Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 54899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
But I can’t do anything until he sets her free.
“Do that again, and you will wish for the release of death when I meet you in hell,” I snarl.
“She broke my fucking nose,” he hisses. “Are you going to pay for that slight, too?”
“You can break every bone in my body. You can rip out my guts slowly. You can make me scream. Anything you want, as long as she goes free.”
“You lower the gun, and I’ll take off the cuffs.”
“Not happening,” I refuse. “She walks out of here first. Then, I’ll surrender my weapon.”
“You’ll shoot me as soon as she’s out of the range of my knife,” he sneers.
“I won’t shoot you. All I care about is her. You know that, or you wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble to capture her.”
“Swear it,” he insists. “Swear on her life that you won’t shoot me.”
She lets out a garbled groan.
“I swear on Karolina’s life that I’ll put down my gun as soon as she’s safely out of here. I won’t fight you.”
“Done.”
A sob wracks her lithe body. She looks so heartbreakingly delicate.
“I won’t let them hurt you,” I promise. “You’re going to be alright.”
Sokolov nods at the only surviving guard. His face is marked with deep red scratches. My brave, fierce Karolina must’ve fought back.
She’s not capable of fighting now. Not after getting hit with the taser.
“Get her down,” the pakhan commands. “Take her out of here.”
“She goes safely back to York,” I growl. “I want your word now.”
“You have my word,” he agrees, eyes gleaming at the prospect of making me scream.
The guard unlocks her cuffs, and Sokolov finally withdraws the blade from her throat. She stumbles, limbs still weak from the shock of the taser. The man simply lifts her over his shoulder and carries her away, following orders.
I bite my tongue to hold in an agonized roar. It’s the last time I’ll ever see her.
When the metal door clangs shut between us, I slowly lower my rifle to the floor.
The surviving men train their guns on me.
I’m completely at their mercy now.
If it weren’t for the pact I made with Sokolov, I’d have a decent chance of taking at least two of them out before they managed to kill me.
As it is, I don’t move a muscle.
“Sit.” He gestures at a metal chair that’s bolted to the floor.
I walk to it on leaden legs, each step taking me farther away from her.
But she’s already hopelessly out of reach.
She always has been.
I deluded myself into thinking I could have her, but I was never worthy. I’ve always known that.
I drop down onto the chair, and one of the survivors quickly cuffs my wrists behind my back. The metal bites into my skin, but I know there’s much worse pain to come.
I’ll endure anything for her.
The metal door bursts open with a bang, and my heart stops.
“No,” I moan in disbelief.
Karolina is running back into the room.
The guard with the scratches on his face grabs her from behind. “Dumb bitch! Do you want to live, or not?”
“Get her out of here!” I thunder.
“I’m not leaving you!” she cries. “I won’t leave you to die again.”
She elbows the guard in the face, and he drops. She grabs his gun and scrambles towards me.
“You have to leave,” I beg.
“Never,” she vows, fierce green eyes flashing. “I love you. I can’t live without you. I can’t do it again.”
My heart swells painfully in my chest.
She loves me.
She loves me, and it’s going to get her killed.
“Karolina, no!” I bark uselessly as she points the weapon at one of the bastards who dared to bid on her.
Her body jerks, and her scream pierces my heart.
Sokolov flung the blade at her, and it’s embedded deep in her shoulder. She drops at the same time as the man she shot.
The four men left standing converge on her, wrestling the gun from her hands.
“Get off her,” the pakhan snaps.
For an insane moment, I think he’s going to honor our bargain. I think he’ll let her go.
She’s injured, but she’s alive. She curls up in agony, moaning my name.
Then his hand fists in her hair, and he drags her across the floor towards me.
I strain against the cuffs. Unyielding metal cuts into my skin, but the pain is nothing compared to the abject horror of Karolina at my enemy’s feet.
“I gave you a chance,” he taunts. “You want to be with your beloved? Here he is.”
He tosses her down directly in front of me. She looks up at me with shining eyes.
“I won’t leave you,” she says, a broken promise. “Never again.”
Blood seeps from around the knife and pools on the concrete beneath her.
“Don’t die on me yet. I’m not finished torturing Ragnarök.”
But he’s not talking about cutting me open.
He lowers himself so his weight pins her beneath him. She thrashes and strikes out with her fingernails. He dodges and gives the knife a vicious twist.