Page 1 of Tainted Empire

Chapter 1

Gabriette

I always thought love would feel like a firework—a luminous burst of light and color that left you breathless, standing in awe of its fleeting beauty.

Instead, here I am, on my knees in a dimly lit room, a gun pointed at my head by the very man who promised to love and protect me.

Fireworks? No, this is a detonation, a shattering explosion that’s tearing both of us to pieces. And the twisted part? Even now, even as I feel the cold muzzle of the gun against my skin, I can’t untangle the complicated web of emotions that hold me captive.

Love, it seems, is not just the firework; it’s also the smoke and ashes left in its wake.

I’m on my knees, heart pounding in my chest as if it wants to break free, tears streaming down my face. The metal of the gun feels ice cold against my lips, a grim promise from the man I love—or thought I loved.

I force myself to look up into Mikhail’s eyes, my gaze steady, refusing to give him the satisfaction of my fear. But what I see in those eyes, it’s not just anger, it’s a tempest of emotions too entangled for me to decipher. He looks fractured, like a man on the edge of breaking.

Then there’s a strange, twisted part of me that wonders why he hasn’t pulled the trigger yet. What’s holding him back? Is it the baby? The love that maybe, just maybe, still lingers? It’s a sickening cocktail of hope and despair.

“History has a fucked up way of repeating itself,” he says in a voice devoid of emotion.

Then he cocks the gun, and I brace myself for the end. But at that very moment, the door slams open.

“Stop!”

My head snaps to the side at Lee’s voice as she storms in, her eyes locking onto Mikhail’s, wide with an urgency that sends a shiver through me. “Mischa, whatever you’re thinking, stop it now.”

Mikhail’s hand trembles, the gun still pointed at me, but he hesitates. A split second where the atmosphere feels heavy, as though the air itself is holding its breath, waiting for what comes next.

Lee glances at me, her eyes softening for just a second before hardening again. “You don’t want to do this, Mischa. Not like this, not to Gabriette.”

Mikhail’s eyes flick from Lee back to me, then to the gun, as if he’s in some kind of internal struggle, wrestling with demons that only he can see.

Slowly, agonizingly so, the gun lowers. He steps back, putting distance between us, his eyes clouded with an indescribable emotion.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Lee?” he growls, his voice drenched in venom.

“You need to hear me out. There’s more to this situation than what you’ve seen or think you know,” Lee answers, as she visibly puts herself between me and Mikhail. “I just need you to put that gun down so we can talk.”

“More? You think there’s more that needs to be said?” Mikhail’s voice escalates, tinged with hysteria, his eyes darting back to me, then to Lee.

“You’re damn right there’s more,” Lee retorts, her own eyes now narrowed, a clear challenge set. “And you owe it to yourself, and to Gabriette, to hear it before you do something you’ll regret for the rest of your life.”

Mikhail’s eyes meet mine again. I see confusion, pain, a haunting indecisiveness. He looks at Lee one more time before letting out a guttural sigh, almost like a wounded animal, defeated yet still on guard.

Then he sets the gun down on a nearby table with a clatter that echoes like a bell tolling, marking an end and perhaps a beginning.

“Talk,” he says finally, his voice stripped of all its earlier fury but laden with an exhaustion that seems to seep into his bones. “But it better be fucking good.”

Lee nods, then she turns around to look at me. “Get up,” she says, then she walks backwards, so she’s in front of me. “We’ll talk, but let’s get Gabriette out of here—“

“What the fuck are you trying to do, Lee?” Mikhail growls and I see his hand itching to grab the gun again. “You said talk. Let’s fucking talk.”

My heart feels like it’s about to drop to my knees with the way Mikhail is glaring at me, and I have no fucking idea what it going through his mind. He seems dead set on hurting me without hearing me out, and something about that just doesn’t feel right.

“I’m getting Gabriette out of here before you wake up tomorrow and realize you’re being a fucking idiot,” Lee scolds him and places a hand on her hips. “This isn’t up for debate, Mischa.”

“Fuck,” he growls, and Lee turns to look at me.

“Go and find Natalya. We arrived here together; tell her to take you to my SUV and wait there for me,” she murmurs.

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