Page 88 of Soulless Rivalry

If he saw me here, it would be over for me. He would tell my grandfather and then… then, there would be hell to pay.

I ducked behind an alcove in a dark corner of the room with a direct view of the altar. Putting my hand over my mouth, I did my best to stay as silent as possible, closing my eyes and wishing I could disappear.

My hands were trembling, I had a lot to lose right then. I prayed to God that they would quickly realize nobody was here and get back to their miserable lives. When they came into view, I stopped breathing. There were six of them, all armed to some capacity. Batista and Lorenzo had baseball bats, Luca had a fucking crowbar, and their friends had variations of the two.

“Where the fuck are they?” Batista spat, walking to the center of the room and analyzing each corner.

Luca came into view then, ordering two of his goons around. “Go check upstairs. They’re probably passed out by now.”

“Passed out? You said it would only make them drowsy.” Lorenzo frowned, confused. When Luca turned his head to him, he took a menacing step forward and narrowed his eyes at my cousin.

“Yeah, and now I’m saying it will make them pass out, is there a problem with that?”

Ever the coward, Lorenzo flinched before shaking his head no. “Good. Better remember who will be your capo one day.”

Luca turned around and joined Batista at the beginning of the stairs while their two friends came down. “There’s nothing upstairs either.”

“Did one of you talk?” Luca barked, looking at everyone suspiciously. Lorenzo’s expression went blank like he suddenly remembered telling me about their plans. I watched him put the pieces together, but to my surprise, he did a great job of not letting it show.

“Looking for us?”

The voice came from the altar, right before the white sheet on the statues fell to the ground, letting Konstantin, Mikhail, Dominik, Roman, and Royal appear. Each of them had been standing behind a statue, using their cover as a hiding place. I couldn’t help but grin at that, it was like a modern version of the Trojan Horse.

“Told you they would never see us coming.” Mikhail grinned at his brothers who in turn rolled their eyes at him.

He was the first to move, taking advantage of the others’ surprise to attack. Where the Italians had baseball bats and crowbars, the Russians had thick metal chains they wielded like pros. The fight was entertaining to watch, if not a little bloody. I quickly noticed someone was missing though, and that was Lorenzo. He’d fled, the coward.

Konstantin went straight for Luca, easily disarming him so they could fight hand in hand. Luca was visibly less confident in hand-on-hand combat, but he still delivered the first punch. Konstantin let him, slowly running his thumb over his lip where he had started bleeding.

Then a cunning smile stretched his lips before he dived in and started fighting for real. I couldn’t help the feeling of awe that washed over me every time I saw the uninhibited version ofhim come out to play. There were only two instances where that happened: when he was fighting or killing, and when we were having sex. I think those might have been the two activities that released the most endorphins into his body.

I didn’t know where to look as I took in the violent spectacle in front of me. Everyone was fighting, the sounds of grunts and the smell of blood and sweat thick in the air. Before long, every one of the Italians had been subdued, and I had a theory about that.

Our men took combat classes pretty early on, where they learned all about technique and arm use, but that’s not how the Korolovs taught fighting. No, they fought like savages: no technique, no rules, just pure talent. They almost made it seem like an art.

I was counting the subdued Italians in the room, on the ground, headfirst, with their wrists tied behind their back, and I noticed something wrong. Six of them had come in, but there were only four right now. I already knew Lorenzo had left at the first sight of danger, but I also couldn’t see?—

“You fucking whore!”

Black boots appeared right in front of where I had been hiding, making my blood run cold. A heavy hand came and grasped a handful of my hair, pulling me up to my feet by force. I yelped in pain, but Batista didn’t seem to care. My cousin had always been cruel towards me but that was the first time he had gotten physical.

“Look what I found,” he announced to the room, using his grip on my hair to show me to them. I tried keeping my head up and showing dignity, but the truth was, my heart was beating fast and I was scared.

Konstantin was the first to move. The expression on his face was unreadable, like he’d been hurt but was angry about it instead of feeling pain. When he saw him take a step towards us,Batista pulled me closer to him and produced a small knife from his back pocket, putting the blade right on my throat. I gulped, my eyes boring into Konstantin’s who stopped moving suddenly.

His brothers too were watching the scene, wanting to help but unable to risk it.

Deep down, I knew Batista would be capable of slitting my throat. His father started training him to kill when he was twelve. He didn’t mind shedding blood, even liked it. And I knew once they told my grandfather that I was nothing but awhorewho slept with the enemy, nobody would cry for my death.

“One fucking move and I swear to God I’m sticking the blade in her throat, see how she can snitch after this.”

“What do you want?” If looks could kill, Konstantin would have killed my cousin a long time ago, but that was, unfortunately, not the case.

“First, I want you to untie my friends.”

With a clenched jaw and a shared look with his brothers, Konstantin obeyed. He untied Luca first who jumped to his feet and snarled at him, dusting himself off. The Russians obeyed too and soon, all of my cousin’s henchmen were free and tying up the Russians instead.

I closed my eyes as one lone tear rolled down my cheek. This was all my fault; I’d reversed the situation without ever meaning to. The Russians had had the upper hand and now they found themselves humiliated and incapacitated. Luca took an evil pleasure in turning Konstantin around to tie his hands together.

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