Page 81 of Wrath

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“I knew you would come.” His black soulless eyes locked onto her. “It is in our blood; this need to finish the game.”

You’re insane.And that was when she noticed his arm. The gleaming gold and metal piece of machinery was something out of a futuristic horror movie. It seemed so unreal that for a moment, she thought it was a costume, but then it moved. He could have hidden the arm, but he chose to expose it. He’d ripped the fabric from one suit arm, and the hideous monstrosity was for all to see.

Visible power. No one would dare say no to him again. But even as part of her mind jumped to conclusions about his motives, the other part was painfully chaotic, traveling back to his greeting words. Why her? Why this relentless sick game he played? It wasn’t one she wanted to play.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat because it was true, in a way, she had come to finish his game.

“Yes, Dimitri. I came.”

The snake moved behind him. It coiled around the tree branch, a slithering mass of muscle. All around the room, evidence of Dimitri’s madness glared back at her. The obsession for gold. The blood stains left on the floor. The CCTV screens invading the privacy of his customers upstairs. Her hand began its slow path to the back of her waistband.

She’d always believed in karma, that if you lived a life full of anger, anger would come for you. With him, it had. The man had no love, no joy, no peace. That was his life by choice and, at the start, it was why she’d put up with his bullshit, because she always knew she’d already won. Toward the end, that willingness of hers to live and let live had only caused her pain and suffering. Now karma was coming for him, and it felt like the cold hard steel her fingers slowly closed around.

“Let my brother go.” The words trembled from her lips, betraying her uncertainty. “And I’ll do whatever you want.”

Just a little more. Get a good grip around the trigger.

A sneer pinched his face. “Put your hand back where I can see it.”

She paused and considered pulling the weapon to shoot him. Calculations zoomed through her mind, and it was that hesitation that cost her. Dimitri’s jaw hardened, he moved. She gripped the gun, pulled it, swung it to—it was knocked from her hand. Shock petrified her body and made her a prisoner to her galloping heart. Adrenaline pumped and prickled her skin.Get out, run,her mind screamed, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t. Alek was still behind her. She couldn’t leave. She couldn’t even try.

He was there. In front of her. Menacing eyes and golden strength about to hurt, she flinched back, waiting for the inevitable blow, but the breath burst out of him and he took a step back. His eyes trailed to an outfit hanging from a hook on the wall. A French Maid’s outfit. It had black cuff sleeves, a revealing neckline, a short black skirt with a white frilly petticoat with a tuxedo apron down the front. Obscene. “Put it on.”

Tears stung her eyes at his request. Humiliation sank her heart.

Alek got to his feet behind her, and she knew the full shame of her actions would no longer be a secret from her family. But she’d done it for them and she would do it again. She had to get Alek out of there. Make him safe. Slowly, inch by inch, she stepped backward, shepherding Alek away from Dimitri and toward the door.

Dimitri’s eyes flared with aggravation, and he stood. “You defy me still! I am the one making demands, Misha. Me. Not you.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll do anything you want. First, just let Alek go. Please. I’m begging. He’s done nothing to you.”

For some reason, that infuriated him more. “The entire Minksi family owes me.”

One look at his mechanical arm clenching, preparing, and Dimitri’s violent intent was clear. He wasn’t going to let them go. A step forward. Veins bulged in his little head. Clenched teeth released his words. “I said, get dressed.”

He shoved her sideways, back the way she’d come. She knocked against the wall and slid to the floor before she understood what happened. When her vision cleared, Dimitri advanced on her. The manic light in his eyes had gone beyond comprehension, and when his foot lashed out toward her abdomen, her first panicked thought had been the very thing she’d denied all week. “I’m pregnant!” she shouted, arms out to shield her.

The kick never came. She lowered her trembling hands. Dimitri’s head cocked to the side, stunned. But beyond him, near the exit, Alek’s eyes were the most surprised. He understood. He’d read her lips. A fierce, loyal expression crossed his face before he clamped down hard. For a moment, Misha didn’t see her younger disabled brother. She saw a man, strong and determined.

The wordrunwas on the tip of her tongue, but Alek wasn’t watching. His attention speared Dimitri’s way. The hatred and fury burning through his posture stole her breath away, and she knew her brother was about to do something stupid. For her.

Dimitri snarled at Misha, bringing her focus back to him. “You think after your mother abandoned me that I give a shit about what’s inside you?”

Huh?

Thoughts scrambled in her mind as Misha tried to make sense of his words. The room spun around her. The floor tilted. Was he insane? Was she in some sort of movie, or a dream? How could her mother abandon him? While her eyes wildly darted about the room, they landed on hope. Her pistol was underneath the fallen chair, not even a yard away from her. Forcing herself to calm, she straightened her spine. Chin out, she caught her brother’s eye. He noticed the gun, too. A plan formulated in her head. Distract Dimitri. Get the gun. Live.

“You’re insane, Dimitri, and you’re a liar.”

Misha barely finished her words before Dimitri careened to the side. One second, he stood there, about to unleash fury, the next he was knocked to the side. Alek had launched himself at Dimitri’s torso, tackling him. The two of them hit the desk. CCTV monitors scattered to the ground. Dimitri’s metal fist hit Alek with a sickening sound, but Alek made no cry of pain. He couldn’t. Launching across the old carpet, she retrieved the gun from under the fallen chair, but the tangle of limbs lashing at each other was too much. She couldn’t see what happened, couldn’t pick them apart. Only when that shining mechanical thing whirred through the air and landed on her brother’s arm, did she get her chance. They both froze as Alek’s mouth opened in a soundless scream of agony, and Dimitri pressed down harder.

She aimed.Fired.

Glass shattered as the terrarium exploded.Missed. She’d missed Dimitri, but it shocked his grip from her brother. Without missing a beat, she tugged Alek from the desk and shoved him at the door. She tried not to think of her brother’s injured and bloody face. He would be fine. He was a survivor. She only took her eyes from Dimitri for a second, only enough to open the door and shove her brother out, but it was plenty of time for Dimitri to take hold of the gun, wrest if from her grip and crush.

“Go!” she shouted at Alek and pushed with all the might of the love bursting from her heart. “I’ll hold him off. Get out, get—” She slammed the door shut and locked it.Get Wyatt.

If she escaped with her brother, Dimitri would chase them down before they got to the end of the corridor. The masked watchers would chase them down. Alek had a better chance of survival if she kept the boss busy, kept him from making that order to cut them down. Leaning against the wood, catching her breath, she turned and faced the spindly devil, panting and snorting with rage. Keep him busy. Yeah, right.