“Are you okay? Can you walk?” He rushed to me, inspecting me for injuries.
I stared at him in part relief and confusion. “I’m—how did you get here?”
“Now’s not the time for questions, Princess. Lift up your legs,” he ordered softly, and he swept me into his arms.
“Well, well, well. If it’s not the couple of the year.” Henry entered the room, wearing an obnoxious smile, and I felt the familiar rage return. I’ve never felt so much bloodlust in my life.
“Delivering the two people I want the most to me. The universe must really be on my side today.”
“If there’s anything on your side, it’s a six-foot hole waiting for you, and if you don’t step out of the way this instant, I’ll bepushing you into it a lot faster than I intend,” Mikhail said, and I could feel his muscles vibrating as his grip tightened around me.
Henry let out a dark laugh. “I don’t think you’re aware, but you’re outnumbered, and this isn’t the type of war where love conquers all.”
I scanned the small cell and found us to be outnumbered on a ratio of 3:1, not to mention the added advantage of the guns his men carried.
“Don’t move,” Mikhail said, lowering me to my feet.
“You know,” Henry continued, twirling a pocketknife in his fingers as he rested his walking stick on the wall. “I thought you’d be a better opponent, seeing as you were raised by your grandfather, but just like your father, you had to meet your demise in a woman.”
“Don’t speak about my father!” Mikhail roared, taking a step forward, and I visibly tensed. I didn’t think Mikhail was stupid enough to embark on a rescue mission alone, but the numbers were currently not on our side.
“Who should I speak of then? Your grandfather who did not have the spine to do what it takes to make Russia the biggest port?” Henry shot back, his eyes glowing with contempt.
“By selling children?”
“Don’t sound so self-righteous, Ivanov. You’re already a part of the mafia. What is one extra transaction to you?”
A wave of dizziness and nausea washed over me, and I had to lean onto the wall to keep myself from falling. Everything around me was spinning.
I clutched at my chest, willing the burning sensation in my lungs to go away, but it only intensified. It didn’t matter how many deep breaths I took, it felt like every atom of oxygen had been sucked out of the room.
Don’t sound so self-righteous Ivanov. You’re already a part of the mafia. What is one extra transaction to you?
The statement reverberated through my skull. It was him all along. He was the one responsible for the trafficking, and he had used me to secure his business.
“It was you the whole time,” I said, my voice sounding nothing like mine. The floor beneath felt like jelly, and everything I thought I knew crumbled before my eyes.
“Stay out of this, Cara,” he waved me off like I was some annoying insect and returned his focus to Mikhail. “Your grandfather destroyed my business, my family, and everything I owned. I spent the past decades living like a vermin, and now, I’m back to claim my place.
Mikhail opened his mouth to retort, but I beat him to it. “Have you always been this vile?” I asked, my voice stronger this time.
“I asked you to stay out of this.”
“Stay out of it? You hijacked my life and turned me into a fucking monster, and you ask me to stay out of it?”
“Don’t act like you’re innocent, Cara,” he scoffed. “You know murder is wrong. You only continued because you love the bloodlust. Why else do you think you fell for him, huh? You’re no different from me.”
“I’m nothing like you,” I spat out. Staring at him with a burning gaze. “You’re pathetic. You can’t even stand comfortably on your feet and had to get kids to do your business. You’re the weakest man I’ve ever come across.”
“You stupid bitch!” Henry said, diving towards me with his knife. I ducked to avoid his sloppy attack, and at the same time, a gun went off somewhere in the room, and multiple shots followed.
I curled into a screaming ball on the floor, covering my ears with my hands till a deathly silence took over the cell. I shut my eyes tightly, scared to open them and see who won.”
“Get up, Arielle, you’re safe now.” Enzo’s voice broke the silence, and I opened my eyes to find him standing over me with a gun in his hands. My eyes quickly scanned the room, only coming to a stop when I found Mikhail taking off a bulletproof vest. Relief washed over me, and I felt my body give into the darkness that’s been clinging to me.
CHAPTER 34
Mikhail