Page 53 of Collapsed

“You have that honor today, Volkov,” King says as Alexie's chest puffs back up with pride. “Enough pissing contest for now, let’s go get our girl.”

Nat

Stalkingfromtheshadows,I follow Ivan waiting for my perfect moment to pounce. I lose Ivan momentarily as I come across Conrad with one of Ivan’s men, who is holding a knife in each hand, down the hallway towards the Lobby. Flattening myself against the wall behind a shelf I watch and observe, waiting for Ivan to come out of whatever room he disappeared into.

“Looks like it's just the two of us, ready for a fight to the death,” the man sneers at Conrad in a very thick Russian accent. He fires at him again, shooting him in the right arm, causing him to drop his knife. His face morphs into pure rage, and he growls while running toward him, totally catching Conrad off guard. He crashes into him like a damn linebacker knocking them both to the floor. Conrad’s gun goes flying behind them, forcing him to rely on my hand-to-hand combat skills. After he knocks the other knife from his grasp, a few minutes of tit-for-tat punches, they roll around, and Conrad finally gets the upper hand. I debate jumping in to help, but I know now that he has the skills to fend for himself. Conrad has the man on his back, punching him in the face over and over again until he goes limp.

Ivan steps out of one of the side doors in the hall immediately noticing Conrad and stalks toward him. “Looks like it is your time to die, Conrad,” he says, laughing. I know Conrad didn’t kill the other man, but he is at least knocked out for now, meaning he can focus solely on Ivan.

Conrad stands, readying himself for another fight. He takes a few steps back, grabbing his gun off the floor and pointing it directly at Ivan. He lifts both hands into the air, taunting Conrad to shoot him. Conrad hesitates, then Ivan’s fist connects with the side of his head, knocking him into the wall.

“Weak little man,” Ivan says, cocky as hell.

“You wish I was weak, Ivan, but the only reason you are not dead where you currently stand is because your death does not belong to me, it belongs to Nat, you piece of shit,” he tells him, punching him back with a right hook to the jaw.

Conrad is pushed back and trips over the man he just knocked out. Ivan jumps on top of him, straddling his torso, and pulls out a knife, slicing my man across the cheek.

This is my time! I’ve watched long enough.

Before Conrad can punch him back, I jump out of my hiding spot and kick Ivan in the ribs knocking him to the side.

“Nat! Thank god you're okay. You just took off on us.” he is practically scolding me at this point. But my focus is on Ivan, my eyes narrow on him like a predator stalking its prey.

Conrad keeps trying to talk to me, but I’m only focused on one thing. The piece of shit getting off the floor, Ivan. He’s laughing. Of course, he’s laughing, only that sick psycho could find humor at a time like this.He won’t be laughing for much longer, though.

We’re in a small lobby area surrounded by a few offices. I glance around, looking for anything that can be used as a weapon, but it’s not exactly a well-decorated sitting area. There are only a few chairs and a side table.

“I knew you would come for me,” he taunts. “Time to stop playing games,Moy Ogon.Say goodbye to your false lover, so we leave now.” Ivan stands, facing Conrad, and I see Conrad’s body tense as he stands next to me. Fists clenched, eyes narrowed, and the vein in his temple bobs so I move to stand in front of Conrad. This is my fight, and he knows it.

No words leave my lips as I charge toward him. He doesn’t move or try to block me as I throw my right fist at his jaw, making contact. Blood spurts from his mouth instantly. Ivan only spits it on the ground as I swing my left leg and kick out his knee. His body bows slightly from the contact, giving me an open target to drop my elbow into the side of his head. Each blow is a reminder of the pain and torment he has caused so many.

Ivan extends both of his hands quickly, causing me to take a few steps back. He’s back on his feet, but I do not fear him today. This ends here. He continues his taunts, trying to throw me off. It won’t work today.

“By now, Ryan should have your sweet Katia,” he informs me in a whisper. I keep my face stoic because showing any emotion right now will give him exactly what he wants. “She’s going back to Vegas. You cost us a lot of money on that little bitch.”

I want to look at Conrad and tell him to go find Katia, but I refuse to take my eyes off Ivan. He’s too slick to let out of my sight for even a moment. My only hope is that he can hear what Ivan is saying to me, but when I ran toward Ivan, I might have put too much distance between us. My worry for Katia and the others will have to wait.

Ivan stands there looking at me, his eyes moving up my body causing a shiver of disgust to roll down my spine. After everything, he still wants to take me with him. He can’t possibly believe he could ever break me. I would die before giving myself to him.

“It’s over, Ivan. The Bratva has spoken.” It’s my turn to taunt him, “They don’t want you. They’d rather have me in control than you.” His face drops slightly. He’s getting angry, and he’s not doing a very good job of hiding it as his eyes narrow on me as he prowls toward me.

“Imagine that,” I continue, “you wanted me to be your little lap dog at your side while you took over the Bratva. What a joke that turned out to be.” I see his shoulders tense up, and his hands curl into fists. He sends a fist in my direction but I deflect, stepping to the side and grabbing his fist with one hand and bringing my knee to his gut with the other. “I’ll be at the head of the Bratva, and you’ll be in the ground.”

I’m ready for the next swing, but so is he. His fist comes out, and I duck out of the way, but he brings up his knee and connects with my chest. There’s a snapping sound, and I’m sure a rib or two has cracked. I gasp for air as my back connects with the wall behind me. I look up in time to see his fist coming towards my head, so I drop to the ground in a crouching position. His fist connects with the wall as I kick my right foot up, connecting with his inner thigh as hard as I can from this position. Ivan grunts as he stumbles back, giving me the space to get out from under him.

He limps forward slightly as I stand to face him. My kick definitely did some damage to his leg because he’s leaning more on his right leg now. I stand in a ready position and hold my hand out in front of me, moving my fingers in a ‘come here’ motion. A smirk forms on his face.

Ivan takes a step forward, and I wait, wanting to watch him limp. He smiles wider as he takes another step without limping, but I didn’t miss how he held his breath as he moved. I would normally be excited and think I had the upper hand now, but this is Ivan. He might be enjoying the pain, especially since I caused it.

Before Ivan can get to me, I see his eyes shift to the hallway next to us. I allow myself to look over and see Katia, Alexie, and King enter the room. Conrad is still standing by the doorway. Alexie steps forward, but I hold up my hand and shake my head at him. He nods in return, sliding a chair over to where everyone is standing, and sits down. I can only smile at his gesture as he did the same thing at Cooter’s Clubhouse. He knows I can handle my own but is ready to jump in at any moment if need be.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I hear King ask him. “We can take him right now and end this.”

“We watch,” Alexie replies. “Our turn will come,” he simply tells King. While Ivan’s death is mine to have in the end, everyone should have the opportunity to make him pay. Ivan played all of them. He made them believe he was part of their team, their family, and when he ‘died,’ they all grieved him. He turned out to be their greatest enemy, and they deserve their pound of flesh, literally.

“You will watch as we all die then,” Ivan tells Alexie.What the hell is he talking about?He answers my unspoken question instantly by pulling a remote out of his pocket. As I look closer, I can see it’s a detonator.How? We chose the location and time.“I always have a plan. If I cannot haveMoy Ogon,then no one will. We will die together. It will be the greatest of deaths to die with you,” he directs his words to me.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!If he wants to blow himself up, then by all means. I look to my side again to see Alexie still sitting while fear is all over Katia’s face. King is trying to look as stoic as possible, but no one wants to die today, especially not at Ivan’s hands.

---