Page 130 of Velvet Chains
Chapter 52
Victor
I STORM through the twisting corridors of this godforsaken hellhole, my gun locked and loaded, my fury a living, breathing thing inside me.
“Where are they, you suka?” I roar, slamming a Vasiliev goon against the blood-splattered wall. “Where’s my wife? My niece?”
The bastard just grins, his teeth stained red. I smash my fist into his face, feeling bones crunch beneath my knuckles. He sags, blood gushing from his ruined nose, but still says nothing.
“Fuck this,” I snarl, dropping him in a heap. No time to waste on scum like him. Laura and Eli are here somewhere; I can feel it in my bones. I just have to find them.
Doc moves ahead of me, his usually kind face set in grim lines. The old man’s a fucking machine, cutting down Vasiliev’s dogs left and right. He may have traded his scalpels for a cause, but today, he’s a reaper in a white coat.
“Ksenia, gde ty? What’s your status?” I bark into my earpiece, scanning the hallways for any sign of Laura or Eli.
“On the way to you now,” Ksenia’s voice crackles back, icy calm despite the gunfire echoing in the background. “Vasiliev sent his whole fucking army, but they’re nothing. Just flies to swat. I’m getting my daughter back, Vitya. Seychas.”
“They’re here, I know it,” I growl, glancing at the tracking device in my palm. The red dot pulses steadily, a beacon of hope amid the carnage. “Just hurry the fuck up, da?”
Suddenly, shadows detach from the gloom, rushing at me with glinting knives. I pivot, my own blade leaping to my hand, slashing in a vicious arc. Hot blood sprays as I slice clean through the first bastard’s ear, his scream choked off as I plunge my knife into his heart.
The second one lunges, snarling curses, but Doc’s there, a silent ghost. He catches the goon’s wrist and twists viciously. The snap of bone, then a gurgle as Doc opens the fucker’s throat with surgical precision.
“Go,” Doc says, already turning to face the next wave of enemies. “Find them. I’ll handle this.”
I don’t hesitate, leaping over the twitching corpses and pounding down the blood-slick hall. “Gde ty, lyubov moya?” I rasp, my heart a jackhammer in my chest. “Where are you, my love?”
And then, like a miracle, a ghost, Laura stumbles out of the shadows, her face streaked with tears and grime. For a moment, I’m frozen, drinking her in, hardly daring to believe she’s real.
“Laura,” I breathe, starting toward her. “Slava Bogu, thank God, I—”
But before I can reach her, a figure lunges from the darkness, snake-quick. An arm locks around Laura’s throat, yanking her back against a broad chest. The barrel of a gun kisses her temple.
“Ah, ah, ah,” a voice tuts, smug and mocking. “Not so fast, mudak.”
Ivan Vasiliev grins at me over Laura’s shoulder, his eyes black and soulless. He has my wife, my heart, in his filthy grasp.
And in that moment, I know with icy certainty that I’m going to rip him apart with my bare fucking hands.
“Let her go, svoloch,” I snarl, my gun leveling at his sneering face. “Or I swear on my life, I’ll smear these walls with your brains.”
Ivan just laughs, the sound like nails on a chalkboard. “Oh, Vitya. Always so dramatic.” He nuzzles Laura’s hair, making her flinch. My finger tightens on the trigger.
“I think you’ll be putting down the gun now, da?” he says, digging the pistol harder into Laura’s skin. “Unless you want to see if her pretty head stops my bullet.”
I hesitate, my pulse pounding in my ears. This pidar has me by the balls, and he knows it.
“Victor,” Laura whispers, her eyes locked on mine.
Red mist descends, boiling rage and icy terror.
“It’s going to be okay,” I grit out, locking eyes with Laura. Tears streak down her face, but she nods, trusting me even with a gun to her fucking head.
God help me, I won’t let her down.
Ivan’s goons litter the floor, groaning and leaking blood. Whimpering girls cower in the corners, their eyes dead. This is what this suka does. Ruins lives for his own sick pleasure.
And now he’s got my wife, grinning like he’s already won. But there’s something wild in his eyes. He didn’t think I’d find this shithole. It’s thrown him off his game.
