Page 100 of Immaculate Deception (Romanoff Bratva)

34

Arya

Rose and I both freeze. The key cranks. The door is thrown open…

And reveals Taras standing on the threshold.

He’s tucking his keys back in his pocket, so he doesn’t notice anything at first.

Then he looks up and sees us. I watch his face purple with anger.

Rose whimpers. I bite my lip.

This is where my plan ends. We don’t have a weapon. Neither of us are in a state to fight.

It’s over.

The realization that we won’t be escaping washes over me. It nearly brings me to my knees. But I refuse to bend. I’ll stand tall. I’ll face whatever wrath Taras wants to rain down on me. I won’t let him—

The thought dies in my head as Taras reaches into his waistband and pulls out a gun.

The milliseconds stretch into hours. As he lifts the gun, aiming it at us, I feel like I’m in a movie. I blink, and then—

Bang.

I wait to feel the pain, to feel the warm rush of blood and the embrace of death.

But there’s nothing. Just the smell of gunpowder.

And then Rose’s hand slips from mine.

My friend, still swollen and bruised from Taras’s last attack on her, drops to the floor with a gunshot wound in her forehead. A spray of blood covers the floor behind us.

I can’t even scream. My entire body is locked in place. Locked in horror. One question beating around in my skull.

What have I done?

What have I done?

What have I done?

“Rose?” Her name slips out of my mouth. A question that will never be answered.

When Taras walks towards me, murderous intent shining in his eyes, I don’t even have it in me to fight. I don’t run or cower.

I face the death that has been after me for the last six weeks. For the last few years. Hell, since the day I was born.

I always knew, deep down, my life would end in violence.

And here it is. My destiny come home to roost.

Taras stops a few feet in front of me and raises the gun once more.

I close my eyes and wait for the final bang.

35

Dima

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