Page 99 of Fate and Family

He gives his son an appraising once-over before throwing his arms around him and nearly collapsing against Uri. “I thought I lost you again.”

“I’m fine.” Uri’s voice catches.

“I will destroy whoever hurt you.”

Waverly pushes past him. “No amount of performative concern will fix the years of damage you did.” As she leads me toward the next door, she adds, “Besides, Alana has it covered.”

She pushes open the door and turns to me. “May I introduce, The Spider.”

Chapter

Forty-Two

Katya

The door creaks open, revealing a much smaller space than I expected. One beam of fluorescent light hums above the man in the chair. The room smells like plastic, and one step in, it hits me—the whole room is covered in it.

Fuck. It’s a murder room.

I can’t imagine the terror this man must feel: being caught, tied up, and left in a room he knows he will die in. Maybe I can convince Alana to let him go if he’ll turn over state’s evidence. Dead men can’t be witnesses. And he’s one step away from The Deviant.

The plastic wrinkles as I step forward and the man raises his head. His beard hides most of his face, and his hair falls over his forehead, but I recognize him. “Mikhail?”

Rage and wrath, with a healthy mix of irrational anger, consumes my body as my fist contacts his chin. My knuckles explode with pain, but it’s well worth it to see the confusion on his face. This human hemorrhoid betrayed Dimitri and killed Ian’s family, and now he was part of the group who abducted abunch of kids and Uri. He ruins lives without a second thought. I’ve never hated anyone as much as I hate him.

He blinks and spits blood. “Who—” His eyes grow wide as the recognition hits him. “Katya? What are you doing here?”

“My fucking job. Punching you is a bonus.”

He sees my badge. “You’re working with Declan?”

In my gut, something freezes. How does he know Declan? I don’t answer and instead punch him in the ear. He yelps and whimpers. Ear shots fucking hurt.

Once he recovers, he calls out, “Wait, no, you don’t understand.”

But Waverly steps forward. “Don’t care.” She lifts a phone screen to his face. “Push the button.”

“Fuck you, I’m not pushing anything.” He pulls on his arms, which are tied to the chair. “I can’t.”

This tiny woman smirks like she’s in a Stanley Kubrick movie and grabs his hair, lifting his head and pressing the screen to his nose. He yelps again as his cartilage slams into the glass. The phone beeps three times, and she pulls back, grinning and taking a few steps toward the door.

The door flings open, and there’s a blur followed by another grunt. A heaving body looms over Mikhail. “Why?” The word echoes around the room as Dimitri hulks over the broken man in the chair. “You betrayed us, sold your people to the Smirnovs and they were slaughtered. You killed Ian’s mother. Why? I want a fucking answer.”

Blood bubbles between his lips as he laughs. “You were dinosaurs clinging to a dying world. Majesty is the future.”

The plastic crunches behind me as more people enter the room. In a whisper, Alana deadpans, “No, stop, you’re going to hurt him.” Absolutely zero affectation in her voice. It’s creepy. And entirely badass.

“You hurt my son,” Demitri seethes as another punch lands. “You’re a coward,” punch to the jaw, “a traitor,” punch to the throat.

Mickhail gasps as more blood foams out of his mouth.

All I can do is watch as Dimitri lays waste to the man he thought was his friend, his brother-in-arms, only to be betrayed. It’s too much. Dimitri has been through too much. I want to save him from all this, rescue him like I did in Russia. But each time his fist breaks another bone in Mikhail’s face, I know it’s useless. Once the adrenaline subsides, the revenge will feel hollow, and it won’t raise his family from the dead.

Alana places her hand on his shoulder, and Dimitri turns, his fist still flying through the air. She dodges the swing without any effort and steps closer to The Spider. “That’s enough. I thought I told you to be a dad.”

Dimitri’s chest rises and falls. “Ian asked for an uncle for a few minutes.”

Declan stands next to me, his eyes blazing. “This is The Spider?” he asks.

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