, not duplicity.
An act worthy of the highest honor and devotion. I will spend the rest of my days thanking her for this. For all that she’s done for me. I will spend the rest of my life learning her secrets and hopes, what makes her smile and what makes her sigh. I will devote myself to her and do everything I can to show her my undying devotion and loyalty.
For despite our sordid pasts and twisted union, Olena Baranova is mine. She is meant to be with me. Yesterday, today, forever, and I will never take that for granted.