He grabs me by the collar, nearly lifting me and the chair off the ground. “You answer to me.”
“I answer to no one.”
“Then would you rather die?”
“Come out, Princess!” I call, my voice straining. “Don’t you think you’ve watched enough?”
“Shut the fuck up.” Vladimir hits me again.
“I thought you wanted me to talk—now you want me to shut it? Make up your mind, you grumpy-arse fucker. Come out, Princess. I thought we shared things,” I say with humor, which is my usual way of deflecting reality, but the words stab me inside my bloody soul. I really thought we shared things, but she went ahead and stabbed me in the back.
“You don’t speak to her. You speak to me.” Vladimir’s strong voice booms in the silence of the room, his accent getting thicker.
“I won’t talk unless I see my wife, so if you want to kill me, then go right ahead. But as you know, you won’t get anything out of my corpse.”
“You think I won’t kill you?” Vladimir pulls his gun from his waistband and points it at my temple. “You’ve always been a pest who didn’t belong in the brotherhood. I don’t care what Nikolai or Sergei see in you, or that you think you’re all that just because you eliminated some targets like a fucking dog for hire. You have no loyalty, know no principles, and follow no morals, and because of that, you don’t belong here.”
“Finally. Your true fucking colors, Vladimir. Aren’t they nice and bloody shiny?”
The reason he respected my presence is because the bosses were the ones who ordered it. If it was up to him, he would have kicked me out a long time ago. So now that he’s finally getting his chance to get back at me, he’s using it to the fullest.
I have no doubt he will pull the trigger.
“Are you going to talk or should I turn those fucking eyes dead?”
“The only person I’ll talk to is my wife.”
Why do I keep calling her my wife when she betrayed our vows?
But I guess I betrayed those first when I turned our wedding into a bloodbath.
No idea how it happened, but I was taken by surprise. Being blindsided by an aspect of my life has weakened me, and this doesn’t even seem like a phase.
The door opens and I remain still as the sound of heels echo on the ground.
I raise my eyes up. They’re swollen and one of them is half open, blood dripping over the lid. And yet, I make out Rai standing in front of me. She puts enough distance between us so I couldn’t reach out for her even if I somehow had my hands free.
She’s still wearing the black dress from earlier, which means she must have come here as soon as I dropped her off.
The traitor wanted to see her handiwork for herself. Well played, Rai. Well fucking played.
But instead of divulging my true emotions, I grin, showing her my bloody teeth. “Vladimir here seems to have a misconception, Princess. Save me from his kinky games.”
“Stop being a smartass,” she says in a monotone voice, crossing her arms over her chest. “That won’t work on us.”
Wait a fucking second… “Does this mean you never lost your memories?”
“No, but I fooled you, didn’t I?”
Bloody hell.
She did. She really did, and I had no way of focusing enough to uncover the lie because I was worried about her safety. I completely let go of my logical side in favor of the fucking thing beating inside my chest.
“Well played, Sokolov. Nikolai must be so proud of his little devil creation.”
“I don’t care about your games.”
“You don’t care, huh? Figures, after you poisoned my drink.”
Her expression remains the same, as if she abandoned her emotions somewhere and came here void of anything. “Tell Vlad what he wants to know and maybe I’ll have him spare your life.”
“What makes you think I have something to say?”
“I heard you talking on the phone the day I fell down the stairs, Kyle. I know what you’re planning.”
Fuck. Was I too loose? Usually, I wouldn’t let my guard down, but I was still on painkillers at the time. Not that blaming the meds will solve the issue at hand.
“Did you think I would stand by as you destroy my family?” Her tone turns lethal. “I’ll protect them with everything in me.”
“Go right ahead.”
“You think I’m bluffing?”
“No.”
“Then why the fuck aren’t you talking?”
“Because it’s pointless.”
“Don’t test me, Kyle. I’ll have you killed.”
“Do it then. You already poisoned me, so killing me wouldn’t make a difference.”
A blush covers her cheeks, but it’s not out of embarrassment—it’s anger, or rather, rage. Why the fuck is she angry? I’m the one who’s supposed to be boiling.
And yet, all I feel is the cut of her betrayal in a place I thought was long dead with my parents.