Page 13 of Merciless Queen

“What do you want? You’ve already given over the creator’s name.”

“I might have given it, but it’s not yours to keep.” A deadly glint creeps into his gaze and so many things happen at the same time.

I give a signal for Lev and Dimitri to begin retreating; for everyone to load into the two vehicles we have and take off. I gotwhat I needed from Orlov, and unless I have more people, we’re fucked.

I take my weapon out, more for protection than anything, but it’s quickly rendered useless when Maxim pulls the trigger on his own.

“Volkov, go!” The solider by me, who I’d forgotten about, pushes me out of the way and toward the vehicles, taking the bullet himself at the precise second. It hits his side, making him stumble to the ground, clutching his wound.

“Vanessa!” I hear someone else yell as more bullets begin flying from both our side and Maxim’s. I’m halfway to the vehicle now—to safety—and turning back might very well be a suicide mission, but I do, running to the soldier who just saved me and dropping to my knees, managing to get his arm thrown over my shoulder.

“Run,” he murmurs, his voice weak.

“Not without you.” He’s heavy as fuck, almost pure muscle, but with a bit of his own waning strength mixing with my own, I manage to get him upright and we stumble toward the vehicles, keeping our heads low from the flying bullets.

We make it to the vehicle and toward the other side where Lev takes the man and helps him into the back seat, me climbing into the front. Once both doors shut, Dimitri takes off into the night.

We return to the mansion,slowing to a stop at the edge of the property before the doors to both vehicles open, soldiers pouring out as they each come to terms with their own near-deaths.

I remain inside the vehicle, even after Lev helps the injured one out with help from another in the back.

Dimitri does too, glancing at me as he shuts off the vehicle. “You okay?”

“It didn’t go as I hoped, but we got the name.”

“You did good, Van.” He glances out the window, toward the injured soldier now sitting on the grass clutching a cloth to his side. Lev stands behind him, on the phone, presumably calling the doctor we have on retainer. It seems like Dimitri is about to say more, but I get out of the vehicle to go check on my man.

I crouch in front of him, but before I can say anything, he asks, “Why’d you come back for me?”

“Why’d you save me?”

His tongue dabs at dry, cracked lips, his gaze flitting to his surrounding comrades. “You’re our Pakhan.”

A feeling of euphoria ignites inside me. “And you’re my solider. What kind of leader would I be if I left my people to die?”

“Your father,” he responds without a beat. “He has plenty of times in the past.”

My mouth parts, ready to say something similar to what I told Maxim: that I’m not my father when he speaks again.

“But you’re Vanessa, not Ursin. I see that now. You have my oaths, Pakhan, as soon as the pain stops.”

A few of the others nod their agreement and I stand, heading back to Dimitri watching nearby. He rests a hand on my shoulder, murmuring, “Told you.”

He did. And today feels like one more step in the right direction.

“Signore.She’s gaining the trust of her men. She saved one of them.”

A snort. “Ursin would never have done something like that. His people were expendable. It’s amazing he had any soldiers at all.”

“Exactly. She’s very different than him.”

“Maybe. Saving one man doesn’t resolve her of everything. There’s still time to see who the true Vanessa is.”

One Month Later

“Ready?”

I scan the group of three surrounding me. All of whom have agreed to become my Elite, to replace those who my father trusted most. When I walk into that meeting room, a statement will be made. A statement no one in there will like, not that I give a fuck.

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