Page 103 of Bratva Knight

“Go, go, go,” I mouthed.

We sprung into action, crossing over each other as we ran back into the kitchen. I didn’t hesitate to fire, releasing a stream of bullets. My vision was still slightly impaired, but I saw them dive for cover. Three of them, maybe four. I wasn’t sure. That stupid flashbang really fucked with my senses.

I ran out of bullets quickly and unclipped the strap from around my shoulder, dropping the weapon. Two men charged at me. My daggers were in my hands before I could even think, and we fought.Hard.

Lucky for me, they were more the “Swing my arms around and hope I hit something” type than the “skilled fighter” type. I ducked and sliced. Blocked and stabbed. Twisted and kicked. A boot to the thigh made me stumble and then I was flat on my back, tackled to the ground. I kept a tight hold on my knives on the way down so I wouldn’t lose them, because if I did, I knew I was done for.

Hands wrapped around my throat, squeezing. I didn’t panic. Panic would get me nowhere. My fingers curled tighter around the hilt of my weapon and I rammed it into his eye. He screamed and I pushed him off, scrambling to my feet.

A foot came flying towards my face. I dodged left, wrapped my arm around his leg and charged forward, knocking him off balance. My blade was in his throat before he knew what happened. I smiled, twisting it left and right, dragging out the kill, trying to make his last few moments on this earth as painful as possible.

Vincenzo’s cry of pain snapped my head up. He was flat on his back, one knife in his shoulder and another one getting dangerously close to his eye, the man sitting on his chest pushing it closer and closer. Three bodies lay dead around him.

“Hey!” The man turned to look at me. I threw my knife and his head snapped back, the blade lodging deep into his forehead.

“Stop him! Don’t let Franco get away!” someone yelled. A second later, Franco bolted into the kitchen and ran towards the backdoor, trying to escape.

I jumped up, preparing to chase after him but my gaze locked on Vincenzo. He saw my hesitation. I didn’t want to leave him on his own when he was vulnerable.

“Go, go!” he insisted, grimacing as he moved to sit up.

I ran, whipping out one of my handguns. I stepped out into the cold air, my head darting left, then right. There. He just turned the corner and disappeared from sight. Cursing, I leapt over the bannister, landed in a crouch and sprinted after him. Determination made me kick into another gear, running faster. I wanted to catch him. I wanted to take him down for Illayana. For all the suffering and inconvenience that bastard had caused my best friend.

I skidded around the corner, too fast to stop my body’s momentum, and ran right into the taser in Franco’s hand. I cried out as a strong electrical current rocked through me, pain assaulting all my senses. My muscles locked and I fell forward into Franco’s arms, completely stunned. Another round of pain hit me as he tased me again. I screamed. Darkness crept into my vision, taking over my sight inch by inch until I saw nothing but black.

Chapter Thirty

Nikolai Volkov

“How’spackinggoing?”

I looked over my shoulder, seeing Illayana standing in my doorway, arms crossed over her chest. Considering she hadn’t said a word to me since I got home a few days ago, I was surprised she was here, talking to me.

Yesterday, I received the call we’d all been waiting for. A woman named Andrea told me a position had just become available in the private security firm I’d applied for, if I was still interested in taking it. She’d spoken in code, another precaution set forth by Talon, no doubt, in case anyone was monitoring their phone calls. I had to pick my words carefully because, as someone on this waitlist, I should know what her words meant, even if they didn’t make sense to me.

Everything seemed to go okay, because she gave me the flight information that would send me on my journey. In two days, I would be off to that island and the mission would be underway.

A mixture of emotions warred within me. Excitement. Anticipation. Eagerness. Dread. Not for me, but for Tatiana.

I feared going away, becoming unavailable to her and anything she might need could set me back in the progress I’d made. What if something happened while I was away? What if she needed me? There was no coming back from where I was going. Not unless we completed our mission and saved my father, something that was going to be extremely hard to achieve. There were a lot of obstacles to overcome, a lot of things that could go wrong. It made me hesitant to go, despite knowing what fate my father would most likely suffer if we didn’t rescue him.

“You’re talking to me now, are you?” I turned back around and continued the mundane task of packing my clothes into my suitcase.

Illayana huffed and stepped into the room. She sat at the edge of my bed, staring me down. “I don’t want you to go without settling things between us.”

“Didn’t we already do that? Yes, I distinctly remember. That bruise on your face, it’s from me kicking your ass in the ring.”

She picked up a pair of black pants and threw them at me. I caught them and put them in my suitcase. “If something happens, if you don’t come back, I don’t want our last words to be ones of anger. I want to resolve this.”

Very mature words from someone who had acted like a complete fucking child less than a week ago. But she was trying, so I wouldn’t say that.

“I’m not sure what you want me to say, Illayana. Or more, what you want to hear. I’m not going to apologise—”

“And I don’t want you too,” she cut in. “I just want to hear your side of what happened. I’ve heard Tatiana’s. Now I want to hear yours.”

Was that something I could give? The memory of that day was something I tried actively not to think about, not to relive. The past was the past. It couldn’t be changed. Reliving it only caused pain, so I’d promised myself I wouldn’t think about it if I could help it.

But as I looked at my baby sister and those big, pleading blue eyes, I knew I couldn’t say no.

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