Page 34 of Brutal Loyalty

“Elena?” Alexandra shrieked again. She scrambled to pull the blankets up around her naked body. “Get out! Get out!”

But Elena couldn’t do that, and she froze where she stood. It was too late for her to turn around. She was in too deep.

This would end today, whether Alexandra was there or not. She said her last goodbye to the future she could have had, then popped open the switchblade before rushing forward to end it all.

CHAPTER25

Roman

Ascream pierced the upper floor of the Sokolov mansion and, with it, Roman’s heart. He recognized the voice—Alexandra.

Before he could process the sound, he was already running. Instincts overwhelmed him. Pulse pounding in his ears, he rushed down the hall and burst through the partially open bedroom door. The scene there brought him to a screeching halt. On the bed, beside Viktor, was Alexandra. She was tugging frantically at the blankets to try to hide her body. Roman caught a flash of skin, but his gaze didn’t stay focused on Alexandra. There was another threat—one he needed to address immediately. Elena, knife in hand, was rushing toward the bed.

A bellow died in Roman’s throat and was reborn as a roar. He bolted across the room after her, grabbed her by the wrist, and wrestled her to the floor. Elena, terrified, tensed beneath him. She lashed out and managed to pull her wrist from his grip, and he heard her sobbing out words he couldn’t understand. Then, with a primal cry, she shunted the knife into the nearest piece of flesh she could find—Roman’s side. The wound burned, but it didn’t stop him.

Roman grunted in pain and grabbed her wrist again, squeezing until her grip loosened. Then, as searing pain lanced through his side, he pinned her to the floor and let out a shaky breath. “Elena.”

“R-Roman?” she gasped, and he saw helpless tears leaking from her eyes. She continued to struggle, but he held her down. There were sounds from the mattress—Viktor had risen from bed, entirely naked. He registered as little more than a shape in the corner of Roman’s eye. “You weren’t supposed to be here!” she sobbed, grunting and still attempting to get away. “Oh my God…I hurt you, didn’t I? I didn’t know it was you,” she wailed.

“You didn’t want to hurt me?” he asked, dumbfounded. He had to hold back a laugh, even as his heart shattered. “If you didn’t want to hurt me, you wouldn’t have lied! All this time, you’ve been pulling the wool over our eyes, planning this. Did you really think you’d get away with something like this? Did you think that you could hide your loyalties?”

“You don’t understand!” Elena wailed again, breathlessly struggling against his hold. She squirmed anew beneath him, but he used the full force of his body to keep her pinned.

“I think I understand enough.”

No matter what he felt for her, he couldn’t let her get to Viktor. He would not allow her to die, but he would not put Viktor’s life in danger, either. Whatever he had to do to convince Viktor to forgive her and simply send her away, he would do it. His heart wouldn’t allow for anything else.

“It’s…stop!” Elena sounded choked. She squirmed again, but he refused to give her any leeway. His body throbbed around the knife, too hot to be real. It wasn’t the first time Roman had suffered from a serious injury, but this time felt different. Had she ruptured his intestine? His kidney? He didn’t know. But there was blood, slick and plentiful, soaking through his shirt and down onto her below him, and the pain wasn’t abating. A dark ring suddenly surrounded the outer limits of his vision. “Roman!”

“You will not harm Viktor,” Roman said stiffly. Viktor’s hurried footsteps closed the distance between them, and Roman knew that if he moved and exposed Elena to his friend, that she would be executed. The attempt against Viktor’s life was obvious—there was no other way to explain the knife now sunken into Roman’s side. Viktor would kill her without a second thought for her treachery.

Elena stilled beneath him, sobbing out, “Roman, you’re bleeding! I hurt you! Please…please let me go! I won’t do anything else. Please, just…Let me take care of you!”

“Roman?” Viktor’s voice was arctic. “You will remove yourself from her immediately.”

Roman closed his eyes. He let out a shuddering breath and continued to hold Elena to the floor, his body effectively shielding hers, even as it restrained her. “No.”

“Roman.” The threat was plain in Viktor’s tone, but Roman couldn’t pay it heed. He understood that, by shielding an enemy of the Sokolovs, he was asking to be killed along with her. Viktor would not spare a man whose sympathies lay with someone like Elena—a threat to Sokolov security and a snake. But Roman had no choice. He’d hoped that he would have time to figure out what could be done—that he could locate Elena before she tried anything and pull her off to the side to warn her to leave and never come back…but that wasn’t an option now. Elena had made her move, and he would pay for it along with her.

“I will not move,” Roman said. He gritted his teeth. There was pressure behind his eyes that made his head feel too heavy, and the second he acknowledged it, dizziness began to set in. Blood loss, he realized. It wouldn’t be much longer before he passed out. With Viktor in a rage, Roman guessed that he might never wake up again. “I will not let you have her. She will not kill you, and you…you will not kill her.”

“Get up, Roman!” Viktor hissed. Roman felt fingers curl against the back of his head, tugging at his hair. Pain shot through his scalp, but he bit back on the cry of anguish that longed to burst from his chest and fought against Viktor’s hold. He would not lift his head. He would not expose Elena.

Elena, who was trembling and weeping. Elena, who’d stabbed him and potentially ended his life. Why did his heart continue to care for her after all she’d done? Why couldn’t he let her go?

“If you won’t get up, then I’ll have to force you up.” Seething anger dripped from Viktor’s decree. He hooked his hands into the back of Roman’s shirt and yanked, but Roman anchored himself down and wrapped his arms around Elena, keeping her safe. Elena sobbed loudly. She’d given up fighting against him. She had to know that she’d be killed, too…but, hopefully, she saw how he was fighting to protect her. Before she, too, was killed, he hoped she’d find solace in his final act.

“I won’t move,” Roman said through gritted teeth. “I won’t let you kill her, Viktor. I love her.”

Elena’s sobbing increased in intensity. She started to squirm again. “Roman!”

But even her voice sounded distant now. Roman struggled to keep his body rigid and heavy, so Viktor couldn’t tear him away from the only woman he would ever prioritize over his loyalty to his friend. He had to stay firm a little longer. He needed to protect her until he was no longer able. And as the weight behind his eyes grew unbearable, and the dizziness in his head spiraled out of control, he knew that he was rapidly approaching that point.

There was no saving himself. There was no saving her. But he’d said what he’d needed to say, and he’d done what he’d needed to do—perhaps in death, he’d find respite. Whatever waited for him beyond the grave had to be happier than this.

CHAPTER26

Elena

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