Page 70 of Obliterate

Alone.

With the Russian mafia.

Inside a soundproof bunker.

There’s no way out.

Oh God.

Anton takes a few steps forward, a cheerful sneer on his face as he looks at each of us individually. “How’s the ears? Can you hear me?” he asks.

I nod, along with the other women, as Immy continues to cry. Her ears must be in so much pain from the stun grenade.

The bastard! Obviously, he has no regard for children.

What a fucking asshole.

He turns to the Baroness and chuckles, his chest rising and falling with his heavy laughter. “Two for the price of one… my lucky day! Baroness, how nice it is to see you again. I’ve been wanting to do this for a long fucking time.” He points, aims, and fires a round from his gun at her.

We all scream as the bullet hits her in the shoulder. She screams in pain as she drops to her knees, blood pouring out of her wound as she clutches it with her hand.

Anton lets out a belly laugh as he paces the floor. “Fuuuck,it felt good to do that. I think I can speak for everyone here when I say that we have all wanted to shoot you, Constance. Am I right, ladies?” he asks, glancing at us, but none of us say anything in return.

The Baroness pants rapidly out of her mouth, attempting to fight through her pain.

“Oh, you girls are no fun. Won’t you play along, even a little bit?” he urges.

My hands ball into fists as he begins pacing the bunker floor, waving a gun around as he thinks. “You know… Defiance and the Bratva have been at war for so long now I can’t even remember how it started. All I know is… yourmen came aftermyfamily. They shot up the places where we were living, withmychildren inside and with reckless abandon. I told them that once we rebuild, Iwouldcome back for them, andthisis that moment. Iamsorry you have to pay the price for the sins of your men, but… it is what it is. So… who wants to go first?” he asks so casually that we all just stand staring, unsure about what he’s saying and asking.

Uneasiness rolls through me as his men take a step closer. I wrap my arm around Novah, holding her to me, not wanting to let her go.

Anton raises his gun, aiming at Maxxy, and everyone lets out a small scream at the aggressive move. “I said…Who. Wants. To go. First?”

Maxxy raises her hands in surrender, but everyone stays stock-still, not knowing what the fuck he means. So I clear my throat. “Anton, you and our club have had a lifetime of disagreements. And I know it was dreadful when they came to your camp and shot up everything. The boys admitted they didn’t know your families were there, and when they saw the kids, they stopped and backed away. You have to give them that.”

Anton tilts his head, moving the gun to aim at me. “They did do that. And Iamgrateful they left. But what they don’t know is… in the moments they were shooting,twoBratva children were hit with stray bullets, and some of our elderly were killed. Let alone the damage it did to the infrastructure. Wecan’tlet that slide. You understand!”

“But you canbethe bigger man. We can end this war amicably—”

“You’re holding on pretty tight to Novah there, Ingrid. I thinkshecan go first. Get her, boys,” Anton orders. My eyes widen as Novah’s muscles tense, but I hold her tighter.

“No, Anton, no. Take me! I’ll go first,” I call out as Novah begins to cry, turning in my grip and clinging to me for dear life.

“I got you. I got you,” I assure her.

Lani rushes to my side and grabs hold of Novah, but the Bratva soldiers race forward, and she screams as they pull at her. I hold tight as they tear at her clothing, pulling her from Lani and my grasp.

“Novah!” I scream.

The rest of the girls are crying, but they can’t do anything as the Bratva assholes have guns aimed on them.

Novah kicks at the soldiers, trying to fight them off her, but one of them pulls out a gun and presses it to her temple, flicking off the safety.

My heart leaps into my throat. “Novah, stop!” I beg, her body instantly going still, her eyes focusing on the tip of the gun. Her breathing sharp and shallow.

“Okay, I’ll go with you. Just don’t shoot,” she whimpers.

My hands tighten on hers, not wanting to let her go as tears flood my face.

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