While I waited, he paced back and forth. Then he walked around the perimeter of the building. He did the same thing a few times, so I figured I’d wait until he turned the corner and haul ass.
Once I determined it was safe to move, I carefully but quickly made my way to the door they’d gone through. Before the guy could come around again, I slipped inside.
There was only one direction I could go, so I followed the hall toward the voices. It was dark and smelled funny in there, but there were lights coming from around the corner at the end of the hall.
At the shouts and groans, I told myself I shouldn’t be there—but I needed to be there. The thing was, I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do. It wasn’t like I had a plan, but I needed to be there. Retribution? Closure? Sick curiosity? Whatever the reason, I needed to be a part of it.
What I watched should’ve made me ill. It likely should’ve terrified me. Instead, all I experienced was grim satisfaction. The three of them were getting what they deserved.
Except when I saw the macabre version of the man I’d given my heart to poised to slice Ivan’s throat, I couldn’t let him do it.
“No!” I shouted. He froze, and his eyes rose to lock on mine. The glint of the red-stained knife in the candlelight was eerie but fascinating. There was a small table with a variety of items spread out on it. Another knife, a pistol, and a good number of things I didn’t recognize.
Everyone in the room froze as they warily assessed me. Ghost took a step to the side, and I pointed at him. “I don’t know what you were about to do but stop right there.”
From the look on his face, he knew I remembered his little disappearing act. Angel was at the other end of the group and calmly watched me with his arms crossed over his chest. Chains stood deep in the shadows, but I saw him as well as the rest of them.
“Is this what you do?” I asked. No one answered me. I ignored the triumphant expression in Anatoly’s eyes.
“Answer me! Is this what you do? Torture people and kill them?” I asked in confused outrage.
“Kira,” Ogun began, but I silenced him with my hand as I walked around the room, making eye contact with each of them. To their credit, they all boldly met my gaze. Not a one of them flinched. Not to say they didn’t have a hint of that wariness still.
Being a veterinarian, I’d learned how to read body language pretty well. Animals only have that to convey what’s going on. It wasn’t hard to see they all looked poised to pounce on me. Except for Angel. He still calmly watched my movements.
After I’d walked closer to the three men strung up by chains, I paused by the small table that resembled more of an altar. Before anyone could stop me, I snatched up the pistol. Thankfully, they’d been easy to distract with my act of being horrified. Little did they know, I’d seen worse.
Being raised around the fucking Russian mafia had hardened a part of me, and I’d learned how to use a gun. My brother Viktor had taught me when I was sixteen. After what had happened. So it didn’t take me long to ensure a bullet was chambered and point the gun at Ivan.
All of Ogun’s brothers moved toward me at once. “Don’t,” I said, as I held the gun pointed at Ivan. My eyes stayed trained on Ivan, but I watched them all freeze in my periphery.
“Kira. Baby, don’t do this. This is something you can’t come back from. You can’t undo it.” Ogun tried his best to convince me, but I was past being swayed.
My chest was heaving, heart racing as the past rushed me like a two-hundred-and-forty-pound defenseman. The three people in front of me had all been party to it. Though Ivan hadn’t been there when I was fifteen, he’d threatened to burn off my tattoo, destroy my friends, and he was going to rape me in front of Grishka. Fuck him and his skinned penis.
The first bullet entered right between his eyes. The second in his filleted dick.
“Kira!” Ogun ran at me, and Ghost had his arms wrapped around me in an instant, but not before I’d shot Anatoly in his leg and Grishka in his dick and his stomach. Because I wanted him to suffer.
“Give me the gun, sweetheart,” Ghost said in my ear. By then, the adrenaline had started to wear off and I’d begun to shake. Ghost handed me off to Ogun after securing the gun.
Grishka and Anatoly’s screams were background noise as he held me and I buried my face in his neck. The shaking intensified and then the tears started.
“Shh, I’ve got you.” Ogun murmured over and over as he rocked me. Time escaped me as I cried for everything Grishka and Anatoly had been responsible for in my life. The only thing that would’ve made me happier was if Lester fucking Damen had been there too.
Crying seemed to let loose all the pent-up hurt, frustration, and disbelief of my life.
“That prospect is gonna get his ass handed to him,” Venom said from nearby. I felt more than saw Ogun nod. That caused me to look up as I wiped away tears with the back of my hand.
“Please don’t. He had no idea. I sent him looking for snacks, then led him to believe I changed my mind and was going back to the room.” Worry furrowed my brow.
Ogun’s hands framed my face. “It doesn’t matter. He knew better than to leave the area unsecured. If you were able to get out without him knowing, someone else could’ve easily gotten in. It won’t be that bad, but he needs to learn.”
“But it’s not fair that he gets hurt because of me,” I argued.
“If he can’t handle a little ass-whipping because of a fuckup, he’s not cut out to be a Royal Bastard,” he replied as he caught a stray tear with his thumb.
A grunt from over my shoulder told me that the others were in agreement. It made me feel bad that he would be punished for something I did, but I also understood it was their club and their rules.