Page 97 of Hell Hath No Fury

“About what?” Antoinette responds.

“About keeping my word.”

Now, I laugh gleefully, “I fucking knew it.”

Antoinette glares at me, opening her mouth to respond, but I stop her by putting my hand up. “You can’t fucking have her,” I snarl. “How many times do I have to say this before you get it into your idiotic fucking head?”

“Shouldn’t she be allowed to make that choice?”

Again, I laugh, shaking my head. “She made her choice a few years ago now, and no, she actually doesn’t have the right to change her mind now.”

Dmitri looks to Antoinette, who looks surprisingly conflicted, and I stop laughing. “Antoinette, surely you cannot be serious.”

She doesn’t say anything, but her gaze keeps going from me to Dmitri and back again, the frown on her face almost pained. Everyone remains quiet, likely as fucked as I am over this conversation, and then, after a long moment of silence, I mutter, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“Fight to the death, then,” Dmitri says matter-of-factly, lowering his weapon and tossing it.

I blink at him, uncertain where he’s going with this but liking the death part immensely. “What?”

“That’s how we end this,” Dmitri replies seriously. “No weapons, no tricks, just fists and rage.”

“I don’t want to be the one to dissuade you,” Tony interjects. “But have you met the Beast?”

I give Tony a dirty look as Dmitri frowns, looks me up and down, then nods. “I get what you mean. I suppose I deserve a head start for being clearly outmatched.”

“Seems fair,” Matt offers helpfully. “Maybe a few undefended potshots to start us off.”

“Wait just a minute,” Antoinette objects. “I’m not a prize to be won by violence.”

“It’s his death sentence,” Lilith responds.

But then Antoinette replies, “This is obviously a fucking trap. There’s no way Dmitri would set himself up to die.”

Not wanting to give the man time to change his mind, I toss my gun to the side, then strip out of my suit jacket, blood-spattered as it is. Rolling up the sleeves of my white shirt, I ask, “How we gonna keep this fair?”

“You tell your men not to interfere.”

I look around the room as I state, “Don’t interfere,” then I turn back to Dmitri and add, “No fucking funny business from you either.”

He nods. “May the best man win.”

We square off to the tune of Antoinette still protesting, and I do my best to drown her out, putting all of my focus on Dmitri, who’s looking a bit smug. We dance around each other for a moment, but then I get annoyed and stop moving. “You gonna do something, or we gonna play two-step all damn night?”

He smiles, his hands coming up in front of him as he says, “I was just thinking about how nice it was to sleep beside my wife.” My teeth grind together, my urge to snag the knife from my leg sheath crashing over me. His smile grows smug, his eyes taking on a dreamy glow as he adds, “There really was nothing quite like having a Mrs. Petr—“

His words are cut short by Antoinette ramming him at full speed. They go flying, tumbling, and sliding along the concrete until they come to a rest a few feet from where everyone is gathered around. At first, Dmitri comes out on top, and I take a step toward them only to have Tony and Matt each grab an arm, holding me back.

I struggle for a moment, but then Lilith and Antonio step in front of me, and we all stand there, watching as Antoinette gets the upper hand by driving her fist into Dmitri’s throat and then flinging him off her. She comes to her feet in one move, prowlstoward him where he’s still sprawled on his back, and grits out, “How many fucking times do I have to tell you?”

He chokes and coughs, his hands gripping his throat as he shakes his head. “My.” She kicks him in the gut. “Name.” She kicks him again. “Is.” And again. “Hughes.” This time, she kicks him in the face, his head snapping back, blood and saliva flying from his mouth.

He rolls onto his back, and she follows slowly, drawing her knife from her jacket and holding it out in front of her. Her lips curve up, and she sighs, but then Dmitri says something incoherent, and she asks, “What was that?”

He coughs, clears his throat, and whispers a bit louder this time, “No weapons.”

Pursing her lips, she squints down at him, then sighs and tosses the knife away. She takes a step toward him just as his hand snakes out, gripping her foot and yanking, and she goes down on her back, barely managing to turn onto her side before he’s on her.

Once more, I try to move forward, and again, our people hold me back, refusing to allow me to interfere. My breath catches in my throat, but a movement behind her catches my eyes, and I see Agatha lurking, ready to fuck around if needed.

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