Page 38 of Ruby Menace

“And then what? You think you can keep her safe?” He scoffs. “We found her once. We can find her again. It’s not going to end here.”

“It ends when I say it does, pizda. And that is right now.”

“Pretty bold, considering I have a knife to your woman’s throat.” He chuckles.

“Not for long.” My mind races, working out my next step. I can’t risk Tiana getting hurt, but I also can’t let this bastard get away.

“Mudak, she practically climbed into our van.” He laughs again. “Even if we hadn’t put plans in place, she would have landed up here eventually.”

Plans?

I grit my teeth as my understanding hardens. Someone told them about where my mother’s wake is being held. Someone on the inside. Someone who was very close to me once.

Fucking Zoya.

“So, what’s it gonna be, Vyronov? You let me walk out of here? Or you watch me carve pieces out of your pretty little suka?”

Tiana’s eyes are wide with fear as they meet mine, dark and tormented. Her chest and belly are crisscrossed with fine red lines. The bastard has already spent time playing knife games with her. From the looks of it, none of them are serious, but I swear that for every drop of blood he spilled from her, he’s going to lose a pint.

Then Tiana shifts her eyes left sharply, and I realize that she’s trying to tell me something. The bastard is playing for time… and for a reason. In a split second, I duck down, just in time to miss the blade of a man hiding behind the door. He’s tall, broad, his head shaved bald, his face contorted. He lunges at me again, but I’m too quick for him.

With a speed that surprises even me, I grip his knife hand, spin the blade around, and slash an arc that leaves his throat yawning open. As he drops, clutching his hands to the wound, gasping for air, I pivot back and fling the knife across the room at the fucker holding my woman. It pegs into his right shoulder, and he staggers back a step, clapping a hand to where the blade protrudes from his flesh. Blood pulses through his fingers. Shock fills his eyes.

“Didn’t expect that, did you?” I glance around the room, my eyes scanning for any other threats. There’s no one else. I prowl forward, locking eyes with his. There’s fear in them now as he takes a step back. And then another. From the way that his arm is dangling, I suspect that the blade has severed a tendon or a ligament. It’s useless to him.

I smile darkly. “You made a big mistake, mudak.”

His eyes shift about as if help will come from somewhere. It won’t. Whatever is left of Petrov’s forces is being dispatched by my men. Even now, I can hear the random shots and strangled screams.

“You won’t get away with this,” he grits out.

I start to laugh as I advance on him. “Watch me.” I pause, waiting for him to make his move. He needs to die, but I was never one to take down a helpless victim. I want the fucker to fight back.

It doesn’t take long. I see his eye twitch just as he reaches for the pistol tucked into his waistband. And that’s all I need.

A chop to his throat has him choking on a gasp. Any ideas he had of grabbing his gun go out the window as I follow up the blow with a sharp jab to his stomach. As he buckles forward, I grab the back of his head, shoving it down hard as I slam my knee up into his face. I feel his nose crunch before I release him, letting him drop to the floor. He lands on his back, his face twisted with hate and pain.

I drop to my knee beside him, grasping the hilt of the blade lodged in his shoulder and twisting it sharply. He bleats, his hand flailing up to push me away, but I grab his wrist and hold it down easily.

“You like to cut women, pizda?” I slide the blade beneath the front of his shirt, slicing through the fabric.

“Poshyol ty’!” he grits out.

“Fuck you too, you piece of shit.” I trail the blade down his chest, slicing through a layer of skin. It’s not unlike the pattern he’d cut into Tiana’s skin. Except his is far deeper.

His breath hisses out. “You would lose your mind like this over a woman, Vyronov?”

“Da.” I press the knife deeper as I reach his solar plexus. “For the right one.” Blood begins to pool and then streams down his ribcage. “My only regret is that your boss is too much of a coward to face me himself. But you will do for now.” He squeals as the tip of the knife touches bone. “Not so tough now, huh?”

His throat works, and then he screams as I slice a path from his ribs to his navel. I can’t think of a time that I’ve wanted to hurt someone so badly. But a sound from behind me has me twisting my head.

Blyad!

Tiana needs me.

She’s still tied to the chair, her shoulders shaking as she sobs softly.

“Don’t you fucking move,” I tell the idiot below me. “Unless you want me to spread your guts all over the floor.”

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