Daniil eyes darted all over my face, and slowly, he nodded, standing up straight. His thumb clicked the safety off before he took his hand away. The room was silent now, everyone watching our interaction. I took a fortifying breath, willing myself not to break down into tears. All I could see for a moment was Trofim. On the resort, chasing me through the hotel. Ordering my food. In that damn Bermuda outfit on the boat, watching over me. Teaching me Russian words when he was supposed to be working. But, always protecting me.
His head splattered open on the floor of my dad’s church.
His blood and brain matter…all over. Like his life.
I blinked and turned toward Valentina and Bogdan. The guards had already made sure they weren’t armed, and they were now standing against the wall reminding me of prisoners being lined up execution style. Because it was.
Slowly, I walked toward them with Daniil at my side. The guards opened their ranks to let us into the circle. I wasn’t going to drag this out. I asked Valentina bluntly, “You wanted Daniil’s children. Why?”
She was past pleading for her life, and she held her chin up high. “He got my sister killed. I wanted to take something from him as he did me.”
I shook my head, leaning forward, and stated quietly, “Your sister was a whore. That’s what got her killed.” I leaned back, watching her face alter to furious. “Do you have any last words?”
Her lips thinned. “I wouldn’t say them to Daniil’s only whore even if I wished to.”
Her implication was clear. “That’s pathetic.” I took two steps forward so I wouldn’t miss. “Enjoy Hell.”
My hand only shook slightly as I raised it quickly. I thought of those six guards, hoping they were watching this as I pulled the trigger. The jerk in my arm shocked me. I had never fired a gun before. I grunted, taking the blow with my weakened muscles from not having enough food for two months. My muscles were only just back to decent strength.
I had been close enough not to miss.
Valentina’s eyes were forever huge on her face, a thin line of blood trailing down between her perfect black eyebrows from the tiny bullet hole in the middle of her forehead as her dead body tilted, and then slid down the wall.
I quickly stepped back, lowering the gun so she didn’t fall on me. Feeling the blood on my face freaked me a little, but I wouldn’t ruin my bodyguards’ memory by screaming and running away. Instead, I yanked on my ear because I couldn’t hear very well, and turned to Daniil asking, “Do you have a napkin or something?”
I probably yelled it, and he was watching me like a fucking hawk, but he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. I snatched it, wiping my face off as I moved over to Bogdan. I really just wanted to get this done as soon as possible, but he deserved the same as her. I asked in what I hoped was a quiet voice, “Why did you do it?”
His eyes were huge on his face, but he sneered, “My wife said that if she didn’t decide to kill you after you had the kids, I could keep you as a pet.”
I had stared at his lips, only faintly hearing him. I was positive that was what he had said. I gritted my teeth, feeling Daniil vibrating behind me. I raised my gun and aimed. “Do you have any last words?”
“I should have fucked you when—” Last words were overrated.
I pulled the trigger, bracing myself better this time.
I still grunted at the way it jarred my shoulder. This shot hadn’t been so clean since I had been in a hurry. His nose was split open where the bullet had gone in. But he was still dead as he fell to the ground. I stepped back and banged into Daniil.
Quickly, I wiped the blood from my face. Daniil took the gun from me, immediately wrapping his other arm around my waist. I didn’t realize I was shaking until I had something sturdy to hold onto. I kept my sight away from the bodies but really hoped I had served those who died for me well.
But that didn’t mean I could look at the dead bodies. I could only do so much.
I couldn’t hear a damn thing, but I felt Daniil’s chest vibrating against my head, so I looked up and saw him saying something to the guards. Finishing quickly—the guards were removing the bodies—Daniil looked down at me and took the handkerchief from my hand, and started wiping my face, getting the places I had missed. When he was done, his gaze darted all over my face, and then his eyes met mine. Perhaps it was sick of me, but I loved that I saw pride and tenderness in his gaze.
I was startled to hear cheers around the room with my name at the heart of them. I jumped as my hearing came back, turning in Daniil’s arms and peeking around him. My core was shaken, but it was even more rattled seeing his family—the ones who had remained in the room—standing and yelling with their fists in the air for what I had done. Wide-eyed, I turned my gaze back to Daniil, “What are they yelling?”
My ears still rang, but I heard him clearly when he said softly, “They’re welcoming you to the family.” He looked a little guilty. “When you kill your first…,” he paused, considering the word, “…traitor…you’re officially one of us.”
I blinked stupidly. My. God.
“You want me to sneak you out the hidden door?” he asked with a small smile lifting his lips, obviously gauging my reaction correctly.
I shook my head slowly. No. This was his family. I wouldn’t stay long, but I needed to be by Daniil’s side right now. Not because he needed me, but because I needed him. Taking someone’s life, even if justified, wasn’t a nerve-settling act. It was a gut-wrenching act that should never be taken lightly.
I clung to Daniil’s arm as he walked into the cheering people. I stayed there and accepted their hugs and kisses, but I couldn’t muster up a smile. I just nodded when I needed to and hoped I would be able to sleep tonight, and hoped I had made the right choice by choosing to do it myself.
Daniil handled my parents and aunts and uncles while I trudged up to bed after I had killed two people. Mary had been as somber as I was, staying by my side for most of the remainder of the evening as Daniil’s family proceeded to really get the party started after the corpses had been carried out. Inna…God, help her…she had hugged me the longest. Daniil had offered her a room here, and she accepted. I think she was now getting comfortable in the room across the hall from Eva.
My mom tried to talk with me, but I… I just didn’t want to discuss the finer details that she wanted to know. Her bloodthirsty eyes took in any little blood splatter I had missed or that had stained my outfit. I planned to burn this dress as soon as daylight broke tomorrow, and I wasn’t so weary. Dad only hugged me, saying I could talk to him anytime I needed to, a little of the preacher peeking out in him.
After that, I left, my ten bodyguards following me. I still hadn’t formally greeted them. I understood now why Daniil rarely ever talked with his. If you do, you become personally invested in them, and you feel responsible for them when they are there to take the bullet for you, not the other way around. One day, I knew I would break down and talk with them. If they were offering up their lives for me, it was the least I could do.
I merely needed a little more time.
I shut the door to our room, seeing the guards take up their stance around the door before closing it, and made my way through the living room into our bedroom. I was tempted to fall headlong into bed, but I wanted the dress off. I stripped, dropping the dress to the floor after ripping the damn thing to get it off. Yanking open the door to the dresser, I had to steady the picture frame on top of it because I jerked it too hard, pulling out a thin cotton nightgown that I had bought for my biggest days to come, wanting something comfortable. I tore off my bra and underwear, putting on the nightgown. And stopped, staring at the dress and undergarments on the floor that was soiled with my kidnapper's blood.
I rushed to the toilet and promptly puked up my guts.
And I sobbed over the toilet.
I was no hardened killer. Their faces flashed in front of me, but at the same time, six others took their place. And then, my own personal Hell fla
shed in front of my eyes.
I caught myself singing as I cried.
I shut my mouth immediately, knowing I was a little fucked in the head.
Time. I just needed to give it a little time. Their deaths and my own ordeal had been eradicated. Now, I only needed to heal like I had been doing.
I took a shuddering breath in, and wiped my face off, flushing the toilet and standing. I brushed my teeth and washed my face in the sink, and then glanced up at myself in the mirror. My dripping face in the mirror was pale and terrified. I hoped I hadn’t looked like this while his family had been congratulating me. But who knows. Maybe this was how most people looked after offing someone.
I blinked, my eyes focusing, and noticed what was behind me in the mirror.
Or more like someone was behind me.
I shouted, and jerked around, wiping my face off as I stumbled out of the bathroom.
In the shower, I could have sworn I had seen hair peeking out from behind the wall.
And…my cousin, Katie, stepped out of the shower, following me into the bedroom.
My heart slowed down, and I asked, “Katie, what are you doing in here? You scared the shit out of me!” I wiped my face off, flicking the water away. “What the hell?”
I rubbed my eyes when she didn’t respond.
My brows snapped together when her right hand lifted. Holding a gun.
I froze, asking slowly, “Why do you have a gun, Katie?” I tore my eyes away from the weapon to look at her face. My attention stayed trapped there. “Katie, what are you doing?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know,” she hissed. “I’m sure Valentina blabbed all about me.”
I blinked, seeing something I had never seen before in her eyes. Hate. Pure, unadulterated hate for me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Calmly, I added, “Katie, why don’t you put the gun down. We can talk about whatever you want to. Without the gun.”
“Bullshit!” she barked, taking a step toward me.
I skittered back.
“I know they talked. They would have loved to tell you.”
I stayed mute, wondering if I could make a run out of the bedroom before she did something insane. “What would they have told me, Katie?” Best to keep her talking for right now since she was watching me with crazy eyes.
She snorted, taking another step forward. “Oh, please. Don’t start with that bull. You already know.”
I shook my head slowly. “No. No, I don’t.”
Slowly, it clicked. Katie had brought in the gift that had been supposedly left outside for me. Valentina and Bogdan knowing that Daniil’s kids were there. Where we were exactly. It had been a planned attack with them getting into the ventilation system like that, knowing the layout. Oh, God.
“No, Katie.” I shook my head, moving back farther into the room as she advanced. “Why? God, why would you do this? I love you! You love me! Why would you do this?”
She pulled a cigarette pack out of her pocket even as she raised the gun, pulling a cigarette out with her teeth and tossing the pack on the bed. “You don’t mind, do you?” She pulled a lighter out of her pocket, lighting her cigarette, not waiting for my answer. She waved the gun she had pointed at me toward the bed. “Sit down. It’ll make this easier.”
I sat slowly as she puffed on her cigarette, and froze…there was someone in the closet. I didn’t look too closely because it was Artur. He was texting from the quick glance I had, the white light of his phone shining on his face, illuminating it before he shut it. I scooted back slowly on the bed as Katie bent over, ashing into the little clay bowl on the nightstand Daniil used for spare change he had in his pockets.
Katie cocked the gun and aimed it directly at my chest, instead of in my general direction, and opened her mouth to speak. Artur heard the sound, and made his presence known then, stepping out into the light of the room, cocking his own gun, it already aimed at her. She jerked, thankfully not shooting me, taking a quick glance at who had snuck up on her.
“What the fuck are you doing in here?”
Artur drawled, “I could ask you the same thing.” He snapped his fingers at me with his free hand. “Get over here, Elizabeth.”
“Don’t move,” Katie shouted, her attention swinging back to me. “Don’t you fucking move!”
“Okay,” I said slowly. My heart was in my throat, and I felt like puking again with all of these guns being waved around by people I loved. I wasn’t sure which I hated more. Katie aiming a gun at me…or Artur aiming a gun at Katie. “Katie, why are you doing this? This won’t end well for you.”
Again, she didn’t answer me, her attention going back to Artur.
Daniil slipped into the bedroom, breathless, but slowly moving closer to Katie. He didn’t have a gun drawn, but his eyes encompassed everything, and his expression didn’t bode well for her.
Katie hadn’t even noticed his entrance. She hissed at Artur, “Put the fucking gun away. You know you aren’t going to shoot me.” She smirked and took a drag off her cigarette. “We had sex. Men like you don’t shoot someone you had sex with.”
I kept my attention firmly off Daniil and watched Artur shrug, his attention also off his dad while he said bluntly, “You’re a decent lay, but you were only a job. I’ve been watching you since I first saw your file. Anyone with as much debt as you have would be a threat. The weak link, so to speak. And I will shoot you. You weren’t that good of a fuck.”
Katie’s face had turned furious at the beginning, and her grip on her gun faltered at the end.
That was when Daniil struck.
I ducked, rolling in on myself as Daniil slammed into her back, grabbing her arm with the gun. The gun went off as I felt them hit the bed where my legs used to be. I peered up seeing the gunshot in the wall above our bed, and then down to Daniil ripping the gun away from her, and handing it off to Artur as she kicked and screamed under him. Daniil had her contained in less than two seconds, even if still squalling loud enough to be heard over the new ringing in my ears. That’s all it had taken.
I shouted over her, “What the fuck is going on with her?” I glanced at Artur since he seemed to have the most information. “Answer me!”
Daniil yanked her off the bed, none-to-damn-gently, and handed her off to one of the bodyguards that were filing into the room. Artur glanced at his dad, his expression hooded, and Daniil sighed heavily and turned to me, sitting down slowly on the bed. He pulled me into his arms as I watched Katie being drug out of the room, and he slowly began to speak, “When your family showed up at the resort, I had a profile ran on all of them. Katie’s came back with all the classic signs of someone who might accept bribes. I asked Artur to watch over her while we were there,” he glanced at his son, “although, I did not tell him to sleep with her.”
I blinked, feeling really fucking lost.
Artur shrugged, a small smile lifting his lips. “After the money showed up in her account, I needed an in.” He shrugged, putting his gun away. “She offered. I accepted. In accomplished.”
“Anyway,” Daniil growled, shaking his head at his son, and turning back to me. “I also asked Ember to watch over you at the resort since Katie had stayed with you that one night.”
“Ember slept in my damn room,” I muttered.
Daniil nodded, still giving dagger looks every so often to Artur. “She helped watched over you there. And the rest is hit or miss. There was fifty thousand dollars placed into her account the day before you were taken. It was cash so we couldn’t trace it. That’s when Artur really started,” he cleared his throat, “watching her. We know she gave you the mask. Although, since your father doesn’t have cameras in his church, we didn’t know if it was really left as she stated. We continued watching her. I even gently questioned her. But she never gave any indication that she knew where you were or even that she was a part of it, saying the money came from a generous benefactor in her escort business, which could have been true.” He shrugged. “
We had to wait and see if she was a real threat.”
Artur snorted. “She gave it away when you pegged Valentina and Bogdan in the music room. She couldn’t wait to get out of there.”
I shook my head, burrowing into Daniil. “That still doesn’t explain why she did it.”
Daniil nodded, pulling my chin up to look into my eyes. “Do you want me to find out? Or do you want to talk to her?”
Honestly, I didn’t want to be in the same room with her after seeing how much she hated me, but I couldn’t just let someone else find out for me. She was my damn cousin. My responsibility. “I’ll do it.”
Daniil nodded, glancing at Artur. “Call the police. Inform them there’s been an attempt on Elizabeth’s life.”
Right then and there, I fell in love with him all over again. He hadn’t brought a gun out earlier. He hadn’t used lethal force on her when he could have. And, even now, he was going the legal way about this with the police. Because I loved her.
“I love you,” I whispered, kissing his cheek, and moving off the bed. “I have no clue how we’re going to keep her from talking about what I did tonight to Valentina and Bogdan.”
Daniil grabbed my hips, instantly stating in a business manner, “She wasn’t in the room. The surveillance has already been wiped tonight. Just state that they ran, dumping Inna here with us once they found out we knew they were the kidnappers.” He paused and nodded. “Their car is gone, and so are their bodies. Everyone will believe they just fled as far as they could. I’ll inform Inna and Mary of what they need to say if questioned. My kids will know to keep their mouths shut.”
I nodded slowly. This was a lot of fucking effort to do legally. “Okay. You go and talk to everyone, and I’ll go and talk to Katie.” I glanced at Artur. “Will you come with me?” I knew the guards were in there…but, damn, there had been a lot of hate in her eyes.
His lips lifted in a gentle smile. “Only if you promise those are boys inside your body.”
I blinked. “Not you too.”
He lifted his hands and shrugged. “I am my father’s son.”
Obsidian Music (Lion Security Book 3) Page 14