Page 66 of Kidnapped Prisoner By the Bratva
He paused, clearly shocked to hear my voice.
“Your men are all dead, and so is Volchok,” I said, struggling to catch my breath. “I played your stupid game andwon the fight. I’ve earned my freedom, and Wren’s also. Now, get off my back.” I glanced at my wife and then added through gritted teeth. “I’ll have my revenge, Akim. Mark my words.”
And with that, I ended the call.
Chapter 23 – Wren
Over twenty men against one man, and not one of them triumphed over him. It was like watching a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie. His moves were calculated, his shots precise, and he never missed a target.
Val fought every single last one of the intruders just to keep his household safe. The chaos had destroyed the living room, and the aftermath was a mess of dead bodies littered across the floor.
His skin was slick with blood that wasn’t his, marred by injuries and some minor cuts. I sat on my heels, watching him threaten someone over the last intruder’s phone. The one I sent straight to hell barely two minutes ago.
My hands were still trembling at the fact that I killed a man, and a sudden cold seeped into my bones with the sheets wrapped around me. Well, I didn’t kill him in cold blood—I only pulled that trigger because he was about to murder Val.
The intruder had the upper hand; he was almost twice as big and tall as Val was. By the time the battle between them began, Val was already exhausted from fighting all those other men. It wasn’t a fair fight at all.
If Val hadn’t used up his strength on the previous armed assailants, I was confident that I never would’ve needed to step in and help him. He would’ve ended the intruder’s life in a heartbeat. However, that wasn’t the case; the coward waited until Val was weak before showing up like some big bad guy from a movie scene.
Idiot.
I wasn’t shaking because I regretted my action. No. I was shaking because I didn’t. Let that sink in for a minute.
Just last night, I teased Val, saying that I’d let him die in the blink of an eye if he was ever in trouble. Joke’s on me, Iguess. I didn’t hesitate when I pulled that trigger, and the only reason I didn’t fire another was because he dropped instantly.
With that much rage coursing through my veins, I wanted to empty the gun on the son of a bitch. He was lucky he died straight up. That thought was the reason my hands were trembling. Plus the fact that I’d never killed someone before. Not even a cockroach.
I couldn’t recognize myself at that moment, and when I stared at my hands, all I saw was invisible blood. I’d crossed a line now, and there was no coming back from that. I was a murderer, one with no remorse.
Was this how monsters were made? Because I felt nothing. No emotions at all. I was numb, cold as ice, almost like the man I married.
I should blame him. I should blame Valarian Tarasov for this woman I’d become, this killer. My life turned upside down the day I woke up in his dungeon, and ever since, I hadn’t been the same. I’d survived multiple attempts on my life, like any of this was my fault.
Now, those sons of bitches pushed me to the point where I had no choice but to let out the killer I never knew was in me. There was no difference between Val and me—we were both killers, killers without remorse.
One thing I realized today was that I wasn’t who I was by choice. I was just ignorant of how evil people could be and had never had to fight for my life or those I loved. I was safe from the harsh reality of this world. Until now, of course.
I learned today that our circumstances and situations shaped our lives, molding us into the people we were. Before now, my biggest choices used to be what I’d wear to school—my biggest problem used to be how to make straight A’s.
Not anymore.
In this world, it’s kill or be killed, and those unfortunate enough to grow up around nothing but violence turned out to be the worst in society. I had a taste of that—a taste of how Val’s life looked for decades.
With what I’d seen so far, I couldn’t blame him for being what he was. If I experienced things like this two more times, I just might lose myself in the darkness. Because, as “good” as I was, I’d rather kill than be killed.
That mindset was the beginning of my undoing, but it was the only thing I could hold on to in this world I found myself in.
I glanced at the bodies sprawled across the room, the blood that stained the floor, and the bullet holes in the walls. How the hell did he survive this? How did he manage to kill all these people on his own without backup?
I’d always known that he was deadly, but I never thought he was a freaking John Wick in a fight. I wasn’t sure whether to be proud or afraid by how one man massacred a whole army all by himself.
Fear wasn’t an option in this situation because all that death and destruction was for me. To save me.
Today was proof that we would go the extra mile to save each other. No matter the cost. I didn’t think it was possible to take a life just to save him, but I did. I stained my hands with blood for a man I once hated with every fiber of my being.
Val trashed the phone after the call, the sound snapping me out of my thoughts. I rose to my feet, holding his gaze as he approached me with heaving shoulders.
“It’s over,” he said, halting in front of me. “It’s over.”
