Page 66 of Bound By Longing

I spin around. “Please, Dimitri. Let us go.”

“You were supposed to marry me,” he growls. “Instead, you chose that fucker inside.”

“I couldn’t marry a man I don’t love. I’m sorry. I met Damien first.”

Dimitri huffs. “Well, I’m going to make sure he can’t marry you now.” He lifts his gun and points it right at my head. “Say goodbye, Mila.”

I clench my eyes shut and wait for the bullet that will end my life.

But it doesn’t come.

What I hear instead is a grunt, and when I open my eyes, I see Vik has barreled into Dimitri and is grappling with the gun in his hand. I gasp. Vik could die.

I sprint over and join the fight. While Dimitri is distracted by Vik, I grab his gun. He freezes when I cock it, pointing it at his head. Vik scrambles off and comes to my side.

“Let me,” she says, holding out her hand.

It would be so easy to let Vik kill him. She’s killed before, whereas my hands are clean. But if I’m to belong to the world of the Bratva, I can’t be so innocent. I need to be brave. I need to have agency. Write my own story.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Dimitri taunts.

“I can do it,” Vik says.

“No.” The word is out of me, and there’s no turning back.

“Wait!” I turn to look at the new person who spoke. It’s Vladimir. He’s running right for me. I gasp and don’t hesitate.

Swinging the gun around, I point it at him and fire. The bullet hits him in the chest, and he goes flying to the ground. Dimitri uses that opportunity to jump up and reach for the gun, but Vik kicks him between his legs, sending him to his knees.

“Mila, now!” she says.

I lift the gun again and aim it at Dimitri’s head. He’ll kill me if I don’t kill him. I’ve been kicked around, kidnapped, and stolen too many times by men before. I just want to be free and happy.

With a sharp inhale, I pull the trigger. Dimitri’s eyes remain wide, even as he dies, shocked I actually killed him.

Immediately, I drop the gun. Vik picks it back up and cradles it. “Mila?”

I sob and sink to my knees right before throwing up. I did it. I killed two men tonight. I’m officially like my sisters now—killing to protect each other.

But I don’t have time to process my feelings when Damien and Aleksander come out of the house, dragging Lev with them. Damien stops when he sees the dead bodies on the ground.

Then he runs to me and wraps me in his arms. “Mila? Are you ok?”

“She killed them,” Vik explains.

The realization that I killed two people leaves me numb.

And within seconds, everything goes black as I pass out.

Chapter

Nineteen

MILA

When I wake up, I realize I’m back in my bed at Sofiya’s house. And sitting next to me is Damien.

I gasp and sit up.

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