Page 60 of Bratva Butcher

She’d managed to kill one of her marks by shooting him through a window on a moving train from over 200 feet away. Straight kill shot to the head. Another one I heard about was when she hijacked a private plane, killed one of the lieutenants in The Triad and then just jumped out while over 30,000 feet in the air.

She was fucking deadly.

We hadn’t yet spoken about that new revelation, but believe me, I had every intention of bringing it up when the time came. That whole time, I’d been a step behind. At a disadvantage. She knew everything about me while I knew jackshit about her.

That new piece of information made her even more dangerous in my eyes—something I honestly didn’t think was possible.

My eyes darted to the door when I heard the lock snap open. It slowly began to swing open.

Panic clutched my chest so hard that I couldn’t breathe, pain exploding inside me. “No. No, no, no.” I shot to my feet faster than I ever had, running to the front of my cell. My fingers curled around the bars, squeezing tightly. “No, this can’t be happening. No.No,” I whispered under my breath as I watched four of Talon’s soldiers carry in a limp body.

Aleksandr. No.

Each of the soldiers had one of Aleksandr’s limbs in their hands, and despite the fact that there were four of them carrying him, they each struggled to hold up the weight of his unconscious form, their faces red and strained, their feet shuffling forward one miniscule step at a time, all grunting with excretion.

How did this happen? What is he doing here?

My mind went crazy with question after question, my panic-filled eyes watching on in agony as they carelessly dropped my son to the ground, unlocked one of the now empty cells and dragged him inside.

I prayed that was it. That he was the only one of my children in harm’s way.

But I knew before the next round of soldiers even entered the room that it wouldn’t be the case.

One by one, Talon’s soldiers brought in the only people in the world I loved, and what was left of my heart after Yekaterina died shattered into a million pieces.

First, Lukyan, my crazy, erratic, Golden Retriever little boy who drove me crazy half the time but could always make me laugh. Then Illayana, my beautiful baby girl who looked so much like her mother that it hurt to look at her sometimes. And finally, Nikolai, my brave, strong genius who would do anything for the people he loved.

I clutched my chest, trying to keep myself from succumbing to the pain smothering me. The pain of knowing my children, my beautiful little babies, were going to die, and I was going to have to watch it happen.

Because I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Talon would make it happen, knowing it was the only way he had to truly,trulyhurt me.

A cyclone of emotions hit me all at once. Anger. Frustration. Fear. I stared at my unconscious children, lying on the floor of their locked cells, knowing there was nothing I could do to help them. To protect them.

In all my life, I’d never felt so fucking helpless. Powerless.

How could this happen?

“What—”

I spun so quickly that Autumn gasped in surprise as I grabbed her by the chin roughly, stopping her from saying another word.

“For once in your life, be. Fucking. Quiet,” I snarled, breathing heavily.

I was at my breaking point, my emotions threatening to bubble over, my control all but gone.

My children were in danger. The panic. The anger. Thefear. It was all too much for me to handle, and I was close to exploding.

Autumn’s eyes darted to my children and back to me, widening even more in surprise. I wasn’t sure what it was shesaw on my face, but whatever it was made her gaze soften the slightest touch.

Did she know? Did she know that those people Talon’s soldiers had just brought in were the most cherished, important people in my life?

Of course she did. She was far too observant not to notice.

“Do you want to fight it out?” she whispered softly, understanding lying deep in her green eyes.

I did. God, fuck, I did. I wanted to hit something.Someone. To take my frustrations out the only way I knew how: beating the shit out of something.

The fact that she knew that was what I needed pissed me off even more.

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