Page 128 of The Last Hope

He kept screaming, not from pain—but from pure rage. I gestured to Roman, who punched him square in the face without a word.

“Level two, Antonio. You’re getting closer to the final boss,” I taunted, sliding my gun back into the holster and stepping behind him.

“Ever tried diving, Tony ? Ever done it without an oxygen tank ?”

I grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanked his head back, and lowered myself to his level, “I’m going to take every breath from you—every gasp you stole from my wife,” my voice was a growl, low and deadly.

“I’ll haunt your nightmares the way you haunted hers. You’ll beg me, Antonio. You’ll beg to die” then I shoved his head into the basin.

He thrashed. I didn’t let go.

The sound of Selina’s sobs in the bathroom echoed in my mind. Her tears. Her trembling body.

I yanked Antonio’s head back. He gasped, coughing violently, “how’s the water ?” Roman smirked, pulling up a chair. “Do you like the taste ? Our dogs needed a bath after running through the woods.”

“Selina…” Antonio gasped.

But I shoved him back under before he could say another word, “you don’t get to say her name. You don’t get to talk about her. You don’t even get to think about her.”

I growled, twisting my grip on his mutilated fingers. He thrashed harder.

I pulled him up again and he coughed so hard I thought his lungs might rupture.

Was Selina like this too ? Gasping ? Panicking ?

I shoved his head down again, harder this time. A snarl escaped me. He was going to die by my hands.

My phone rang, Roman raised an eyebrow.

I threw Rasili to the floor and caught the towel Roman tossed to me, wiping the blood and water off my hands.

When I glanced at the caller ID, the fog of anger cleared.

“Yes,amoremio?” I answered in near-perfect Italian, signaling David to gag the bastard as Rasili’s eyes latched onto mine.

“Are you okay ?” Her voice was soft. Familiar. In the background, I heard laughter—children, Elif calling out to them not to run on the stairs.

This.

This was the life I wanted.

Selina’s voice.

The children’s voices.

Elif’s, my brothers’, our nephews’.

Our family.

“Everything is perfect,Solnychko. And you ? How are you ? Did you like your ring ?”

I glanced at Rasili. His rage was boiling.

“It’s… it’s perfect. The ring is perfect. You’re perfect. Everything is perfect, Nikolai,” she whispered shyly. “When are you coming home? I can’t escape Elif, Velma, and Sena’s attacks anymore. They’ve already ordered over twenty wedding dresses for me to try on. Twenty, Nikolai!”

I laughed, unable to help myself, “I’m sure every dress will look perfect on you, Selina.”

“It would be nice if you could actually be here to see me try them on,” she grumbled.

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