Page 86 of Malevolent King

Silvio raised his eyebrows at the statement, anger working up his neck to his face. “Now, come on, Sofia. Surely it’s only fair to compare after you’ve had both.” His lip curled with satisfaction as he nodded to his driver. “Hold her.”

The driver jumped me from behind, grabbing my arms before I got away, and then Silvio was on me. He pushed me to the ground and followed, settling his heavy weight on top of me.

“Let both of us fuck you, and then we’ll see who’s more of a man.” Silvio grunted.

His driver held my hands over my head, giving Silvio the chance to work his belt loose with his one hand. I bucked and writhed and screamed, trying to claw my way forward, but it was impossible. I couldn’t take both of them. I couldn’t even reach Silvio with the way the driver was holding my arms.

“Hold still!” Silvio roared in my face, leaning so close his rank spit flicked against my lips. “Hold still, or I’ll cut parts off while I fuck you and leave you here for dead.”

I stilled, not because of the threat, but because I had to be smart. Fighting him like this wasn’t smart. I already knew he was stronger, despite being one-handed. He had help. Silvio went back to his belt as I frantically searched through my options.

Would Nikolai come for me? Was he too hurt to move? Was he dead? The thought threatened to scatter all the others in my head. I couldn’t afford to dwell on it. What had he told me, that night at prom, the last time I’d seen him before he’d gone to jail in Russia, and I’d thought he’d forgotten me?

I’ll always find you, Sofia. Wherever you go, I will always come for you.

Like my very thoughts and wildest hopes had summoned him, a roar sounded to the left, toward the houses, and a blur of bloodied flesh and dark jeans hit us side-on. Silvio rolled, and the driver let go of my hands as he tried to protect himself from the whirling fury of Nikolai Chernov.

I sat up, casting about for a weapon. Silvio had dropped his gun somewhere, I had no idea where, when he’d been trying to strip. Now he stood slowly, pushing himself to his feet. Genuine fear filled his face as he took in Niko, still unharmed enough to fight.

“What’s wrong, cousin? What about your best men?” I asked as I stepped closer.

Nikolai was fighting the driver, the two of them rolling about on the ground, grunting and swearing. Niko was hurt, while the driver was fresh to the fight. It evened the ground between them.

As I walked past Niko, I saw it lying on the ground like a gift. It must have fallen from Niko’s pocket. It felt like the universe had conspired to bring it to me, here at this perfect poetic moment.

I dropped and swiped the long, thin knife off the ground and rose into a fighting stance.

Silvio watched me with a sneer.“You think you can take me? I know you and Renato played with knives when you were kids, but, Sofia, you’re embarrassing yourself,” he said, but the strain in his voice revealed his fear. Sure, it probably wasn’t fear of me. He was afraid of Nikolai and for good reason. Still, that didn’t mean Niko was the only threat here.

Silvio dismissed me with a grunt and went looking for his gun. It was only a matter of time until he found it. I wasted no more time holding back and went for him. He grunted as I landed a shallow cut to his arm and danced away from his heavy hand, swiping through the air where I had been standing.

Inparanza corta, the silent and lethal first blow is the strongest. I didn’t know why I hadn’t gone for a more vital area, only that my hand was stayed. Maybe it was because I’d never killed anyone before, or I was distracted with worry for Nikolai. I didn’t know. All I was painfully aware of was losing the advantage by holding back.

Silvio kept looking for his gun as I attacked from left and right. He was quick to turn whenever I attempted to sink my knife between his ribs. He hit me again, just as the sound of approaching sirens filled the air.

“Great, the fucking cops,” Silvio muttered, his eyes glinting with excitement as he looked at Nikolai. He’d just twisted the driver’s head like he’d been trying to take it off. The man fell, lifeless, to the ground. “So, what’ll it be, Chernov? Death or jail?” Silvio’s voice was triumphant.

He raised the gun and pointed it at Nikolai. He’d fucking found it.

Time seemed to stop.

“What do you think, Silvio? I’ve been to jail before. I didn’t care for it. I’m certain American jail is like a Moscow five-star hotel, but still, I need to see the stars at night,” Nikolai said.

His neck and half his face gleamed with blood, his or someone else’s, I had no idea, but I suspected it was other people’s. He’d single-handedly cut a swath through Silvio’s best men to get to me.

“So, does that mean you choose death?” Silvio laughed, flushed with victory. “I guess if you’re dead, you don’t have to worry about all the dirty, depraved things I’m going to do to your little girlfriend here once you’re gone. I wish you could have seen it, but if you want to die before the cops arrive, we’ve no time to waste.”

The words and the look in Nikolai’s eyes when he met mine calmed the raging storm in my soul. Resolve filled me. Silvio was so wrapped up in his posturing that he’d forgotten I was even there. I’d always been an irritation to my family, well, everyone except my brother. I’d been inconsequential, an asset to be polished and put away. Not a real person, not even once.

Now, I darted behind Silvio, using the same moves that my instructor had taught Ren and me when we were young.

My knife went through his skin far easier than I could have imagined it would. I slashed downward from the back of his ear to his collarbone, the knife hitting the bone with a jarring impact.

Silvio turned to me, his face frozen in a look of comical surprise as blood jetted out of the long slice down his jugular.

His eyes locked on me, disbelieving until the end. His blood was hot as it splashed across my neck. He slumped to the ground, gripping the hole in his skin as if that could stop the frantic fountain of red that was escaping. My eyes were stuck on his dying ones. I could see it, the exact moment the light left them, the soul escaping into the ether. I felt that yawning darkness then that I’d always sensed in Nikolai. A black hole in the fabric of this world into another.

I’d stepped outside the rules. I was on the other side.

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