Page 68 of Cruel Bet

“Do it, shoot him Arianna, you have to save us!” Adelina cries from behind me, having worked the gag out of her mouth.

I don’t hesitate, I quickly grab the gun and shoot.

Adelina was right, the gun was loaded. A bright bloom of red spreads across my father’s chest as he coughs, sinking down and looking at it in surprise.

Nikolai finally gets the upper hand on the guard, the knife falls out of his hand and Nikolai kicks it away before getting him into a chokehold and snapping the man’s neck with his bare hands.

I watch as the life in my father’s eyes dies, and he takes his last breath.

Nikolai and I both rush over to free Mads and Adelina from their confines.

“It’s okay we’re safe now,” I say kissing Mads’ head and savoring the feeling of her in my arms again.

I’ve never been happier to hold my baby girl. Nikolai pulls us both into an embrace. But we know that the danger hasn’t passed. The guard is due back any minute and we’ve still got dozens more to face if we stand any chance of getting out of here alive. Nikolai and I look at each other, bracing ourselves for what is about to come.

Chapter 39

Nikolai

The brief moment of shared relief that De Luca is finally dead and we’re all still alive is short lived as we hear guards rushing toward us, no doubt drawn by the gunshot.

“Get behind something,” I order Arianna and Adelina, picking up the dead guard’s gun, prepared that I might have to fight our way out.

I find cover and aim my gun at the door as De Luca’s men come running in, guns drawn. They spot the dead men and I’m just about to fire when Adelina calmly steps out from her hiding place.

“Stand down,” she orders.

To my amazement, they obey her.

What the fuck is going on?

“You can come out, they won’t hurt you,” Adelina states confidently with a smile on her face.

I hesitate for a moment, trying to process what’s happening, but before I can decide how best to handle the situation, Arianna steps out, clutching Mads.

“What’s going on Adelina?” she asks, confused and frightened.

Immediately, I come out, my gun trained on the men, and place myself between them and Arianna.

“Nikolai, really, there’s no need for weapons. These men answer to me,” Adelina says calmly. I’m not sure what is happening here, rather than the scared, beaten woman who turned up unexpectedly at my safe house, Arianna’s sister is standing tall with the bearing of a queen surveying her domain.

I lower my gun fractionally but don’t put it down. Seeming satisfied, Adelina nods. She walks over to the body of her father and kicks him sharply in the ribs before spitting on him. Behind me, I hear Arianna’s sharp inhale at the sight.

“May you rot in hell Papa dearest,” she hisses, then turns to Arianna. “Well done, Arianna, I was worried you wouldn’t have the guts to pull the trigger. It seems we’re more alike than I thought,” she says with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.

“Can you please explain what the fuck is going on?” I ask tensely, looking from Adelina to the guards and back again. Their weapons are still drawn in readiness, but they appear to be looking to her for orders.

“Oh, of course, you have no idea! Why, I planned this whole thing,” Adelina exclaims triumphantly. I had no idea what Arianna’s sister had been like before, but the woman standing in front of me appears less like a victim, and more like some of the sadistic men I have had the misfortune of dealing with in the past.

Arianna is rigid with fear, and I sense that she is as unsettled as I, by the change in her sister.

Adelina smiles in a manner that brings to mind a snake, coiled and ready to pounce on its cornered prey, “I knew you’d never ally with my father and that you wanted him dead by your hand, or dear Arianna’s, so I had to orchestrate a way for that to happen without you becoming suspicious. Of course, Father wasonly too willing to go along with my plan to kidnap your child. We knew you’d come running to save us both. Though the stupid old fool didn’t think you’d kill him.” She gives De Luca’s dead body a prod with her toe, eliciting another gasp from Arianna. “He thought he was so safe with my men guarding him. That our alliance would protect him. As if I’d continue to ally with an idiot like him!” she exclaims her eyes ablaze with a crazed look.

“Why not just kill him yourself? It’s clear you had access and the means to do it,” I ask keeping my voice level.

I don’t like the frantic energy that’s radiating off her. The scared, vulnerable woman who came to us is no longer there. Now, she’s like a wild animal, unpredictable. Just as likely to seem sweet and tame one minute and bite you the next.

“Where’s the fun in that?” she says with a laugh. “Besides, I figured you’d be more amenable to an alliance if you got to take out the man you’ve been hunting for the past couple of years. That you’d owe me one,” she adds with a shrug that’s anything but casual.

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