Page 42 of Zafira

“She killed me first by giving me away, then forgetting I was ever born,” Marek sneered. “Denied me what was rightfully mine! For that, she had to pay, and now... it’s your turn, my dear sister.”

“Is that why you went to Moldova at the time of Azja’s birth? I suppose our meeting was well-planned.” Zafira shook her head sadly.

“No, it wasn’t, since I didn’t know at the time we were family, but you interfered with our plans for our future when you rushed Triska to the hospital, even though you were already in labor.”

“I don’t understand.”

“We never wanted children,” Triska interjected. Her lips were pressed into a grim line. “I wasn’t mother material, and just thinking of wasting time on a being that stuck to me like a parasite revolted me.”

“I felt the same,” Marek continued. “The intention was to give the brat away to a poor family in Chi?inau, but because of you and Viktor’s status in Moldova, the tabloids had a field day with your bravery. We had no choice but to keep the child to save face. You fucked up our plans to build the Bratva family business we had just begun at that point. Because of all the exposure, I was thrown into the world of politics and a career I hated with a passion.”

“And that’s why you want me dead?”

“Isus Hristos, you’re a fucked up bastard,” Vadim interjected.

“Shut your mouth, you prick. I’m superior to you, and you will show me respect!” Marek shouted. His eyes glowed like fireballs that gave him the look of an evil monster about to explode.

Vadim snorted. “Demanding my respect? You truly are demented. My parents taught us that respect has to be earned, and no matter your position in life or that you’re my supposed uncle, you don’t deserve an ounce of reverence from any of us.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. This drivel is making me want to puke,” Luciano growled. He was visually furious that his plans had once again been foiled. “Let’s finish this, once and for all.”

“Are you proposing a medieval dual, fuckface?” Bogdan mocked him as he gestured around. “Since we outnumber and outgun you two to one.”

“Except you don’t,” the voice behind them had barely slammed against the wood-slatted walls when two gunshots shattered the silence.

“La dracu!” Vadim cursed as one of the bullets drilled a path through his side to slam into the wall behind him. Luckily for him, he had spun around when Svetlana Rebane’s voice penetrated his mind; otherwise, the bullet would’ve paralyzed him.

“You useless bitch!” Vanya screamed as she watched her brother drop to the dirt floor. Before Andrei could stop her, she catapulted herself toward the redhead, flattening her with a vicious dropkick to the jaw. “No one fucking hurts my brothers except for me. Do you hear me? No one!”

“Still as feisty as ever, isn’t she?” Marek said drily as he moved quicker than Bogdan could anticipate and caught Zafira in a chokehold. “I suggest you let go of my sister, Vanya, or your mother is going to taste lead, which is going to piss me off to no end since I have a much more painful death in mind for her.” A hedonistic laugh escaped from his chest as he caught Bogdan and Arian’s movements. “I wouldn’t if I was you.” He looked at his sister, who was struggling to her feet, still groggy from the brutal kick against her jaw. “Well? Do you need help, or can you get your fucking gun and take charge of your troops?”

“Fuck off, Marek,” she sneered, picking up the shiny silver pistol from the ground. “Anyone moves, shoot them,” she instructed the four men flanking her. With venom spitting from her eyes, she looked at Vanya. “Except for that bitch. She’s mine. I intend to make her bleed before she dies.”

Chapter Twenty-One

For moments, silence descended on the group as they became wrapped in a cocoon of tension. It didn’t last long. It couldn’t, and no one knew it better than Bogdan. He knew how quickly a situation like this could escalate and turn upside down.

“You made one miscalculation, Cermak,” he taunted Marek. He showed no concern for Svetlana and her men but kept his eyes glued on the three master manipulators.

“I doubt that, but I’m willing to humor you. Pray tell, Rusu, what did I miss?”

“Her.” His eyes moved to Zafira, who at the same moment, lifted her right leg and with precision and brutal force, kicked her foot back.

“Christ! Ty zasraná svine,” Marek cried out as a cavitation pop followed by a sickening crack sounded as the bony surfaces in his knee hit each other when the force of her kick snapped it backward.

All hell broke loose then. Bogdan yanked Zafira from Marek’s loosening hold while wringing his gun from his hand with such force that four of his fingers were fractured.

Arian and Andrei shot two of the four men who tried to scramble for cover. The arrival of Izolda and Sabira behind them abruptly ended the others’ attempt at escape with a bullet to their chests.

“So, bitch... let’s have at it,” Vanya taunted Svetlana.

“Do prdele, Vanya! Get down,” Andrei shouted as he dove at her when the Czech woman raised her gun and pulled the trigger. But he worried for naught. Vanya was already moving, and by the time the bullet buried itself in the wall, she was on Svetlana.

“I’m gonna cut out those two brats inside your belly and feed them to my dogs!” Svetlana spat as she swung the blade in a clockwise spin, only to run into Vanya’s savage left hook. The impact was so hard, she dropped hard onto her knees with a soft “oomph.”

“No one threatens my children, unborn or not, you fucking bitch!” Vanya sneered as she yanked Svetlana’s head up by the hair. “Now, you pay the price.” She was barely conscious as Vanya drove her thumb into one eye socket to mash it against her cranial vault. Blind with anger, Vanya tapped into her Krav Maga skills to unleash a devastating kick that suddenly came out of nowhere as her leg swept up, powered by a perfectly timed movement. It exploded at the end of her heel across the front of the redhead’s face, splitting her upper lip in two and splintering cartilage through the soft, mushy nasal tissue. “Burn in hell, bitch,” Vanya said as Svetlana’s eyes rolled up into their sockets. It was light’s out... permanently.

“Vanya, get down!”

---