Page 78 of Deception

My heart pumps a little faster as the time comes to get her out of here. No more back and forth. No more talking.

“Forget about everything else,” I tell Lucy as she slips the gun into her garter. “Your only focus is our child.”

Understanding finally dawns on her, and she nods, taking my hand and kissing the black wedding band on my finger. All I can do is watch as Gregor slips my wife’s coat onto her shoulders. Unlike usual, he doesn’t sneer when she shrugs him away. Her dislike of him is still very much alive.

“Anton, you take her.” There’s no one I trust more with my life, and that is exactly what Red and the child she’s carrying are. They’re my entire existence. So long as they are breathing, nothing else matters. “Gregor stays with me.”

“Are you mad?”

“I gave you an order, now get to it.”

There’s a moment of quiet deliberation before Anton is uttering orders to Gregor and the other two men.

“You’re an idiot,” Red snaps at me. I adore everything about her all the time, but when she’s angry and all her passion brims to the surface…my fucking heart comes to life. Without fail. Every. Single. Time. “And I hate you so much right now, but if you get yourself killed…honest to God, I’ll find a way of bringing you back and doing it myself.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“Trust me,” she says, hand grasping the side of my face roughly. “I’ll find a way.”

The clench of her jaw promises she will, and my pulse pounds harder than ever as I steal another kiss and tug on the collar of her coat to make sure that she’ll be warm.

“Shoot first,” I tell her, tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. “No questions, no thinking, malyshka. Shoot first.”

“Ditto.” Pulling away slowly, she finally gives me a smile. As terse as it is, it still makes me feel far more than it should. Then she mouths, “I love you,” and I know that if I don’t get her out of here now, the plan I’ve carefully constructed to protect her will go to shit.

“Go.”

With only one look over her shoulder, my girl follows Anton out of the marquee and into the foggy night right as Mikheil’s men step onto the dance floor. They have a look on their faces that suggests they believe they’re ahead of us. It’s obvious that in their heads they’re already celebrating a victory that has never been theirs.

Every cell of my being implores me to look back and make sure that Red and Anton are gone. If I do, I’ll be playing right into the bastards’ hands. They already tried to use her to get to me once, and this time she won’t be a pawn. My girl is a queen, and like in any decent game, it’s only worthwhile if she’s still standing. So long as she’s breathing, I’m winning.

Pushing past the Sarapov goons, I lead the way to the smoking nook. The music becomes fainter as the french doors behind me are closed, leaving the ballroom completely empty. When I try the door, it’s locked. Immediately, I know something is seriously wrong. My father would never lock himself away with Mikheil. He might be going soft, but he’s not stupid.

“There’s another door out there,” Gregor says, motioning to the hallway.

His gun is in his hand, and rather than going ahead of me like Anton would have, the coward slinks back. It’s a pity that it was his brother I killed; it would’ve been better had it been this idiot. A loud shot rings from inside the room, and as I race to the door, another narrowly misses the side of my head.

Spinning, I come face to face with the barrel of Gregor’s weapon. Shaking hands have me analysing my chances of disarming him before he pulls the trigger. It’s then that Mikheil’s men make their move. Shots ring out around me as the men on the mezzanine floor try to eliminate our adversaries.

“Tell them to stop or I shoot?” Gregor spits at me.

“Do you know what happens to traitors?”

“You’re in no position to make threats.”

Maybe not, but while he’s talking, the cunt isn’t shooting. Another second stolen from him is another second borrowed by me while hell breaks loose on the other side of the door.

Fuck!

This is why I told him not to do it this way. This is why he should’ve waited it out in the ballroom until I got Red, Mama, and Vanya out of here. As usual, he does everything he can to prove me wrong even if it means causing bigger problems.

A shot almost hits the traitor in the shoulder. Instead, it startles him enough for him to look away and gives me the chance I’ve been waiting for. Trapping his wrists between my arm and side, I pull him flush to me. With my newfound shield in place, I launch myself backwards into the locked door as the men upstairs take out the rest of Mikheil’s lackeys.

The reinforced locks hold tight, and while I push forward, searing pain winds me. Liquid agony blurs my sight, and I stumble. Ice courses through my veins, freezing my thoughts, stuttering my pulse until my head, heart, and body become out of sync. My legs are incapable of holding me up. I’m falling. It’s never-ending. Bottomless. Everything grinding to a slow crawl.

“Elif didn’t deserve to die because of a whore,” Gregor says as my body crumples on itself. “My brother didn’t deserve to die…”

Darkness begins to encroach on me.

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