Serena and I made eye contact, Izzy walked up sandwich in hand, Maksim took it, and then we all charged down to the basement.
There would be blood.
And it was going to be his for daring to put me in a corner for my safety.
By the time this was over, he was going to be the one cowering.
Fucking kneeling.
At my feet.
His Russian queen.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Spilled blood, broken heart, she had it first, from the very start. —Valerian Petrov
Valerian
“Again!” Ash screamed.
His nose was broken. My first hit had been a bit hard, and I wasn’t really thinking, and then he hit me back, breaking mine.
So, both of us could barely breathe through all the cartilage and blood loss in our noses, my right eye was bleeding, the wounds on my back had cheerfully opened up, spilling enough blood to make the mat slippery, and Ash was still coming at me.
“Ash.” I dodged his punch. “I told you I was sorry!”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it!” he roared. “You’ll fight me until you pass out, and then you’ll do it again and again, and one more time because you SLEPT WITH MY SISTER, fucking faked your own death, and somehow she’s still not happy! What the hell did you do?”
A few of the De Lange recruits were currently training over in the corner since Nixon had given them full access to the gym—they all stopped sparring and stared in shock as Ash threw another right hook catching me in the side of the head and making me stumble toward the ropes.
“Nothing to see here,” I grumbled as Tank, our FBI recruit, winced in my direction like he knew it hurt too much to talk. “You’re going to traumatize all the new blood, Ash.”
“Good.” He sneered. “Maybe one day they’ll help me kill you. We’ve been busy for the last few days. So much dying does that to people, makes them prepare for war. You did that.”
I blocked his next hit with my forearms then kicked him in the stomach, sending me onto my back. I jumped up as fast as I could, and my vision doubled for a second as Violet walked into the basement with Izzy, Junior, Serena, and Maksim. They all looked way too happy to have just attended my funeral.
Son of a bitch, my head hurt.
“Leave,” Serena snapped to the De Lange recruits. With a sigh, Tank jerked his head toward the door. All five of them followed, their faces pale.
King had been leaning on the wall, watching us fight for an hour now, and every so often, he’d yell something like, “Kill shot.”
And Ash would literally aim for my dick.
It was a bad day. A very bad day.
And now it was worse because Violet was here, and she looked pissed enough to join in on the fun.
“Vi?” I blinked up at her.
“Ash.” Violet smiled sweetly at her brother. “It’s my turn.”
“Oh, shit.” Maksim whistled. “I’ve never seen her fight, but she’s probably pissed off enough to kill him. This really turned out to be a way better day than I thought when I woke up this morning.”
“Shut up, Maksim,” King snapped. “I hope she kills him.”
“He can hear you.” Everything hurt. It was like my back had a heartbeat as it pulsed with pain every few seconds. I slumped to the mat, my vision still crossing as Ash walked over and offered his hand.
I blinked up at him. “Is this a trick?”
“You’re a boss. Technically I can’t kill you, and I don’t want to make my sister cry—like you’ve been.” He glared. “For days.” Just as I reached for his hand, he jerked it away. “On second thought, I can make it look like an accident just like you did, so maybe I will kill you.” His blue eyes flashed.
“Nope.” Violet hopped into the ring in nothing but spandex shorts, a sports bra, and her hands wrapped. “If anyone kills him, it’s going to be me.”
“You look really pretty,” I murmured. “I like the sports bra—”
Sharp agony exploded in my ribs as Ash kicked me. “Stop looking at her bra.”
I couldn’t keep the groan from spilling out.
“Um, they are married,” Maksim pointed out.
“Thank you.” I jabbed my finger in his direction.
Fear that I was going to pass out ripped at me until Violet helped me to my feet.
I offered a shaky smile of hope, and then she gave me a shove backward.
“Fight.” Her nostrils flared. “Defend yourself, Valerian.” She said my name like a curse. “Because we all know Breaker was shit at hand-to-hand combat.”
“I’m not going to—”
She had aimed a swift foot for my dick and missed only because I bent over and stepped back, but she grazed my hip with bruising intensity.
I roared out a curse and charged her, wrapping my hands around her body, lifting her into the air and slamming her down against the mat. “You wanna fight, princess? Fight!”