by Nicole Fox
Her scream is feral, and she rips the knife from the wall, preparing for another stab at me. Before she can bring the knife down again, I press the shotgun in my other hand up under her chin and pull the trigger.
The noise is deafening, and I fall to one knee, breathless, ears ringing. Fuck. Fuck.
I have to remind myself why I did it. I have to imagine saving Lucy, otherwise I might lose my shit right here on the warehouse floor. There’s an exception to every rule. Nobody is safe as long as Lucy is in danger. Gathering my strength, I push myself up from the ground, unsteady on my feet.
I check to see how much ammunition is left and toss the gun to the floor when I see it’s empty. I still have my pistol. I climb the stairs two at a time, calling out for Konstantin. “Come out here, you bastard,” I say.
The second floor of the warehouse is a mess. There are rooms full of boxes that stretch towards the ceiling. Whatever he’s packaging and shipping, it’s huge. I go from room to room until I see one door open. The light is on.
I enter slowly, looking around. I get to the other side of the room when I hear a noise. Spinning around, I see Konstantin.
He has Lucy held tight, a gun pressed to her head. The sight makes my blood run cold.
The look of fear on her face burns itself into my mind. She looks terrified, eyes wide, nose flaring as she breathes heavily. “Let her go, Konstantin,” I say. I tighten my grip on my gun. “She doesn’t have anything to do with this. I was the one hired to kill you. Not her.”
Konstantin chuckles and looks down at her. “Is that right? Lucy here had a lot to tell me earlier. She told me how she’s always wanted to kill me. How she dreamed about me some nights. I’m certain she played as big a role in this as you did.”
I want to yell at Lucy for saying anything. She should’ve just kept her mouth shut. But I understand. I couldn’t hold back from telling Andrei and Aleksandr. I wanted to gloat. Wanted to rub it in their faces that I was the one taking them out of this world.
“Roman,” she says, eyes full with tears. “You have to stop him.”
Konstantin chuckles again. “He’s not going to stop anything, sweetheart. He’s going to do exactly what I say if he doesn’t want to watch you die right in front of him.”
Just the thought of it makes me sick. Death doesn’t scare me. What does is the thought of Lucy being the next person I see die.
I can’t shake the thought from my mind. The blood. The hollow look in her eyes. It’s bone-chilling.
That’s not going to happen to her.
“Konstantin, look at me.”
His wild eyes fall on me. “What?”
“We can work together, okay? We don’t have to be against each other.”
One of his eyebrows cocks upwards. “Elaborate.”
“Mr. X knows that I’m coming for you tonight. He knows that you’re supposed to die. You think he’s gonna stop trying to bury you, just because his first option for the job didn’t get it done? No way. If I fail, more will come after me. But if you work with me, if you let Lucy go, I’ll tell him you’re dead. I’ll let him think you’re gone. You can disappear. You can move out of the city. Go somewhere else, start your businesses there. I’ll deal with Mr. X on my own.”
It’s a solid plan. Sure, I have no fucking idea how I’m going to explain it to Mr. X, but I don’t have time to think about that. I need to say anything I can to get this man to lower his weapon. I just need him to take his finger off the trigger long enough for me to shoot him dead.
“You really think I’d fall for that?”
“I know you have connections, Konstantin. You have plenty of people out there that can help you disappear. Lay low for a little while. Let me take care of Mr. X, and when it’s all said and done, you can come back to town.”
“You’d kill him?”
“Anything. I don’t care. I don’t care what it takes. If you want it, we can make it happen, okay?”
He looks as if he’s considering it. I’ve almost got him. “What do you think?” he asks Lucy. “Should I trust him?”
“Yes,” she breathes. “You should.”
Konstantin smirks. He aims his gun at my feet and fires. I jump back, barely missing the bullet as it buries itself into the concrete floor, hissing. My heart races.
“Did you really think I’d fall for that, Roman? Surely you must think better of me.”
Fuck.
Gritting my teeth, I steady my gun again, taking a shaky breath.
“It’s not a trick, Konstantin. Anything you fucking want, you can have. Just let her go.”
“I want you dead, Roman,” he says, eyes glinting with psychotic glee. “I saw what you did to all of my men downstairs. I saw the carnage. I heard the screaming. You killed all of them to get up here. If I let my guard down just once, you’ll be at my throat with your teeth.”
He’s not a stupid man. At least he has that going for him. “If you let her go, I’ll walk out of here and never look back. I won’t even turn around to see where you run off to.”
Konstantin tilts his head. “Like you’d ever really turn against Mr. X like that.”
“Fuck X,” I shout. “Fuck him and anyone else I’ve worked for. I’m done with this shit.”
He laughs, head falling back for a moment. “Is that right? You think you can just walk away? After everything Mr. X has on you?”
“What?”
There’s no way in hell he knows about the blackmail. X told me he was the only one who knew. As long as he had it, he controlled me.
“You heard me, Roman. I know what you did to dear old Uncle Andrei and Uncle Aleksandr. It was vicious, but if you ask me, they had it coming. They got exactly what they deserved. I mean, killing your parents like that? How could they do such a thing?”
Lucy struggles against his grip and he presses the gun harder to her forehead.
“Who told you about that?” I demand. When he doesn’t respond, I repeat myself. “Who fucking told you about that?”
“No one told me about it,” he grins. His teeth practically shine, shark-like in the LED lights overhead.
“Only Mr. X knew about that. So, either he told you, or—”
“You’re almost there, Roman. Think a little harder. Put the puzzle pieces together.”
Finally, it clicks, and when it does, I see Lucy realize it at the exact same moment.
Momentarily, the world spins with the truth, “You son of a—”
“Finally,” Konstantin muses. “You’re not as smart as I hoped. Yes, Roman. I know about your uncles because I know everything. I am Mr. X. Surprised yet?”
Chapter Nineteen
Lucy
I can’t breathe. I can’t move. The silence that follows Konstantin’s confession is oppressive, and it’s hard to even think straight. None of this makes sense. Konstantin has been Mr. X this whole time. Every mission Roman worked was to help the man that killed my family. Not only has his negligence taken the lives of countless people, but he’s been an active role in having others killed.
I can see the confusion on Roman’s face as he tries to process this. His hand shakes and my heart sinks. I want to run to him, to throw my arms around him and try my hardest to help him figure this all out, but I can’t. The cold metal of Konstantin’s gun keeps me still.
“You’re full of shit,” Roman says.
Amused, Konstantin says, “Am I, though?” He clears his throat, and the moment he speaks again, his voice is deeper, tinged with a weirdly ambiguous accent. “Your next assignment is to take out Abram Konstantin.” It’s spooky; he truly sounds like a different person, nothing like the snake-oil sleaze that normally came out when he spoke.
Recognition settles on Roman’s face. He must know that voice. He’s probably talked to that person countless times. Roman puts a second hand on his gun, steadying his shot.
“I’m disappointed that you didn’t figure it out sooner,” Konstantin remarks. “I worried that you would start to add up all
of the people and how they had connections to me. People that owed me money, people that pissed me off. I thought, surely, you would start to see a pattern. That’s why I threw in a few random men. Men with no immediate connections to me, hardly more than slight annoyances. It’s sad to see that they died for nothing, because you were too stupid to even consider the possibility that Mr. X and I might be one and the same.”
He’s twisted. There’s no way to put it. I thought, just maybe, there was a bit of apathy that came from his privilege. That the reason he didn’t care about the people who died on his properties was because he didn’t know them. He didn’t play an active role in their death and could rationalize that he wasn’t technically responsible. But no. He’s fucking sick. He took pleasure in sending innocent men to their death. He blackmailed Roman for years, used him to kill anyone he found to be a problem. He got away with it all, just because of the money and power he had.
“Roman, that pouting expression is unbecoming,” he chuckles, tightening his grip around me.
“Fuck you,” Roman spits.
“That’s no way to talk to your boss,” he says flippantly. “But I guess I understand. You’re upset that you lost. You’re mad that you were bested. Anyone would be cross. I get that. But I would also like to add that when I finish with you, Lucy and I are going to have a lot of fun. Aren’t we, little mouse?”
His free arm slips from around my neck and travels down my chest, over my breast, and down to my hip. The feeling makes me cringe, and I try my hardest not to jerk away from him. The gun is still pressed to my temple.
“Get your fucking hands off her!” Roman shouts, taking a step closer.
Konstantin’s reaction is immediate. He tugs me towards him and presses the gun even harder against my head. “Take one more goddamn step and I’ll blow this bitch’s brains out. Do you fucking understand me?”
I can see the rage on Roman’s face and it kills me to know that I can’t do anything. He can’t do anything. He’s at the mercy of this psychopath, as powerless as I am, even with his weapon.
“Put your gun on the floor,” Konstantin orders. Roman hesitates. Konstantin raises his hand and strikes me with the butt of the gun.
“You fucker,” Roman growls.
I feel dizzy for a moment, and a trickle of blood works its way down my cheek from my forehead. I let out a long groan and try to stay still, but everything feels off-kilter. “You asshole,” I manage to get out.
Konstantin laughs in my ear. “Sorry, little mouse. I like to play rough.” He turns his attention back to Roman. “Put your fucking gun on the ground now.”
“Roman, don’t,” I say, surprising myself. “Don’t do it, okay? Just kill him. I don’t care if he kills me. Just stop him.”
There’s a twist of pain on Roman’s face, and I feel myself fall apart all over again. I can’t imagine what’s going on his head. The internal conflict, whether he should stop a man who’s made it so obvious that he has no respect for human life or give up and let himself die for me.
“Yes, Roman,” Konstantin muses. “Take me out. You can see us both die that way.”
“Lucy,” he says longingly.
“Don’t you dare, Roman,” I cry. “I don’t want to be alive if it means he has me. He’s always had me. But you can free me. You can free us both.”
This is the only way to keep him from hurting anyone else. I’ve spent my entire life planning how to hurt him. He’s already taken so much from me, and I don’t see a way back. I may not make it out of this situation, but if I die tonight, at least I know I’ll have taken this motherfucker out with me. I’ll be reunited with my parents after finally getting them the justice they deserve.
“Please, Roman,” I beg, tears streaming down my face. “Please.”
Roman drops the gun and I feel the worst scream tear through my chest. Roman is as good as dead. He’s gone. And after that, when Konstantin takes me back to his office to have his “fun,” I’ll wish I was the one that died instead.
“Good,” Konstantin purrs. “Kick it to me.”
“Don’t, Roman. You can still pick it up. Please!” Maybe I can convince him. Maybe there’s still time for him to pick it up and kill Konstantin once and for all. That hope goes out the window the moment he kicks the gun towards us. It slides across the cement and stops right at Konstantin’s feet.
“Don’t cry, Lucy,” Konstantin says softly. “It’ll be okay. You’ll grow to like it.” He drags his fingers over my lips again.
“Fuck you,” I say. “Fuck you!”
Something comes over me. I don’t know what it is, but I lose it, opening my mouth and biting down on Konstantin’s fingers until I taste blood.
“You fucking bitch!” he screams, slamming his gun against my head again. My skull erupts in pain, but I don’t have time to stop and suffer. I’m all instinct, all reaction. He tears his hand back, and I dive to the floor, grabbing the gun. It feels heavy and foreign in my grasp, the same as it did in the diner so many weeks ago.
But I know what to do.
I flick off the safety and turn around just as there’s a sudden loud pop, and I scream. It melts in with the sound of a deeper yell.
I didn’t fire my gun. I know I didn’t. Roman. I turn around, starting for him. I expect to see a red hole in his shirt. To see the life leave his eyes as he collapses on the cold floor. Abram got him. He got us. He killed Roman.
But when I get to him, throw my arms around him, he’s still standing.
“I thought he shot you,” Roman says, crushing me against him, voice hoarse.
“I thought he shot you,” I say. I spin around, and Konstantin is still standing there, unmoved. His arm wavers, and his knee buckles. He starts to open his mouth to speak when a thick line of blood runs from the corner of his lips.
He takes a step, stumbles, and collapses face down on the floor. There’s a bullet hole in his back.
Roman pulls me back into his arms. “I thought I’d lost you,” he says, squeezing me tight. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t. I couldn’t see another person I love go.”
I want to be mad at him. The logical side of me says that he should’ve listened to me. He should’ve given me the freedom I asked for, taken the shot, and killed Konstantin. But I can’t be upset. He lost everything the same way I did. He lost the only people he ever cared about, the same way I did. It wasn’t fair to ask him to do that one more time.
“I love you too,” I say, trying hard not to break down in tears. Konstantin is finally gone. It’s finally over.
I wait for the trumpets to start playing and for the parade to begin. Only, there’s nothing like that. There’s no overwhelming sense of accomplishment. All there is, is the sound of Roman’s heart thudding in his chest. The deafening silence that follows the echo of a gunshot.
“Wait ...” I pull back and look up at him. “If I didn’t shoot him, and you didn’t shoot him ...”
I spin around at the sound of approaching footsteps. From behind the boxes piled high to the roof of the building, I see Nana step out.
“What the fuck?” I forget all manners. I forget that I’m not supposed to curse around my elders. Because seriously, what the fuck.
The gun in her hand is tiny, and for a second, I think it’s a toy. There’s no way my sweet old grandmother has a weapon like that on her. But when she approaches us and I can see it up close. It’s definitely real.
“Nana, what are you doing here? How did you even find us?”
She pauses to look at Konstantin’s body, then back up at me and Roman. “Check your pocket, Roman,” she says.
Confused, he digs into his jacket. What he pulls out is a tiny square. A knowing smile crosses his face, meanwhile I’m left in the dark completely.
“You didn’t,” he says in disbelief.
“I did,” she replies, smiling as well.
“Um,” I interject. “Can somebody please tell me what the hell is going on right now?”
“This is a
tracking device,” he says, rolling it over and over in his fingers. “I’ve used something like this before. You can order them online, and as long as you stay close by, you can locate the person through GPS.”
“I bought a few of them online,” she says. “I put one on that man you had watching me. He wasn’t too friendly, but considering who he worked for, I can see why. I put one on you when you came to help me drag the recycling bin out to the curb.”
I make a face. “You don’t need help with the recycling. It’s not that heavy.”
“I know,” Nana smiles. “I needed an excuse to get close to him.”
“Nana, how did you even know who he was?”
“I didn’t. I just had a feeling. You told me you met an old friend, and I saw the way his eyes lit up when I mentioned that my granddaughter helped me with the trash. I knew right then and there that he was someone you knew. Did you really expect me to believe you were working on a writing gig for that long, sweetheart? I know you’re impulsive, but you’re not impulsive enough to quit your job and disappear for weeks at a time.”
I blush and look away, embarrassed because I really did think Nana believed the story. There was no way she’d question me about this gig because she always pushed me to do more writing in the first place. Little did I know, she was working on a plot of her own.
I rush towards her and throw my arms around her, squeezing her tight. I’m still trying to process the fact that she was the one that saved us in the end, but I’m more than happy to see that she’s here. Moments ago, I was sure I’d never see her again.
“Whose gun is that?” I ask after the hug.
She lifts it up and examines it. “It was your grandpa’s. He said we’d only use it to protect the family, and that’s what I did. I couldn’t let that bastard take another one of my babies from me.”
I could cry. In my anger at Konstantin, I blindly forgot that Nana also suffered. She might have been the one trying to move on, but that never meant she still didn’t hurt. That she still didn’t carry the same burning rage for Abram Konstantin that I’ve spent my entire life harboring. I hug Nana again, this time squeezing her tighter than before.