Page 75 of Sinful Union

Chapter 34

Pavel

Everything happens so fast.

I hear the crack of a gunshot as Vlad lunges forward with what little strength he has left, his body jerking to the side, blood blooming on his shoulder.He collapses, letting out a strangled cry that cuts straight into my gut.

“Vlad!” Kat’s scream echoes through the noise. She’s at his side in an instant, pressing her hands to the wound. My stomach twists at the sight of his blood staining her fingers.

“What the hell have you done, you prick?” I growl at Piotr.

He’s standing with the gun still raised, a maniacal expression on his face, like something inside him has finally snapped.

“It’s almost finished,” he says as he points the gun at me again.

A shot rings out from somewhere in the distance, then another, and another. I hear shouting.

“What the hell?” Piotr says in confusion.

More gunfire sounds from downstairs, and I hear men shouting orders at one another in Russian. One of Piotr’s men pokes his head into the room.

“Boss, we’re under attack!”

I grin. Nikolai. He made it. And from the sound of it, he brought a whole goddamn army with him.

“Fuck!” Piotr shouts.

Piotr’s men pour into the room, taking cover, and firing back while my men gain ground.

I dash across the room, dragging Vlad behind my desk and shouting at Kat to join us. She’s trembling, terror written all over her expression. Piotr and his men continue to exchange gunfire with Nikolai and his team. He throws a coffee table onto its side, taking cover behind it as he continues to fire. Several of his men fall down around him.

I open a compartment on the underside of my desk, taking out a pistol. Then, I turn my attention to Vlad.He’s bleeding profusely and looking paler by the second.

“Keep pressure on the wound,” I bark at Kat over the deafening blasts.

My heart hammers as I flatten a hand on top of hers, forcing more pressure onto Vlad’s shoulder to stem the bleeding.

Vlad groans and his eyes roll back. I grit my teeth. “Don’t pass out,” I order, though I’m not sure he can even hear me.

Bullets whine overhead, splinters from a demolished shelf pepper my back.

“Stay down!” I shout to Kat, shifting my body to shield them both.

She hunches down, practically lying across Vlad, tears dripping onto his face. Another hail of gunfire cracks through the air, lighting up the room in staccato bursts. I can barely think, the pounding of my pulse in my ears is almost as deafening as the gunfire.

“What’s happening?” Kat asks.

I hunch lower as another barrage of bullets fly.A thick haze of gunfire smoke fills the room. “Nikolai,” I cough out. “He’s here with our men.”

A thunderous burst of shotgun fire resonates from the hallway. I peer around the corner of the desk and spot movement—more black-clad figures moving into the room.I can’t tell whether they are mine or Piotr’s. Another volley of shots rips through the doorway; bullets pepper the walls.

My gaze darts to the side and I spot Piotr, his pistol raised. His face is twisted in a mix of rage and desperation. He trains the gun on Kat, who’s lying over Vlad, pressing her body weight onto his wound, her arms slick with Vlad’s blood.

Dread freezes my blood. “No,” I growl, pivoting in place, ignoring the bullets whizzing overhead. I steady my own gun with both hands.I won’t let him kill her. He’s already destroyed so much. He orchestrated this entire nightmare.

I align my shot with his forehead, and I pull the trigger.

The single shot roars in my ears. Piotr’s head snaps back, eyes going wide. He remains upright for a fraction of a second, as though refusing to accept that he’s just been shot between the eyes.

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