Page 59 of Til Death Do Us Part (Kornilov Bratva Duet 2)

Viktor

Iwish I could turn around and tell Molly it will all be all right. I wish I could squeeze her hand and tell her we’ll all get out of this.

Because we will.

She doesn’t know it yet, but I planned for this.

Well, not this, exactly. But I planned for this possibility.

I knew I had a leak, so I called the men I knew I could trust and posted them in buildings around the photo shoot, ready to strike should anything go wrong. Like, for instance, if Fedor came pouring into the building with ten armed men.

All I need to do is keep him talking, and my men will be here any second. It is easy because Fedor is convinced he is in control right now. He is pacing back and forth slowly, savoring what he believes is his conquest over me.

“Fedor, you don’t have to do this,” I say, changing my tone. Up until this point, I’ve been hostile, argumentative. I knew Fedor would want to break me down. He wouldn’t want to take me kicking and screaming. He wants me to go out with a whimper, not a bang. So, I whimper. “We used to be a team. A dynamic duo. We can be that again.”

Fedor’s smile is sad. He is looking at me like I’m an injured animal on the side of the road, and he is trying to decide whether he should put me out of my misery or not.

“Don’t beg, brother. It’s beneath you.”

“Maybe,” I admit. “But I don’t want things to end badly between us. We are the only family each other has. We shouldn’t be enemies. It’s not natural.”

A flicker of something flashes behind his cold eyes, and I think I catch a glimpse of my real brother. Not the emotionless monster in front of me, but the scared little boy I know is living inside.

Then, Theo whimpers. “Dada.”

Whatever guard Fedor may have dropped is hauled back up in an instant, and his eyes are bottomless wells of darkness.

“Do you really believe that?” Fedor asks. “Honestly, Viktor, do you think you would ever forgive me for seducing your now-wife and fathering the child you are trying to claim as your own? Is that something you could look past? That I fucked your woman?”

“Raped,” Molly says, stepping out from behind me just far enough to make eye contact with Fedor. “You didn’t seduce me, you drugged me. And it wasn’t a fuck, it was rape. It was criminal.”

Fedor grins, thrilled that he managed to draw her out and into the fight. I want to wrap her in my arms and hold her back, but Molly is unknowingly assisting me in my plan to keep Fedor preoccupied. Because all of his attention is on her now.

“I don’t know,” Fedor says. “You didn’t have any complaints when you took me in your mouth.”

Molly flinches, and my vision momentarily goes red. She has told me she doesn’t remember that night at all, so there is no way to know whether what Fedor is saying is true, but I have no reason to doubt him. He is a sick fuck, and if I ever get the chance, I’ll kill him.

Luckily for Fedor, before I can act on my urges, the door behind him bursts open again. Except, this time, instead of being his men, it is mine.

Twenty men with guns charge in and surround Fedor and his men.

Fedor’s eyes go wide, and he turns around to stare at me with betrayal in his eyes. As though I somehow betrayed him rather than the other way around.

“I thought you really wanted to reconcile,” he says, his arms flopping at his sides. “Turns out, you were just keeping me talking while your men moved in.”

He clicks his tongue in disappointment.

“Leave,” I say simply. “My men won’t fire if yours don’t. If yours do, then we’re all dead. No one will make it out of here.”

“Mutually assured destruction,” Fedor says in a bored voice. “I get it.”

I can see him actually thinking it through. Honestly trying to decide whether it is worth it to die here today in order to get revenge on me. And I realize then exactly how far gone Fedor is. Not only is he a homicidal monster, but he is suicidal, too. He has no regard for human life at all, his or anyone else’s.

“What happened to you?” I say, almost to myself, though Fedor hears me.

“What do you mean?” Fedor asks with a smile, playing dumb.

“How did you get here? I was there for you. I took care of you our entire childhood. I did my best to support you and care for you. Yet, somehow, you turned into this monster. I don’t understand.”

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