Page 76 of Bratva Knight

She looked at Illayana head on. “Once we do this, it’s over. We leave it all here. We move on. Agreed?”

Illayana pursed her lips in distaste, her eyes still burning with anger. She nodded once. “Agreed.” She stepped back and put her fists up.

Tatiana cracked her neck. She slipped a hand over her slender fingers and pulled off her rings, holding them out to me. I took them from her and she pulled out her earrings next, dropping them in my open palm.

“Tati—” I began.

“We both know this is the only way for this to end. She needs to fight it out. So I'm going to let her.”

“You shouldn’t have to.”

She shrugged before giving me a wink. “If I wanted a sane, reasonable best friend, I wouldn’t have chosen Illayana.” She flicked her head to the side. “Go, quickly. Before she changes her mind.”

I didn’t care if she changed her mind. I didn’t care if she was still pissed off. I didn’t care if she wanted to fight until she couldn’t stand on her own two feet any longer. At that moment, all I cared about was Tatiana.

She was putting on a brave face, but I knew reliving the past was painful for her, and that she was willing to accept whatever punishment Illayana dealt out because inside, she felt like she deserved it for hiding it from her all these years. Illayana was her best friend. The guilt of keeping this secret weighed heavily on her every single day, and suddenly it was all coming out.

Exhaling an annoyed grunt, I turned and climbed down from the ring. Cheering rang out through the room, loud and boisterous as Tatiana and Illayana ran at each other.

“Here. For your eye.” Lukyan shoved an ice pack at my chest, keeping his gaze locked on the ring, refusing to even look at me. He—like Illayana—was angry that I never told him about what happened.Hischoice of punishment, however, was the silent treatment (as much as Lukyan was capable of being silent, that is). He viewed the loss of his “dazzling personality” (his words, not mine) as a punishment worse than death.

The crowd groaned when Tatiana landed a brutal right hook, Illayana’s head whipping to the side, and then planted a fast front kick to her chest, sending her flying back. I’d feel sorry for her if she wasn’t being such a brat.

Aleksandr walked up to my side. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I grunted, wincing when I lay the ice pack against my skin. Fuck, she got me good. My face, arm, shoulder and abdomen all ached. Despite her anger, she didn’t cause any lasting damage. I’d have a shit-ton of bruises though.

Aleksandr sighed. “Nikolai—”

“I don’t want to talk about it. Not right now.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Fine. But, later.” His tone brokered no debate on the matter, so I just nodded my head, and focused back on the fight.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tatiana Andreeva

Ispunakickand Illayana deflected, lashing out with her own. I raised an arm up, protecting the side of my head and then reared forward, smashing my forehead into her nose. We traded blow after blow. There was no finesse, no strategy behind the attacks. We just ripped into one another like we were in a good old-fashioned bar brawl.

I knew the day was coming; the moment I told Illayana my deepest, darkest secret. The second I saw that anger roll over her face, taking her over, Iknew. I knew she wouldn’t accept anything less than this.

I’d betrayed her, kept things from her no one should keep from their best friend. She wanted to punish me for that. Despite the sadness she felt after hearing what happened, despite holding me and comforting me, she wanted to punish me. The hurt and anger consuming her prevented her from doing anything less.

Illayana rammed into me, tackling me to the ground. My back slammed onto the mat and I grunted, pain shooting up my spine. Illayana jabbed into my side over and over, showing no indication of slowing down. I heaved right and we rolled across the floor. The crowd went wild, cheering us on and demanding more violence. Even though we’d delivered an abundance of it already.

We grappled for the dominant position, grunting and snarling at one another. I ignored the pain in my body, locking it away behind a door in my mind, and used all my strength to put her on her back. I scrambled quickly, locking my legs around her head in a triangle chokehold andsqueezed. Illayana choked, trying to draw breath, her free hand scratching uselessly at my skin, but I refused to let go. She was never going to give up, never going to tap out. There was only one way this was going to end. I had to make her pass out.

It took an average of nine-and-a-half seconds to render someone unconscious from a triangle chokehold when applied correctly. We were slowly creeping up to that point.

The moment I felt Illayana’s body start to go lax, I immediately let go, unwinding my limbs from around her neck and lying flat on my back, panting from exhaustion.

Illayana gulped in a huge breath of air, hands moving to her throat as she gasped heavily.

“We done?” I asked, trying to catch my breath.

“Almost.”

I frowned. Before I could think anything more of it, she reached over and struck me across the face.

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