It’s all I can do not to lunge at him. I can feel myself shaking from the effort, my teeth gritted.
“Or–” Art pauses, still grinning. “I could enjoy her here, before I kill you. It would be less comfortable, of course, less enjoyable for the first time–although she’d certainly struggle, and that’s its own kind of pleasure. I could make you watch as I make the woman you love come for me. Wouldn’t that be delightful? And I promise you, I will. Whether she wants it or not, I’ll make her come for me over and over, until she’s so broken that she has no choice but to accept that she wants me, in the deepest parts of herself–that actually, she always has, from the minute I showed up in the house that should have been given to me.”
I’d pushed back when Sasha had made her request of Levin, but at that moment, I understand. I’m grateful that she asked him, and not me, because I don’t believe I could have done it–not even to save her from that fate. But I know he could, and if Art tries to make good on the latter half of his fantasies, I hope he does. In that moment, as sick to my stomach as it makes me, as much as I know I’d fight to keep him off of her, I know he’d shoot me where it would make me die slow and leave me there to watch. I know as we are here now, I can’t stop it. And I don’t want Sasha to endure that.
It won’t go that far.I can almost hear her voice in my head, trying to encourage me, to give me hope.He won’t do this to us. He won’t win.
“It’s so hard to choose,” he muses, and I hear Giana’s cry of frustration from where they’re standing, her face a mask of horror as she listens to Art.
“Just let him kill us,tesoro!” she cries out, stepping forward. Tommas grabs for her arm, but she shakes him off with surprising strength, looking at me with pleading in her eyes. “Run, and take Sasha! It’s not worth it–”
“Shut up, woman!” Art rounds on her, slapping her hard across the face, and at that moment, everything changes.
I can see the instant that something snaps in Tommas, that he goes from being an elderly gardener and hostler to a husband whose wife has been harmed. He lunges for Art, an incomprehensible shout coming from him as he flings himself at the armed man. As Art rears back to strike him with the side of his gun, I catch sight of Levin coming around the far edge of the house, two of my former security at his back.
In my periphery, on the other side, I see two more. I see Levin give the smallest of nods, a flick of a finger, and a gunshot tears through the night.
Tommas flinches back, his hand on Giana’s arm, clearly reacting as if the gunshot was from Art. I feel Sasha stiffen next to me, but in the next second, Art pitches forward, his knee giving out beneath him as the bullet finds its target.
Reflexively, he pulls the trigger on his own gun, the shot going wild. Sasha flings herself towards the grass, Tommas and Giana diving to one side, but I’m already getting to my feet as Levin comes charging forward, he and the other men taking advantage of the opportunity to rush Art.
“You–fucking–” Art gasps out, trying to get up again, even with his crippled knee. “You fucking lied–I said–”
“I don’t give a fuck what you said.” I kick the gun away from his outstretched hand, reaching for it as Levin nears us. He and the other men surrounding Art with guns trained on him. “You brought Sasha and me here by threatening to kill people I care about. A minute ago, you were threatening to rape her in front of me. Igaveyou a chance to back out. I gave you a chance to rethink what you were doing. I offered you fuckingforgiveness, and this is how you repay me?”
Slowly, I extend out my hand, the gun trained on his head. “I think it’s long past time that you were the one put out of your misery, Arturo Agosti. You’re no brother of mine.”
I’m a hairsbreadth from pulling the trigger when I feel Sasha’s hand on my arm. I hesitate for just a second, looking at her with surprise.
“He is your brother,” she says softly, her hand sliding down my arm. “I know you, Max. I know at this moment, you’d pull the trigger without hesitation, because of what he’s done. I know you’d add more blood to those hands that you’re always trying to wash clean. But I can do something for you now to keep you from carrying that weight.”
Her hand covers mine, reaching for the gun.
“What?” I look at her, not fully comprehending. “Sasha, I’m not letting him walk away. Not after–”
“I’m not asking you to. Give me the gun, Max.” Her hand tightens around it. “Hand it to me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He’s your brother,” she repeats quietly. “But he isn’t mine–and I have a score to settle too. So I’ll be the one to do it this time.”
It dawns on me then what she’s saying, what she’s offering. I feel my hand go lax as Sasha takes the gun, and Art stares up at her from the grass in horror, starting to laugh.
“You’re not going to fucking kill me,” he hisses. “You won’t fucking do it.Bitch. You won’t be able to pull the trigger–”
“Watch me,” Sasha says evenly.
And then, before Art can say another word, another gunshot fills the air.
28
SASHA
I’ve never killed a man before.
I’d thought about it. The man in the warehouse who took my virginity, Alexei, Edo, and yes, Art. I’d never felt the guilt that Max did for wanting vengeance. I’d thought about it, and I’d felt right in doing so.
I never thought I’d actually do it.