Page 66 of Unveiled

I have his shirt in my fist in seconds, his stale breath in my face as I shove his bony body against the wall with a sickening thud. I lean in and bare my teeth, holding myself back with effort. “I’d walk through fire for your daughter. I’d go to hell and burn for her. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for that woman, and if that means putting you in the ground to make sure she never fears you again, I’ll do it.” I let out a breath, my pulse ragged.

“The only reason you’re still breathing,” I pause, letting my words sink in, “is because I don’t want her to blame me for both of her parents’ deaths.”

Anya makes a sound like a whimper behind me.

A man in the hallway steps in as if to intervene.

“Semyon!” Anya shouts behind me. Someone grabs me from behind, but I quickly break free and knock the guard to the ground with a single punch. Another charges frombehind, my boot slamming into his chest with a well-aimed dropkick. He drops like a stone.

Before anyone else can move, I grab the man with the cane and wrench him forward, pressing my gun to his temple. The room goes deathly quiet. My assumption that he was the ringleader is spot on.

“You think you can walk in here and pull this shit?” I hiss, my voice low but deadly. My gaze sweeps over the remaining men. “You should’ve known better. Touch me, and we start a fucking war. Over what?” I jerk my chin at Lazar. “This fucker?”

The man in my grip is shaking now, his cane slipping from his grasp. He doesn’t dare to even make eye contact with me. “Tell them what happens when people fuck with me,” I snarl.

His breath stutters. “We didn’t— We didn’t know?—”

“No?” I dig the barrel of the gun harder against his temple. “You know now.”

The tension hangs in the air like a blade. One wrong move, and they’re done. It’ll be their last.

“Get your people the fuck out of here,” I command. “Before you give me a reason to finish this.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” he says, nodding. “We’ll leave now. Everyone out!”

At my glare, they scramble to obey. I don’t lower the gun until the last of them is out the door.

Anya stares at me when they’re gone, her lower lip trembling.

“Well, that was intense.”

I give her a grim smile. “Welcome to my world, queen. Let’s go. You have the electronics packed?”

She nods wordlessly. “Yeah. In a bag in the room.”

I blow out a breath and pull out my phone to give Rafail a quick update. I slide my gun away.

For now.

“You need anything else, take it now. Oh, and Anya?”

She pauses, her eyes wide as she stares at me with something like newfound respect. Or is it fear?

“We’re taking that pink duvet home.”

Chapter 18

ANYA

Matvei meetsus in the kitchen when we arrive back in The Cottage. He’s sitting at the table, dunking large cookies into a glass of milk across from Stefan, who imitates him. His eyes are wide as he watches the huge, obviously powerful man sitting across from him. I imagine Stefan feels he’s met a real-life superhero.

Ha. Little does he know.

But something about the wild look in Matvei’s eyes makes me put my hand on Stefan’s shoulder.

Matvei smirks. It doesn’t make me feel any better.

“You find what you needed?” Matvei asks Semyon.

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