Page 94 of Broken Sins (Volkov Bratva 3)

The ring of the don.

The soldiers are almost here. Their footsteps sound like thunder. I feel their approach just as much as I hear it.Boom boom boom.We are running out of time.

But maybe escaping is not the right idea. Maybe this is as far as fate intended for me to get. Like meteors hurtling through space, perhaps the Volkovs and I have been charted on a collision course that was always meant to end violently. To end here and now in a fiery crash.

So be it.

If you stop, you die.

Maybe it is simply my time to stop then.

I close my eyes and squeeze off two shots.

27

Milaya

Everything happens so fast.

Vito is pointing the gun at my dad. I’m screaming wordlessly, helplessly, my face still raw from where he slapped me. I close my eyes; I can’t bear to look. The gun fires once, twice …

… and two bodies hit the ground.

Then the door we came through bursts open and soldiers come pouring in. I open my eyes to see my father lying crumpled maybe fifteen feet away from me. And, up on the ledge leading out of this cavern into the Los Angeles night, I see the body of Sergio.

Vito shot both of them.

What the fuck is happening?

I don’t have any time to think though, because there are bullets crisscrossing the air like deadly hornets. I run screaming over to my dad. There is a dark red rose in his upper left chest where the bullet hit him. He coughs. I scream again. My head is filled with the sound of my own horrified voice.

“Dad! Dad!”

His eyes flutter open.

He’s alive. Barely, and maybe not for much longer, but somehow, he’s alive.

I pick him up and loop an arm around him. His feet drag in the dirt, but somehow we manage to stumble towards the exit. The rectangle of night sky framed by the door is so beautiful. I never noticed before just how beautiful the sky is from up here. We’re above the smog, so the stars are sparkling and brilliant.

I’m running as fast as we can, pulling my dad, using strength I never knew I had. Mateo, Leo, and Dante are all shooting back at the soldiers trying to enter. They have claimed a few lives already I see, judging by the pile of bodies at the mouth of the door.

But I don’t care about that. I don’t care about anything anymore. I just want to get the hell out of here.

Vito is standing stock-still. He hasn’t moved since he fired the bullets that struck Sergio and my father. Sergio hasn’t moved either. Maybe Vito’s bullet found its intended target there. I don’t plan on waiting around to find out.

We pass by Vito and for one brief moment, I almost think we’re going to get away.

Then, he seizes my upper arm. “You’re not going anywhere,” he snarls.

“You have to let us go,” I beg. “My dad’s going to die.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” he says again. An enemy bullet flies between our faces, but he doesn’t seem to care.

“Vito!” comes Mateo’s roar. The other three brothers have backed away through the escape route. They’re calling for us to come. Vito looks at them, then back to me. With a grim set to his jaw, he drags me forward, keeping his grip on my arm.

We get through the door and push it shut behind us. Mateo and Leo immediately start stacking logs and rocks in front of it in the vain hope of buying us time. It won’t do much, but I suppose it’s better than nothing.

My father’s breathing is ragged in my ear. The blood spilling from his wound is soaking my own shirt in grotesque torrents. I’m not even sure if he’s conscious. But he’s alive. That’s what matters right now. That’s the most important thing.

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