Page 65 of Undeniable

“Stay in here. Do not come out no matter what you hear, you promise?”

He nods as his body shakes, his eyes still firmly shut. I kiss his forehead quickly before shutting door. It isn’t exactly the safest place in the world, but it is a better option than stepping right into the middle of gunfire and risking Alessandro getting shot by accident or purpose.

Now that Alessandro is at least out of direct danger, I need to focus on doing something that I should have done 6 years ago. It is time to kill Dimitri Potrov.

When I turn around, I see Alec fighting with another solider. He easily out maneuvers him before emptying his clip into the man’s chest and shoving his body to the floor. Alec looks over to me with a nod and tosses me his knife.

I flick it open to look at the oversized jagged blade. What can I say, we were raised a certain way with a certain style. Sometimes a bullet just doesn’t cut it.

The moment I spend admiring the knife is a moment too long, a man comes charging at me and picks me up by my throat, slamming me against the closet door. One of my hands goes to where his is, clawing at it in an attempt to breathe but it doesn’t work. Thankful that I didn’t close the knife, I draw my arm back and bury it into his ribs.

He instantly drops me as he grabs at the seeping wound.

“Fucking whore!” He spits in Russian.

I give him a smirk before I lift my gun to his head and pull the trigger. His body slumps to the side as his head cracks onto the bottom of the step. That would have probably really hurt if he wasn’t already dead.

Quickly, I reach down and pocket my knife before I grab his gun but freeze when I hear a haunting sound.

“Katerina!” Dimitri calls out with an evil smile.

My blood freezes in my veins as I look up to see him only 20 feet or so away from me. The Mariano men have made their way inside and are fighting the Chernoff’s hand and hand. My eyes dart around for anyone that I recognize but the only person that I see is Alec being held up by one Chernoff man while the other beats the living shit out of him.

Dimitri starts walking towards me casually, as if literal hell hasn’t broken out around us. It has only been 6 years, but it might as well have been 20. He has aged horribly. The soft lines that creased his face before are now deep crevices. His teeth are yellow and crooked, and his normally slicked back hair has receded at least 4 inches back. The sight of the lead monster of all my nightmares sends a rack of chills through me and for a moment, I lose my vibrato. That is until I hear a small voice call out my name.

“Tasha? Are you okay? Can I come out now?” Alessandro asks.

“No!” I snap.

My eyes look up to see Dimitri looking between the closet and me with that evil smile.

“I always knew you would be a good mother, Katerina. I don’t know why you always fought me. I could have given you so many children.”

I spit at his feet, choosing not to waste my breath on him. He takes the action as the ultimate sign of disrespect, which is just how I intended it. He charges me as I lift my gun towards him and pull the trigger, but I get nothing except for an empty thunk.

My eyes widen in fear as his gleam in victory. He twists the gun out of my grasp and tosses it to the side as his body presses up against mine, pinning me to the door. I can’t die. I can’t let him get to Alessandro. He can’t hurt him. I have lost too much at the hands of this man. I won’t allow him to take him too.

I fight with everything I have. Using every move and tactic that I was taught growing up. Unfortunately for me, Dimitri was the one that taught all of us everything we know. Though I am far younger than him, he is still much stronger than me. I twist in his hold, stomp and bite, desperate to fight him off. To keep him back and flip the advantage but with every failed move my hope is dwindling quickly.

He rears back and punches me across the face, causing me to see stars. A sick chuckle escapes him as he thrusts his body against me tighter. His slimy tongue drawing a long line across my cheek before his foul breath whispers into my ear.

“I have always loved your fire. Maybe I will have you one more time before I kill you. I do remember you being quite delicious. Probably the best I have ever had, right next to that woman of that Mariano fool you have been fucking. She was absolutely petrified when I broke in. Made it all the more fun,” he smirks with what looks like actual delight playing in his eyes.

I raise my knee and am so thankful that he was stupid enough to position himself perfectly. When my knee connects with his most precious manhood he drops to his knees. I go to kick him, but he reaches out and grabs my ankle, bringing me down with him. The knife that was in my pocket goes across the floor. I reach out for it, but he is faster than me, scooping it up and sinking it into my thigh.

I let out a pained screech as he twists it deeper and deeper before he stands up. I try to breathe through the pain as I scoot up against the door and drag myself to a slumped half stand.

Dimitri slowly pulls out a gun from his waist band and holds it up to my head. He could have killed me easily by now, but he doesn’t work like that. He gets off on seeing the fear in his victim’s eyes. He wants to taste it. Wants to hear them beg for their life. Only then, will he stab them in the back, literally.

Blood is soaking my sweatpants as it pours out of my leg. I feel myself growing weaker with every passing second and I know that I don’t have long. I instantly find Alec who has shed the two men that were wailing on him aside but has now found himself a new enemy.

His eyes fill with fear as he seems to realize these are my last few moments. I give him a pained smile and a nod before turning back to Dimitri, not willing to let him see an ounce of my fear. Just like Victor didn’t. If I am going to go out, I am not going to give this bastard the satisfaction that he craves.

Chapter Twenty Five

Giovanni

When we arrive in the middle of nowhere in upstate New York, we are all more than a little confused. We have combed over the entire state, hell, the entire eastern seaboard more than a time or two. All this time they have been here?