Page 73 of His to Ruin

“On your feet,kurva.”

He grabs my upper arm and instinct takes over. As he pulls me to my feet, I use the momentum to swing around, driving the heel of my shoe into the side of his head with enough force that I hear a sickening crack. My assailant loses his grip on me as he stumbles backward.

Not giving him a chance to recover, I bring the shoe down hard on his right wrist. The gun he was holding goes flying. I dive for it, but he’s on me before I can reach it. I try to wriggle out from under him, but he’s too strong for me. He spits curses at me in a foreign language as I struggle to throw him off me. His hands wrap around my throat, but he barely has a chance to squeeze before he’s suddenly ripped away from me.

Rolling over, I see him and Leo wrestling on the floor. The blond-haired man is shorter than my brother, but they’re evenly matched for muscle and Leo is hurt. The asshole ends up straddling Leo. He grabs a knife from his belt.

“Run, Liv,” Leo yells.

There’s not a chance I’m leaving him now. I reach for the gun, aim and fire, hitting the blond asshole in the chest. He slumps over Leo, who pushes him off before collapsing back on the floor.

Footsteps thunder in the hallway outside. I raise the gun, ready to take out whoever comes through that door and then lower it when Piotr runs into the room. He’s wearing all black clothing, a bulletproof vest and is carrying a handgun. Matteo, who’s dressed in similar fashion and wielding an AR-15, is close behind.

“Help Leo,” I instruct Matteo as Piotr pulls me to my feet and wraps his arms tight around me.

“Fuck, Olivia. I thought I lost you.”

His obvious relief tells me everything’s going to be okay between us. I step back from him as the room fills with people. Antonio comes in, followed by Jimmy and Dante. They take turns to hug me, and I assure them I’m fine. Leo is the one who needs their attention right now.

“Fuck, Livvy.” Jimmy shakes his head. “I was so scared for you.”

I nod toward the body on the opposite side of the room. “I remembered what you taught me.”

“You took him out?” Piotr asks.

“Yes, and I’d do it again,” I say firmly, seeing the look of concern on his face. “It was him or Leo.”

“This bastard’s still alive.” Dante crouches over our assailant.

“Keep him that way,” Antonio says. “I want to question him.”

Dante nods. He motions for Jimmy to help him and together they carry the man from the room. I almost feel sorry for what he’ll endure at my brothers’ hands. I watch as Antonio and Matteo get Leo up off the floor. They put their shoulders under his arms to support his weight. He’s barely holding on, but as they drag him past me, he reaches out to pat my cheek.

“Fucking badass,” he murmurs.

As the room clears of people, I sway on my feet. I’m tired, hungry, and my entire body aches. Piotr tries to lift me into his arms, but I wiggle free. If Leo can walk out of here on his own two feet, more or less, then so can I. Slipping my shoes on, I slick back my ponytail and hold my head high as Piotr leads the way out of the warehouse.

Our path out to the car is littered with bodies. I try not to look. I don’t want the images of these people ingrained in my memory.

“Are any of these ours?” I ask Piotr.

“No. One of your brothers’ men took a bullet to the thigh, but he’ll live.”

“Good.” I hate the thought of anyone dying to save me. Piotr would no doubt say they should consider it an honor, but I don’t think that way.

Piotr helps me into the back of a black Mercedes SUV and settles on the seat next to me. He wraps an arm around me and I rest my head on his shoulder. I groan as I try to make myself comfortable.

“Are you hurt?” Piotr asks.

“I’m a bit banged up, but I’ll live.”

“You fought in there?”

“Yeah, I channeled my inner Mila Lenkova.”

Piotr laughs as he caresses my cheek with his index finger. “Should I be concerned about you fangirling over Mila?”

I sit up and arch an eyebrow at him. “Should I be concerned about you using the word fangirling?”

---