Page 25 of His Order

But I’m not sure if I’m trying to reassure her or myself.

As we make our way out of the penthouse, I can’t shake the feeling that we’re not out of the woods yet. Dmitri is a dangerous man, and he loves a good game. It was too easy for me just to walk in and get her.

But I can’t think about that right now. My only thought is to get her to safety so she can be attended to. For now, the empire can wait. The siege can wait. She is the only thing that matters to me. I’m determined to protect Anya, to keep her safe from him.

I don’t know when exactly the lines blurred. I used to care only about my empire and not about her, but now they have one and the same goal.

As the four of us make it out of the front door, we come face to face with a man I had assumed was meant to be down by the car waiting. Victor stands at the end of the hallway with his eyes hard set on me. A look of sheer determination and focus in his eyes.

I pause, my arms tightening around Anya. She moves in my hold, her eyes fluttering open and closed.

“Victor,” I say, my voice coated in ice. I then look at Mikhail and nod. He comes to my side and carefully takes Anya from my arms. “Take her back inside.”

The tension that lingers in the atmosphere is thick and filled with betrayal and low simmering rage. I know exactly what this is, and, in hindsight, I should have seen it coming.

“How long?” The hallway is so quiet that my voice carries like a shout across the walls. “I always did take you for a coward, but never did I think you would turn into a snitch.”

I stare into the eyes of the informant. Roman shifts beside me, alert. I hold my gun steady at my side.

The door to his left swings wide open, and none other than the asshole himself walks out with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. Dmitri steps into the hallway. He’s calm. Dressed in his usual tailored arrogance, his eyes scanning the room with disinterest—until they landed on Anya.

And then he smiles. “Did you miss me?” he says lazily, spreading his arms out wide. “While the city of Barcelona had its beauty, I sure did miss New York.

Behind him, Victor draws his own gun. He looks me dead in the eyes. For a moment, I see the slight flicker of regret that moves in his irises. I had trained this man from boy to killer. I had taken him off the streets of the Bronx and given him a purpose, and yet here he stands before me, like a mother fucking traitor.

“Leave Victor to me, boss.” Roman stands at the ready. His gun raised, and his eyes locked on his target. “I will shoot him dead like a dog for what he’s done.”

Victor just takes up position next to Dmitri like the little roach he is. Dmitri turns his head and gives him a gentle pat of congratulations. My stomach turns. There is nothing I hate more than a betraying leech.

“You’re going to die for what you did, Victor,” I say in the thick of the tension that lingers all around us. “And you will suffer at my hand, Dmitri, for what you’ve done. You touched what was mine.”

“She was supposed to be dead,” he says, nodding toward Anya like she’s nothing. “I told you to kill her, Pavel. If you had just killed her, none of this would have happened.”

“I think you are mistaken, Dmitri. I am going to give orders around here. You see, you gave the hit assignment to the wrong man. I have waited for this moment for years. Anyaunraveled your system. Everyone knows everything about your empire now. That is not relevant at the moment. You have never admitted your participation in my daughter’s murder and Mikhail’s sister. I knew you were involved. Do you even remember them? Little Francesca and Lillian?”

Dmitri yawns dramatically. “Yes, Dmitri, I killed your one-year-old child and Mikhail’s sister. Quite frankly, you should have never slept with your friend's sister in the first place—she was part of Markus’ syndicate. How could I just let that go? The man robbed me of 3 million dollars, and Lilian helped. And don’t you think for a second that I didn’t know who you were. I just didn’t think you cared that much about your little girl and Mikhail’s sister. Who cares that they died?”

“Don’t say their names!” I spit with the fury of hell itself. “You killed an innocent woman and my daughter.”

He raises his hand to make me pause. “Correction, I ordered the kill, but I’m not the one who pulled the trigger. That honor went to your friend over here.”

My entire world comes to a screeching halt like a needle on a record player. I blink, and suddenly, I am plunged into this pool of confusion, anger, and hurt. Victor stands at Dmitri’s side, his eyes filled with so many emotions that I barely have time to read them all.

“Yes.” He claps with an evil smile. “Your most ‘trusted’ man was the one who pulled the trigger that caused the crash. Truthfully speaking, I didn’t know that she had your child. But the action needed to be done. No one gets away with screwing me over. And also, I didn’t know that she was Mikhail’s sister. Would it have changed my decision? No. But I would have, at least, had the courtesy of killing Mikhail too so that Lilian didn’t need to go alone.”

“Fuck you!” I roar. My fingers twitch against the trigger.

“She was simply collateral. How was I to know that the hitch would have the kid in the car?” Dmitri says in a bored tone. “And can we get to the bigger point at hand here? You betrayed me. I told you to kill that good-for-nothing hacker, and you went and started fucking her like your own personal whore. Technically, I should be the offended one here. And taking my empire? How rude of you, Pavel. After all, I have done.”

“All you’ve done?”

All the pain of the last 10 years fills my mind. I was not born like this—no one is ever born with the need to control and conquer.

“You were a soldier, and I was your commander. Then you grew wings and flew away. Life happens. I was the one giving you this life. Not your father, your mother. It was me.” That’s when he raises his hand and points his gun. “And now, you have returned to me with the hopes of taking my throne. You want to sit at the top step, but I will tell you something, my friend, ‘heavy is the head that wears the crown.”

Then the first gun goes off, and everything turns to complete and utter shit.

Let’s end this.

---