Page 143 of For a Price

He knows this as our gazes meet from across the large room in a state of disarray. He sees the bloodlust gleaming in my eyes and backs away several steps.

I start toward him, never breaking our eye contact.

He’s fucking mine.

* Moy otets -my father

* Eto tebya rasstraivayet. Pozhaluysta, ne pritvoryaysya -This upsets you. Please don’t pretend.

* Etot raskol v nashey sem’ye nazreval uzhe davno. Menya ne udivlyayut eti sobytiya. No drugiye mogut byt’ udivleny, uznav pravdu. Menya nedootsenili -This split in our family has been brewing for a long time. I am not surprised by these events. But others may be surprised to learn the truth. I was underestimated

CHAPTER 42

Roman

I makeit to the stage as the pakhan flees.

His personal guard provides cover for him, firing at anyone in the vicinity. I dodge a bullet whizzing toward me. It misses me by chance. I’ve veered just barely out of the way to escape its path.

I’m firing return shots as I do.

“ARGH!” screams one of the pakhan’s soldiers. He goes down as one of my bullets strikes him.

I leap over his body in my pursuit of the rest of them.

There’s a wide berth between us. The pakhan’srounded the hall by the time I’m midway through.

He can run all he likes. But he’ll never escape me.

I’ll move heaven and earth to make it to him. I’ll walk through fucking fire if it means taking him out.

He disappears up a flight of stairs that I quickly leap up, closing the distance further.

Three more of his men ambush me.

They appear from side doors and veer straight toward me. I’m quick enough on the uptake to land a shot to one of theirchests. He drops to his knees and then the floor, never to get up again. The other two make it close enough to strike.

I slam the butt of my rifle into the first soldier’s gut and then smash my fist into the face of the second. The first tries to stay on his feet to counter my hits.

He stands no chance. I take him out with a two-piece combination. An uppercut and then a hook that knocks him out. He collapses with the other two minions that have gone down.

The few seconds it’s taken me to eliminate them has only added to the pakhan’slead. I round the next corner to find nothing but an empty hall. I dart toward each door, wrenching them open with my rifle, ready to fire.

After as many rounds as I’ve sprayed, I have to be careful. I’m likely down to my last ten or twelve bullets.

The pakhan will meet his end at the brutality of my bare hands, but in order to get to him, I’ll need to shoot my way through his men.

The doors are dead ends. Rooms with plush furnishings clearly meant for club members. Probably rooms where they’re supposed to indulge in their depravities in private. Katerina had described such a room to me—she’d said it resembled a nice bedroom where she was supposed to perform.

That thought alone ignites yet another level of anger inside me.

I charge toward the end of the hall, following the only door the pakhan could’ve gone through.

Everywhere else in the hotel, gunfire crackles. The echoes of the gunfight going down in the ballroom reach my ears. The screams and desperate thundering of footsteps are almost as loud as the assault rifles going off.

It’s the soundtrack of a massacre. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people will die here tonight.

Any moment the city police will show up and attempt to get the battle under control.

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