Page 20 of Born into Mayhem
“You’re fucking crazy,” the guy says. Wide, terrified eyes dart between us.
“We’ve already established that, Greg. Focus on what I’m tellingyou now. I’m going to give you a knife. Try to kill her before she kills you.”
“What if I kill her?” he asks.
I’m wondering the same thing, but instead of answering him, Sasha turns to me and says in Russian, “I would never allow that to happen. If I think you can’t handle it, he’ll be dead before he can do any serious damage. I’m not stepping in unless I have to, though. It’s important you learn to push past your fear. You need to be able to think and react under pressure.”
“I’m not scared,” I insist. He raises a dark brow at me, but aside from that, he doesn’t call me out on my bullshit. We both know I’m terrified, and when he starts to cut through the rope that’s keeping Greg bound to the chair, he says to me, “Get ready to spill some blood, little witch.”
I grab the large knife at my forearm, pulling it from the sleeve of my hoodie as I force myself to take a deep, calming breath. I try to tell myself it’s just like a practice round with Dario. I’ve trained for this, and I’m more than capable of taking down someone who’s not nearly as big as Dario. Greg is probably five-ten, maybe a hundred-and-sixty pounds, way smaller than Dario and Sasha, the two men I’ve been training with. This should be a breeze. If I don’t fuck it up, that is.
Once the restraints are cut from Greg, the man stays in the chair, too scared of Sasha to actually move from his seated position. From the terrified look on his face, I’m guessing he thinks this is a test of some kind, but when Sasha pulls a knife from his pocket, Greg’s eyebrows shoot up. This knife is much smaller than the large, serrated knife he’d been using to cut through the rope, but when he pushes a button, the blade that comes out is still plenty long enough to do some serious damage, especially with how sharp Sasha likes to keep his knives.
The knife I’m gripping is bigger, the blade longer and serrated like my brother’s, and I grip the handle a little tighter when I see the desperate look in Greg’s eyes as they meet mine.
“What will you do to me if I kill her?” he asks my brother again.
Sasha shrugs and takes a few steps back. “Then you win, and I’ll let you leave.”
“You’ll just let me go?” Greg asks, disbelief seeping into every word.
“Yes,” Sasha tells him.
There’s no way in hell Sasha would ever allow that to happen, but Greg’s desperate to believe in something, so he clutches onto my brother’s words and convinces himself that the crazy man with a knife is telling the truth.
Switching to Russian, Sasha says, “Don’t let your guard down, Mia. The goal is to end this as quickly as possible.”
He steps off to the side, giving Greg and me the floor, and as soon as the way is clear, Greg lunges for me. Instincts take over, and I easily step out of the way, swinging my knife as I do and landing a nice cut to Greg’s outer thigh. He hisses out a breath and stumbles, but it’s not a cut that’s going to do any lasting damage.
“Fuck,” he growls as blood soaks his pant leg. He takes a couple of cautious steps, circling around me while trying to figure out how bad the cut is. When he’s confident it won’t slow him down, he lunges for me again. His movements are too big, uncoordinated, and sloppy, but he’s fighting for his life, and that goes a long way toward making up for a lack of training. I block his attack and surprise him with a punch to his stomach. He buckles over, giving me a wounded look, like I’ve broken the rules by using my fist instead of my knife.
“Stop fucking around, Mia,” Sasha tells me in Russian. “Stab him and get it over with.”
“I will.” I say the words, but I don’t follow through with any action. I’m not sure why I’m hesitating, but I’m pretty sure it has to do with the fact that I’ve never killed anyone before, and I know the only reason the man in front of me is trying to hurt me is because he’s scared and trying to live. I can understand that. I may want to join my family’s Bratva, but unlike my brother, I don’t have a deep desire to kill just for the sake of killing.
Greg circles me again, never taking his eyes off me while he triesto plan out his next move. My fingers grip the handle of my knife, and when he lunges again, I block his arm and give him a push, nearly sending him onto his ass.
“It’s sometimes fun to toy with them,” Sasha says, “but I know that’s not what you’re doing. Why are you hesitating?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “He’s just trying to survive. It’s fucking with my head a bit.”
We’re still speaking in Russian, so Greg continues to be clueless, but I can tell it’s making him nervous to not know what we’re talking about.
“If he could, he’d kill you without an ounce of regret. Would it make you feel better if I told you he’s a lowlife piece of shit that I caught trying to roofie a woman at the club near the university?”
I give my brother a quick glance before putting my focus back on Greg. “Is that true?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, it fucking matters, Sasha,” I tell him. “I can’t just kill an innocent man.”
“You know I don’t break the rules, Mia. If he’s here, there’s a reason for it. Don’t start doubting me now, little sis.”
My shoulders drop a bit at the reprimand, because he’s right. I’ve always wanted to join the family, and my brother’s helping me to make that happen, even though everyone else is against it. No one else would hand me what amounts to a gift-wrapped man for me to practice my fighting skills on. I start to feel like an ungrateful ass, and that’s when Greg decides to quit fucking around.
This time when he comes at me, I’m a second too slow, and his blade slices along my forearm, cutting through my hoodie and giving me a deep enough cut to stun and hurt like a bitch. I hiss out a breath and then force myself to ignore the pain.
“Careful,” my brother warns. “He’s sloppy, Mia. You’re trained, smarter, and in way better shape. You could’ve immediately had him on the ground if you’d wanted to. You want in the Bratva,” he reminds me, “and taking him out is what you would be ordered to do if you were a member. Do it, little witch.”
