Page 49 of Echoes of Sin

Oleg glared at me, but his scowl slowly morphed into a wicked smile. “You foolish and stupid boy. Just like your father.”

My entire body stilled at that. I was no longer interested in playing nice with my uncle or working things out. He didn’t know that I knew who he really was. A fucking snake. A traitor. “The only mistake my father made was trusting you.”

Oleg laughed a boisterous laugh that shook his whole body. “You may be right, Ilya.” His smile vanished. “It would be a shame if you made the same mistake.”

My breathing slowed and that urge took over. There was a tingle that began in my extremities and worked its way out to my fingers and toes, and I knew what that meant. It was how my body prepared for war. My heart rate slowed and every detail around me sharpened and came into clearer focus. “Never,” I would never trust him the way my father did. Not ever.

“Good.” He seemed satisfied with what he mistook as my acquiescence. “Now kill this bitch so we can get on with our day.”

Brooke cried out and my gaze swung to her wide green eyes as they slowly filled with tears. Ilya’s henchman held a handful of her hair wrapped around his fist. His other hand gripped a silver pistol with the barrel pressed against her temple. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Keep her safe,” she mouthed to me.

My jaw clenched and my heart squeezed at the sight of Brooke, of my woman, with tears in her eyes, thinking I would sacrifice her for anything. Even our daughter. I would save her. I would save them both.

I loved Brooke. I hadn’t known what I was feeling for her until just this moment. I foolishly believed it was a blend of lust and nostalgia, but I knew now it was more than that. Seeing that gun pressed to her head, the fear in her eyes, and the trust that I would take care of our little girl, I knew without a doubt she was it for me. My heart.

My love.

Oleg’s blue eyes lit with evil. “This will give you character.”

“Like you would know,” I snarled without sparing a glance for him. “Brooke.”

Her eyes went wide as if she was trying to say something, and her gaze slid to her friend on the sofa with Dmitri.

I gave the smallest of nods to assure her that everyone would be safe, before I turned back to deal with my uncle. He thought he had already won, which grated on my fucking nerves. “You know, Oleg, I remember all the lessons you taught me over the past eight years. Every single one. Even when you were talking shit or giving me bad advice to see how I would react.”

A hint of regret shone in his eyes, but I didn’t buy it. Whatever his plan had been when he killed my father, he’d been playing a long game that somehow extended to me. “I taught you well,” he replied after a long pause. “That is why I am certain you will do as I command and kill her.” He spoke with confidence, but I saw it again, a flicker that I thought was regret but it wasn’t. It was uncertainty, and it was there in the pinch at the corners of his mouth, the vein in his forehead that pulsed rapidly.

Excellent.

“If you don’t put two bullets in her head, I will be forced to kill the little girl with the Kuznetsov blue eyes.”

“No!” Brooke’s anguished cry pierced the armor I’d mentally shrugged on to do what needed to be done.

Oleg’s smile brightened as if he was enjoying torturing her.

His henchman yanked Brooke closer to him, tilting her back so she was unsteady on her feet.

He didn’t know it yet, but he was also a dead man. I pulled my gun from the holster at my back and gently gripped the handle as I brought it up and aimed it at the space between where Oleg sat, and Brooke stood. Let him think I was wavering, let him think I would finally do his bidding.

“Now you are thinking clearly, my boy.”

My boy. As if my father never fucking existed. Fury welled up within me at those words and I inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly. “Never be afraid to make a point.” I repeated the words that Oleg drilled into me from the moment of my first kill. He stood beside me and spoke the words softly but full of encouragement.

Oleg visibly swallowed. He was catching on, but he hadn’t gotten there quite yet. “Exactly. I am making a point.” He nodded with his hands steepled, an air of authority that surrounded him.

I pivoted my hips just enough to shift my left foot back, out the corner of my eye I saw Dmitri tense, ready to act. “Swift and brutal, so that others know you can.” I repeated the last line of his most important lesson and swung my arms towards Oleg, squeezing the trigger twice, shocking my dear uncle.

His eyes flashed wide when he realized what was happening, but it was already too late. The first bullet pierced his forehead, and he flew backwards, the second went through his heart.

Two more shots sounded as her brother burst through the front door. I heard Brooke screaming and she fell to the ground. I rushed over, but realized she’d fallen as Igor dropped dead. The henchman lay beside her a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead, Ryan standing over him with a smoking gun.

“Brooke, sweetheart, talk to me.”

She looked up at me, tears streaming down her blood-splattered cheeks as she gripped my shoulders tightly. “Ilya? Are you all right?”

I smiled. “I’m fine. Are you hit anywhere?” My hands roamed her body in search of injuries, but she was perfect. Absolutely fucking perfect.

“No, I’m fine.” She looked to the left, to our daughter—Dmitri had thrown himself over Karina and Lara to protect them. We knew one another inside out and I’d signaled him earlier to be ready. My friend straightened himself up and brushed down his clothing. Lara and Karina were unhurt but clearly terrified, Dmitri helped them both up, shielding them from the carnage.

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