Page 102 of The Last Hope

I braced myself against the mattress to get up, and before leaving the room, I grabbed my gun from the drawer. I stumbled into the hallway, my steps unsteady, and headed toward the office.

The sun was already high—how much time had passed ?

The sun had been setting when they took Rafael. They could have been anywhere by now.

I pushed open the office door into a deathly silence. A death that felt closer than ever.

He was there.

Standing in front of the bay window, still wearing the same clothes from the night before, his gaze fixed outside.

There was no hesitation when I raised my gun, aiming at the back of his head. No hesitation when I released the safety.

But my finger wouldn’t move.

The trigger was right there—just a little pressure.

“If you draw your weapon, it’s to shoot,moybrat,” Grigori said without turning around. “You know hesitation kills.”

My hand trembled, just like the rest of me. My breath was short.

Whatever they had injected me with, it was still in my system.

“You betrayed me,” I gritted out, taking a step toward him. “You betrayed me !” I shouted again, louder.

He turned, hands still buried in his pockets, not making a single move to disarm me.

“For the family…”

“He’s my son now. My family. Your family !”

He said nothing, just looked at me with those dark eyes. The same eyes that had watched me grow up. The same eyes that had watched my sons grow up.

“Nikolai,” a voice suddenly murmured behind me.

But I shook my head. “Get out of here, Elif. You don’t need to see this.”

“Nikolai, your brother—”

“My brother betrayed me ! He betrayed our family ! And he’s going to pay !” I shouted, my throat tight, my voice strangled by the weight of my rage.

My brother had betrayed me. My own blood.

“Then you’ll have to kill me too,” Elif said, stepping between me and Grigori.

Between my gun and him.

“Elif, he’s not in his right mind. Move,” Grigori tried to pull her back, but she shook off his grip.

“I knew, Nikolai. I knew about the deal,” she said, her eyes locked onto mine.

Grigori’s betrayal had been painful.

But this—Elif—It felt like a bullet between the eyes.

No—A knife in the back.

“What ?” I whispered, nausea rising in my gut.

---