Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
He keeps talking.
“You built this empire thinking you were untouchable, but everyone falls eventually. You should’ve stayed in your lane, Lev. You should’ve kept your bitch in hers.”
Mari flinches. I don’t.
“Watch your fucking mouth.”
He grins wider. “Why? What are you going to do? Shoot through her?”
He’s stalling. Maybe hoping his Kozlov contact will come. Maybe he’s just lost it. Either way, I’m done letting him speak.
“Marcus,” I say quietly, “you have one chance. Drop the gun.”
He presses it harder into her skull. “No.”
Mari glances at me then, just once. It’s quick, but I see the tiniest shift in her posture. She’s still fighting. Still thinking. I recognize the look. It’s the same one she had in my office the first time she stood up to me. It’s defiance. It’s faith.
Marcus keeps ranting.
“You think you’ve got me? You don’t get to win this time. Not you, not your precious accountant, not—”
Mari collapses without hesitation. She throws herself forward, hitting the ground before he can react. The barrel clears her head, and before he can track her, I fire. The shot cracks through the clearing. Marcus spins sideways as the bullet punches into his shoulder. The gun flies from his hand.
“Move!” I shout.
Yuri bursts from the tree line. He closes the gap in seconds, kicking the weapon away before Marcus can grab it. Marcus stumbles back, clutching his arm, blood pouring down his sleeve.
I move in fast. I want him to look at me when I end him.
“You shouldn’t have touched her,” I say.
He spits blood and laughs weakly. “You won’t kill me.”
“Not yet,” I say with all the menace I’ve been holding back.
His smile twitches, confused. Then I drop the weapon and grab him by the throat. He chokes, clawing at my hand, but I’ve got him pinned against a tree before he can fight back. His face purples as I press harder. He kicks, catches my ribs, but I don’t let go. I want him to feel the same helplessness he made her feel.
“You think I’m going to make it quick?” I snarl. “You threatened the woman carrying my child. You made her run through a forest bleeding and terrified. You don’t get mercy.”
He wheezes, “You don’t really care about her.”
I slam him into the tree again, so hard the bark splinters. “She’s everything you’ll never understand.”
“Lev!” Mari’s voice cuts through the fog. She’s still on the ground, holding her arm where it scraped the rocks, eyes wide with fear. Not of Marcus, I realize, but of me. “Don’t do this. Please.”
I hear her, but her words are too far to reach me. My hand is shaking with rage. I let go of Marcus’s throat long enough to punch him. Once. Twice. Then again. Bone cracks under my knuckles. His face is a ruin, blood streaming from his nose and mouth.
Yuri pulls up beside me. “Lev. Enough.”
I don’t stop. I grab Marcus’s collar and drag him up again.
“You think you can scare her? You think you can take what’s mine?”
Another punch. He tries to cover his face, but I rip his hands down and drive my fist into his gut. He folds over, gasping. I let him fall to his knees.
“Lev, she’s watching,” Yuri says quietly. “You don’t want her to see this.”
I turn my head just enough to meet Mari’s eyes. She’s pale, trembling. Her lip is bleeding where he hit her.
When she speaks, her voice breaks. “Please. Don’t become him.”
Her words land somewhere deep. I draw a slow breath, then look down at Marcus again. He’s coughing blood onto the dirt.
“Yuri,” I say, my voice low and steady now. “Get her out of here now. She needs medical attention.”
She shakes her head. “No, please don’t do this,” she pleads, her voice raw.
“Now,” I order.
Yuri nods and moves to her side. He helps her up gently. She sways but stays upright. Her eyes are locked on me.
“Lev,” she groans, “please.”
But she’s already being pulled away. I watch them disappear into the trees before I look back at Marcus. He’s still breathing. Not for long.
I crouch in front of him, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at me.
“Whatever the hell you had planned, you’ve failed,” I say quietly. “After all that damn work, all those distractions and allies, you’re going to die here without accomplishing any of it.”
He tries to speak, but it comes out as a gurgle. I pull the knife from my belt. The silver glints faintly in the moonlight. His eyes widen.
“You don’t deserve a quick death,” I tell him. “You deserve to feel every second you stole from her.”
He starts begging me with broken words, half-choked with blood. I don’t hear them. I see Mari’s face in my mind, her eyes wet and afraid, her voice pleading with me to stop. But I can’t stop. Not this time. If I let him live, he’ll crawl back out of whatever hole he came from and try again. Men like him don’t change. They rot.