Page 133 of Lies He Told Me (Bratva Crime Syndicate 1)

“You know what?” Osip snarls suddenly, stopping, “You know what—fuck you. Death’s too good for you. I’m going to let you rot in here. Let you rot and when I’m bored, I’ll stop by to laugh at you. Yeah, have fun rotting away, fucker!”

He storms off before I can say what we both know already. That the real reason he left me here is that, like me the night of the red council, he simply couldn’t do it. Can’t bring himself to kill me. He’s still a kid at heart. Somewhere deep down, he’s still my little brother.

Maybe I did this to him. Maybe I’m the one who pushed him over the edge. Though he was heading there himself already.

Either way, it’s just me now, left with regret and pain for all I should’ve done.

33

Ludmil

I watch from the shadows as Gavril disappears into the yawning mouth of the grain elevator. I can hear the hoots and hollers of the Skull Kings idiots echoing from inside until the doors clang shut.

“Fuck,” I whisper under my breath. I’d been hoping he wasn’t going to go ahead with this self-sacrifice. Like maybe he had some master plan up his sleeve.

But if I didn’t know it before, I know it now—Gavril really does love her. And he’s really going to sacrifice himself to free her.

In all the years I’ve known Gavril Vaknin, he’s been a cold, ruthless bastard. Then he exiles Osip instead of killing him and brings in this girl, this nobody.

He’s changing. Just like all of us. Being the don takes its toll on a man.

But he’s taken us this far. Carried us all on his shoulders, every last man in the Bratva.

Maybe it’s time for us to carry him for a change.

I didn’t tell him I was going to come after him. He would’ve had me locked up. But it’s the right thing to do. It’s the only thing to do. Gavril Vaknin is my boss, my don, my best friend, my brother-in-arms. I’m not about to let him walk straight to his death, even if he does think it’s the only move left to make.

“You’re not alone, my friend,” I whisper under my breath.

Then I screw the silencer onto my gun and creep along the shadows to the back.

Two gibbering morons with shaved heads and skull tattoos on their necks are smoking cigarettes by a dingy, rusted side door. They never see me or hear me. Two quick squeezes of my trigger, two muffled pops, and they both slump to the floor. Two less idiots inflicting their nastiness on the world.

Good fucking riddance.

I go to fling the door open and slip inside the Skull Palace, but the door is locked. Fuck. I’m exposed here. I reach down and pat the pockets of one of the guards I just shot. Nothing. The other doesn’t turn up anything either.

I can hear footsteps coming from around the corner. Boots clomping on the pavement. More voices, cackling. I’m running out of time. They’re going to discover me, raise the alarm. Where the fuck is the key…?

There. I spot a rusted key hanging from a chain on one of the men’s necks. I yank it off, jam it in the lock, and fling the door open. I barely have time to drag in the bodies of the two men I shot, shut the door silently, and duck aside before I hear the roving patrol pass by outside. I hold my gun in both hands and try not to breathe too loud.

But they pass without noticing any amiss. Thank the fucking Lord.

I turn my attention down the hallway. It’s long, dark, and dank. The perfect hidey-hole for these biker fucks.

I’m only one man and this place is massive. Doors line the hall, half of them rusted shut. I’m going to have to get very, very lucky.

Or else Gavril is going to die.

* * *

Thirty minutes pass, every second as agonizing as the next. I try to open every door I see. Most of them don’t open at all or reveal only an empty, cobwebbed room.

“Where are you, Gavril?” I call softly into the darkness. No response.

Occasionally, the laughter and jeers of the Skull Kings swarming this place float to me through the ventilation system. I cringe every time. Any one of those sounds could signal my death. I’m one man, with one gun and limited ammunition. This was the only way. It seemed like a good plan in the moment. Now, I’m not so sure.

But I keep moving in spite of all those bullshit thoughts. Gavril needs me. And Joy needs Gavril. I won’t stop until I find what I came for.

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