Page 104 of Twisted Fate

I can hear my pulse beating hard in my ears. “I’m not your daughter,” I whisper. “And you were never my father, Nicholas.”

I pull the trigger. I look into his eyes as my finger curls back, seeing the moment that he realizes it’s over, that there’s no escape. That the weapon he forged, that the killer he created, has come back to bring him down, the monster turned against the creator.

The bullet flies through his forehead. He jerks, a split-second of shock on his face, and blood paints the wall behind him as he drops, the cream-colored carpet soaking red with all that’s left of his life.

He dies staring at me.

I wait for some feeling of regret, of loss, of grief to overtake me. But there’s nothing. Nothing except, as the moments tick by, a sensation of relief. Of closure.

This is what I spent my life chasing. Revenge on the person responsible for my family’s death. And I have it, here in front of me.

It’s over.

I hear footsteps behind me and spin to see Konstantin burst into the room. I lower my guns the instant that I see him, but keep them ready. He’s bloodied and bruised, and I can see the urgency in his face.

“Is he dead?” he asks, and I nod, not trusting my voice just yet. “Good.” He crosses to me, then, the space between us closes in two quick strides, and his hand wraps around the back of my neck as he pulls me in for a hot, desperate kiss. I taste blood on his mouth, his teeth scraping against my lip before he lets me go, breathing hard.

“We have to go,” he says, searching my face for a response, for some emotion. “We fought Kane’s men off, but they’re regrouping, and if they call for backup, we’re outnumbered. We need to get to the helicopter.”

I nod, glancing toward the space in the wall where Kane opened up the panel. “Let them know to come this way. We can go through there.”

I kick Kane’s body aside as Konstantin radios his men, and I hear the sound of boots headed our way. Five men burst into the room, following Konstantin and me as we make our way into the small space that leads through the secret passageway out,toward the helipad. Konstantin and I emerge at the same time, moving as a unit, covering each other as we look for anyone coming before Konstantin motions for us to go forward.

I flinch back as an explosion goes off, and Konstantin grins. “We set charges,” he says, motioning for the men to catch up. “Let’s go! The distraction should cover us.” The helicopter sits gleaming in the morning sun, and I glance at Konstantin.

"Can you fly this thing?"

He grins. “Not me, but Alexei can.”

We're twenty feet from the helicopter when the first bullets start flying. Kane's security has found us, a dozen men pouring onto the helipad from various entrances. We dive for cover behind a fuel tank, returning fire as best we can with our limited ammunition. I motion for us to move, terrified that a bullet is going to hit the tank at any moment and send us all up in a fireball.

"We're not going to make it to the helicopter," I shout over the gunfire as we shift positions. "We need something else!”

I see Konstantin survey the situation, his gaze sweeping the terrain, calculating our options. I cover him, shooting several times before looking back at him, and then at the cliff beyond. I can see him thinking the same thing.

“It’s our only chance,” he says, and I nod.

He's right. We're outnumbered, outgunned, and running out of options. The cliff is at least a hundred-foot drop to the water below—dangerous, but survivable if we push off far enough and only hit the water.

“Let’s go.” I meet his gaze, and he nods. We lurch forward, his men covering us and the two of us firing from left to right as we race for the cliff’s edge, bullets hitting the ground and trees around us. The drop is dizzying, and my stomach revolts as I look down, gauging how far to jump to avoid the rocks.

Konstantin’s men surround us, springing off the edge one by one. I look at Konstantin, and he reaches out, pulling me in to press his lips against mine once, hard.

“I love you,” he murmurs against my mouth… and he jumps.

A bullet hits the ground by my foot and I pivot, firing in the direction from where it came before I push off, following him into the water. The fall makes my stomach spin, my senses scrambled as I hear bullets still going off above me, the water rushing up to greet me.

I close my eyes as I feel it envelop me, the impact so painful it sucks any breath from my lungs as I plunge into the depths. The cold is a shock after the tropical heat of the island, momentarily disorienting me as I sink beneath the surface. My lungs burn and every part of my body screams in protest, but I fight my way back toward the light, toward air.

I break the surface with a gasp, spinning in the water to look for Konstantin. Panic grips me for a terrible moment when I don't see him immediately—then his head appears a few yards away, his hair slicked back from his face as he treads water.

Relief floods through me, so intense it's almost painful. He's alive. We're both alive.

"Swim!" he shouts, pointing toward a small cove visible around the curve of the island. "Away from the compound!"

I nod and start swimming, pushing through the pain, focusing only on putting distance between us and Kane's men. Behind us, gunfire continues to echo from the compound, now accompanied by the distinct sound of explosions. Black smoke billows into the sky as something—the main house, maybe—catches fire.

The swim feels endless, my body growing heavier with each stroke, the adrenaline that carried me through the fight now fading to leave only exhaustion and pain in its wake. But I keepgoing, matching Konstantin's pace as we make for the shelter of the cove.

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