Page 9 of Beautiful Agony

"And by the time he sees his mistake."

The tiny card glints between her perfectly manicured fingers before she drops it to the floor.

"It'll be too late."

The sharp crack of her heel against it echoes in the basement office.

The motion is identical to when she destroyed Mom's necklace, and fresh tears spring to my eyes at the memory.

"Oh," she soothes, cupping my face with a gentleness that terrifies me more than her violence. Her thumb wipes away a tear. "Don't cry, little thief. This isn't goodbye forever."

Her lips brush my cheek in a mockery of tenderness. I try to jerk away but her grip tightens, holding me in place as she whispers against my skin:

"We'll see each other again very soon. And when we do, the three of us are going to havesomuch fun."

3

VADIM

In the distance,a concrete building—where Sayanaa's tracked location is pinging— rises from the darkness like a ghost in the mist. My hands gripping the steering wheel tight enough to make my knuckles white as I bring my car to a stop. Behind me, two more cars mirror our action.

My hand still throbs in pain, but it gives me focus.

"Out," I command my men. "We proceed on foot."

It takes us no more than five minutes to sneak up in the rain, and I look at the situation before us. Three guards stand outside, smoking.

Lacey and Serena are there.

They have to be.

"Gotovi?" I ask my men. Ready?

Nods all around. Good. These are my most loyalboeviki, handpicked for their ruthlessness. I won't need to repeat myself.

"Kill them all," I order. "Anyone who stands between us and that building is a dead man."

My men fan out, weapons already drawn. The guards barely have time to reach for their guns before myboevikiopen fire. Three bodies hit the ground as thunder rumbles overhead.

We rush towards the building. Somewhere inside, that psychotic bitch Sayanaa is probably getting off on all this.

The front door suddenly bursts open. Armed men stream out, weapons raised. More of Kirsan's thugs, responding to the gunfire. I count at least twelve of them.

"Kill them!" I command.

My men take positions behind any cover they can find, already returning fire. The air fills with gunshots and dying men. But I keep moving forward, one step at a time. Nothing will keep me from that building. Nothing will keep me from Lacey.

The first wave falls quickly under our coordinated assault. I step over their bodies and rip the door open. Myboevikifollow closely behind me.

Gunfire erupts from inside. I dive behind a concrete pillar as bullets chip away at the edges. The dark red lights flicker overhead, casting strange shadows across the warehouse floor.

A woman's scream pierces through the gunfire.

I peek around the pillar and see one of Kirsan's men dragging a terrified woman in front of him. My finger tightens on the trigger, but I can't get a clean shot without risking her.

A gunshot rings out and the woman crumples. Then another. And another.

"Fuck!" I curse, recognizing what's happening.

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