Page 78 of Killing Emma

“And you killed my mentor,” I blurt out the accusation that I’ve been holding onto for years. I couldn’t trace the source of the hitman, but there was only one other person who knew where we’d be that night. Only one person Victor trusted with the information.

“What an assumption,” Ivan howls. “Why would I kill my best friend and partner?”

“Because you hated him,” I answer.

“He was being an idiot, coming to your rescue like a fucking hero.”

Guilt racks my chest, and my mind sears with the memory of him taking a bullet meant for me. I took out the hitman immediately, but he never came back to another source. And no one else came after that.

“He had the audacity to die in your place,” Ivan continues, his voice full of hate. “He betrayed his own fucking morals. He showed you mercy, instead of letting you take the hit like you should’ve. We all go down at some point, and he cared too much to let you take yours.”

“And so you kept putting them on me.”

“And you kept beating them.”

“Good practice,” I remark, unmoving in the darkness.

“You’re one of the best. Better than Manny. All you had to do was let him live, and I’d just have kept you sharp. You were proving you were more than what Victor could be.”

“I don’t know about that.” I creep to the left, staying in the shadows of the blackness.

“That's because you failed, Luca. You showed your cards, just like Victor did. I knew it was coming. You found this fucking room to work out your rage in secret. And it was only a matter of time. Victor was weak to let it happen. The fucker chose love over life when he took a bullet for you.”

I blink twice. Love. Victor loved me? I don’t know why I never thought about it. I don’t know why I thought Ivan loved Manny and Victor didn’t love me.

Ivan would never die for Manny.

He might draw me out to kill me, but that’s just another fucking game to men like Ivan. And for some reason, it pisses me off on behalf of Manny. The distraction of thought is a mistake, and I take a direct hit from something on the side of the head.

I crash to the floor, grabbing my head to cover.

“Gotta stay sharp,” Ivan barks above me, smashing what I think is an aluminum bat into the side of my head again. My hand breaks the hit, and I manage to grab ahold of it. He bursts into laughter and continues to cackle even as my heel takes out his knee and he hits the floor. Fighting in the dark isn’t my forte, but it’s easier to not get distracted by the blood, which I’m sure is gushing out of my nose from hitting the concrete.

I force myself to sit up, still hanging onto the bat. Ivan makes a kick to my stomach, and while it hurts, it busts open the adrenaline.

“When I’m finished with you, I’ll find the little redhead of yours. Try her out for myself,” Ivan taunts.

Every fucking demon I keep locked away is let loose at his words, and I see red—the same shade as Emma’s hair. The same color I saw when my eyes landed on Manny’s hand in her pants.

“Fuck. You.”

“Ah, there he is,” Ivan rumbles. “Victor always said you had a monster in you. It’s why he showed you this room. Gotta keep the monster at bay, huh?”

I lunge at him, my mind roaring with what sounds like tumultuous ocean waves. It’s nothing but static as my body collides with Ivan’s with a force that causes him to gasp for oxygen.

I break the bat from his grip and chunk it across the room. I can’t see what he pulls from the darkness, but I know he’s a fucking cheater. The butt of a pistol almost collides with my temple.

“No guns allowed in this room,” I growl, blocking another hit.

“And since when am I a man that ever follows the rules?” Ivan chokes out as we continue to take hits at each other. I block another hit, and I hear the fumble with the gun. He’s going to take a cheap shot.

But I’ll take mine first.

I reach into my waistband, removing the pistol from its place as a twinge emits from my left thigh. I ignore it, ready to fire. But as I come around my body, I miss blocking a third hit.

And everything goes black.

***

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