Page 48 of Deception

It’s hard enough that it could be an earthquake, but the explosions tell me otherwise. If we don’t get out of here soon, we’ll be blown to pieces and buried in the ruins of whatever war is playing out above us.

Tripping up the stone steps, I continue pulling her along because it’s not in me to abandon someone when I’m certain that nothing but death awaits them.

Pulling and tugging at the doorknob with one hand, I rear back and launch the two of us at our only way out. We don’t get to crash through it as it practically blows from its hinges. Landing in a heap on top of each other, I scramble to get my bearings, only to be pulled to my feet brusquely.

An arm wraps around my neck, squeezing as I fight to break free. The loud screams from the girl are suddenly silenced with a shot to the head. And the vision of her collapsing on the ground lifelessly is all I need to fight harder.

“Stupid bitch,” the angered voice spits in my ear as I’m spun towards a crumbling pillar.

The breath is punched out of my lungs as my back hits the stone, and the hand grasping my neck keeps it lodged in my throat, hammering faster and faster as my vision frays and my eyes threaten to pop.

The throbbing in my head becomes louder than the chaos around me while bile burns up into my throat. My arms lose feeling even as I continue to fight. My legs struggle to hold me up, leaving me hanging in the grasp of a man who already beat me one too many times. And it’s his dark eyes that I’m staring into as the world freezes over and fades to black.

My grandmother used to say that it’s the last thing you see before you die that matters the most. All I see is blue. Brilliant blue that lights up my insides like fireworks in a clear midnight sky. The last thing on my mind while my blood slows to an icy crawl in my veins is Tomasz Vassily and his angry voice that cuts through every fibre of my soul.

I’m going to die.

No fight. No screams. Nothing but silence swallowed by darkness and chaos.

After everything, this is the shitty way I go.

19

TOMASZ

Dust and debris rain down around me. The old hidden palace in the hills is caving in with every detonation that continues to go off. Men are falling on every side as fires roar in nooks and crannies, waiting to consume the place.

“You’re mad!” Anton shouts over the thundering warfare. “We don’t know where she is or whether she’s still alive.”

Ignoring his remark, I scan the surroundings for any sign of the one man I know will have her. Sergi likes to play games, but he chose the wrong piece to fuck me with. I told Red I’d protect her, and there is nothing I won’t do. There’s no blood I won’t spill.

Taking the crumbling stairs down two to three at a time, I waft the dust in front of me as screams erupt from somewhere in the distance. I follow the sound as bullets hit my side, the vest taking the impact for me while Anton retaliates on my behalf.

“Find the girl and get the fuck out,” he barks my way while moving to cover my back.

The screams stop with a reverberating shot that pierces the air. I’m striding towards the sound, but it’s impossible to see anything further than a couple of feet ahead of me.

I take far too long to set my eyes on Sergi. Even with his back to me, I know it’s him. Eyeing the body on the ground, I know that it’s my girl he’s touching.

Fury rips through me as I take a shot at his shoulder so that he releases Lucy. Motionless, she collapses into a heap on the ground. A broken rag doll with twisted limbs.

Ignoring the need to go straight to her, I take another, closer shot at the back of his leg as he’s about to turn. When he falls on his knees, I take another shot at his other shoulder.

“I warned you not to fuck with me,” I spit at his face as he whines in pain like the little bitch he is.

Sergi tries to get at me as I pick up my girl. Her limp body weighs nothing in my hold, with her head lolling back and her arms swaying.

“You don’t get to fucking die on me now,” I growl into her knotted hair, standing to my full height as Anton finds us again.

He’s about to take care of Sergi when the cunt looks up at me with a grin. “You’ve just signed your death certificate.”

Maybe, but he’ll be meeting his maker before me. With a shunt of my heel to his nose, I silence him once and for all. As he convulses on the ground, his grin morphs to pained alarm as his brain scrambles to shit.

All I can do is walk away with Red in my arms, holding her tightly to my chest and hoping I’m not too late and that she’s strong enough to survive this.

* * *

The quiet haunts me.Thirty-two thousand feet in the air, the jet is bathed in muted light that makes it impossible for me to see anything clear with the residue of my fury still roiling inside me. I’m not a liar. I’ve never been a liar. What you see is what you get. My word is my bond. But as I stare down at the bed, my insides wring themselves with every promise I made her.

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