Page 67 of Bound Vows
“Movement on twenty-two,” Vincent reports through his radio. “Multiple hostiles, heavy resistance, and what looks like additional explosives.”
“Secure any remaining civilians, then converge on Katarina.” Andrei signals for us to pause at the landing.
I push past the men and peer through the stairwell door’s window into the security office. Overturned furniture creates improvised barricades while computer monitors flicker with feeds from the building. Katarina’s voice carries over the sound of breaking glass as she shouts orders to her remaining team members.
“She’s turned this into a command center,” I whisper to the others, “but it looks like she’s down to maybe three or four people.”
Another blast from directly overhead sends chunks of concrete cascading down the stairwell. The building groans with structural stress, and I realize we’re running out of time before Katarina’s demolition work makes escape impossible.
“New plan.” I reach for the door handle. “You three take her remaining soldiers. I’ll handle Katarina.”
“Absolutely not.” Andrei grabs my uninjured arm. “You’re not facing her alone.”
I pull free from his grip and draw my gun. “Trust me to finish this, Andrei.”
Before anyone can object further, I slip through the stairwell door and into the smoke-filled room. The layout works to my advantage as I move between overturned desks and shattered windows, using debris for cover while tracking Katarina’s voice.
Gunfire booms behind me as the men engage Katarina’s remaining soldiers, creating enough distraction for me to circle toward the spot she’s established as her command post.
“I know you’re there, Maya,” Katarina calls out without turning from the bank of surveillance monitors. “I can hear you breathing like a wounded animal.”
I step into the study with my weapon trained on her back. “Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you. Though wounded animals usually have enough sense to find a hole and die quietly.”
Katarina spins to face me, and I’m shocked by how much she’s deteriorated since our last encounter. Her platinum hair hangs in tangled strands, her clothes are torn and bloodstained, and her eyes hold the kind of madness that comes from losing everything.
“You destroyed my life,” she snarls, raising her gun. “Eight years of devotion, eight years of loyalty, eight years of love, and you ruined it all by existing.”
“I didn’t ruin anything. You ruined it yourself by murdering your sister and spending years lying to the man you claimed to love.” I keep my weapon steady despite the pain radiating through my shoulder. “Elena’s death is on you, not me.”
“Elena was weak! She would have gotten him killed with her gentleness!” Katarina’s voice rises to a near shriek. “I protected him by removing a liability!”
“You protected yourself by eliminating competition.”
That hits home, and Katarina’s face contorts with rage that makes her look genuinely insane. “You don’t understand what real love is! You don’t understand sacrifice or devotion!”
“Real love doesn’t involve murdering innocent people.” I take a step closer, noting how her gun hand trembles. “Real love certainly doesn’t involve trying to blow up buildings when the person you claim to love is inside.”
Katarina’s finger tightens on the trigger. “At least when we’re all dead, he’ll understand that I was the one who truly cared!”
She fires first, but her deteriorated mental state affects her aim enough that the bullet goes wide and shatters one of thesurveillance monitors. I return fire, but my injured shoulder throws off my accuracy, and the shot clips her thigh.
Katarina screams and stumbles backward into the bank of monitors, sending sparks flying as electronic equipment shorts out around her. Blood streams down her leg, but she remains upright and dangerous.
“You pathetic little girl,” she gasps while struggling to maintain her grip on the gun. “You think you can replace Elena?”
“I think I can give him something you never offered—honesty, genuine partnership, and love that doesn’t come with conditions. I can give him a future instead of an obsession with the past.”
Katarina lunges forward, and we collide in the center of the study with enough force to send our weapons flying across the floor. My shoulder screams in protest as we crash into Andrei’s desk, but adrenaline and rage carry me through the pain.
She’s stronger than I expected, fueled by madness and desperation. Her nails rake across my face while she wraps her hands around my throat, and I drive my knee into her wounded thigh.
“You killed an innocent woman!” I snarl, grappling for control. “You destroyed your sister for your sick fantasies!”
“I saved him from weakness!” Katarina screams back as she tries to slam my head into the desk corner. “Elena would have gotten him killed!”
We roll across the floor, destroying everything in our path as the fight becomes increasingly brutal. Katarina fights like she’s already dead, taking damage without flinching while inflictingas much harm as possible. I fight like someone protecting everything that matters.
When we crash into the bank of surveillance monitors, broken glass explodes around us in deadly fragments. I grab the largest shard I can reach and drive it toward Katarina’s chest, but she catches my wrist and twists until I nearly drop the improvised weapon.
