Page 34 of Bratva Butcher

“Let me go! Let me go right now, or I swear I’ll kill—”

There was a smallclick, and then his head justexploded.

Blood rained down like confetti. Someone—actually, several people—screamed. Half the prisoners lost their shit, wailing in horror, their hands grasping at the sides of their heads as they crumbled to their knees. The other half simply studied the scene with mild interest.

So that’s what happened when the collars went off. It was interesting to see.

“As previously stated, your life shall be forfeited if you threaten any of the guards,” a booming male voice declared over the speakers on the walls. “You have two hours and forty-seven minutes left remaining in this training session.” Then, the voice disappeared.

No one moved to collect the headless body. It stayed right where it was, staining the sand a deep, dark red.

Some of the prisoners went back to what they were doing; talking, practicing light hand-to-hand combat in their designated pairings.

“Alright, back to what we were talking about,” I said, lowering my voice. “Explain the games to me.”

“To put it simply, the Til Death Games is an event held once a year,” Dimitri replied gruffly, his posture stiff and uncomfortable. He’d moved even further away from me sometime during the mayhem, creating a very noticeable distance between us.

Whatever.

“It’s a gladiator-style tournament where people fight to the death as a source of entertainment for those in attendance.”

Okay. So many questions. Where to start?

“How is it I’ve never heard of this before? And don’t say it’s because of my net worth,” I snapped when Dimitri opened his mouth, no doubt to say that very thing. “I mean it as in, how is this shit not front page fucking news? How has the FBI or CIA or some other police organisation not found out about what’s going on here and put a stop to it? How has Talon gotten away with being in operation for so long?”

“Simple.” He shrugged. “He’s incredibly selective about who he chooses to invite, and his security protocols are through the roof. I also suspect he has those very organisations in his back pocket. He doesn’t take chances. As frustrating as it is for me to admit, the systems Talon has in place are foolproof. I’ve been trying to circumvent them for years with no luck.”

“You seem to have a pretty extensive history with this guy.”

Dimitri narrowed his eyes. “My history with Talon is none of your business.”

“I beg to differ. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you two have it out for each other. He made you fight ten extra people in that ring before letting you be declared the winner. That tells me he plans to make things a lot harder for you than everyone else, and since my fate is firmly tied up with yours, I have a right to know.”

He said nothing, neither confirming or denying if I was right. I didn’t need him to.Iknewheknew I was right. Asshole was just too stubborn to admit it.

“Whatever. We’ll circle back to that later.” I rubbed my forearms because I was wearing next to nothing, and it wasfucking cold down there. “So, I’m guessing that, since this place is so hard to find, we can’t expect some miraculous rescue from your people?”

“No,” he replied flatly.

“Okay. The only way we’ll be getting out of here alive, then, is if we win the games.”

I hadn’t phrased it like a question, but he answered anyway with a gruff, “Yes.”

My bullshit radar went off like an alarm inside my head. He didn’t look any different. There was no nervous twitching. No avoiding eye contact. Nothing to indicate he was being deceitful in any way, and yet, I’d sensed it.

Call it a woman’s intuition.

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“A lot of things. Like how it’s taking a great conscious effort for me not to kill you right now.” The look in his eyes told me he was being one hundred percent serious, and honestly, I felt the same way. I was getting a little sick and tired of his whole deflecting tactic.

“Trust me, the feeling is fucking mutual, Butcher,” I hissed, aggravated. It was like the fucker wanted to be at a disadvantage. “Just watch the other prisoners,” I snapped, turning to plaster my back to the wall, crossing my arms over my chest. “We need to figure out who the biggest threat is and watch them closely for weaknesses since your buddy will most likely pair us up against the strongest fighters here.”

“Fine.”

“Fine,” I snapped again.

He looked at me, smirking condescendingly. “Fine.”

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