Page 68 of In Her Blood
“You aren’t exactly a world-class actor.”
Pyotr snickered and swiftly swung the pistol around to brush the barrel along Kat’s face.
Evelina sucked in a breath at the same time as Kat let out a startled squeak.
“But this one is, isn’t she?” Pyotr said, stroking Kat with the gun as if his finger weren’t resting beside the trigger. “Such a good actress, she even managed to foolme.” He turned a glare on her. “Isn’t that right,blyad?”
Alarm shot through Evelina at Pyotr’s switch. It was the same thing he’d called Kat moments earlier, but the use of the word in Russian held a more venomous tone. And Kat’s wide-eyed expression indicated she hadn’t expected it, either.
“Wh-what?” Kat asked, attempting to lean away from the gun. “No, P, I would never—”
“But you did,” Pyotr snapped. “You were supposed to kill her.” He pointed with his free hand to Evelina. “And you lied to me, Katenka.”
“No, I didn’t!”
“You swore to me you’d keep up with your pills.” Pyotr grabbed hold of the collar of Kat’s loose-fitted shirt, forcingher to hold still as he kept the barrel of his handgun in her face. “I didn’t give you permission to get pregnant, Katenka.”
Evelina watched his nostrils flare as he spoke, her own gut churning. She didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know what shecoulddo that didn’t jeopardize Otto. But she also didn’t want to stand there and watch her psychotic cousin kill his own pregnant lover.
Another tear rolled down Kat’s cheek. “Th-these things … just ha-happen….”
Pyotr clicked his tongue and released her shirt to take a step back. He let his other arm extend, keeping his gun at her face.
Kat held herself immobile.
“Pyotr,” Grisha called, “the girl is pregnant. And not the whore you came to kill.”
For a split-second, Evelina felt a twisted gratitude to the asshole.
Pyotr turned his head in their direction, his arm slackening slightly. “Is there some rule I can’t kill both? I won’t have this slut trying to tie herself to me right when I’m claiming my dest—”
A single gunshot burst through the space, deafening Evelina to everything beyond the immediate ringing in her ears. But she had a bird’s-eye view of the hole that ripped out the back of Pyotr’s head, sending his body stumbling backward before it could drop lifelessly to the ground.
Chapter twenty-three
For Family pt I
The first thing Ottoregistered when his hearing started to return to him was the shrill sound of Orlov’s wailing. It almost made him wish the ringing hadn’t subsided quite so quickly. But he shoved the thought from his mind, realizing his vision was also a bit fuzzy and he’d hit his knees in the seconds following the gunshot that sounded like it ought to have taken his own head with how loud it hadbeen.
Only it hadn’t. It’d blown Pyotr’s face off instead.
When the fuck did I fall?
Hands pushed at him, trying to move him upright and haul him around as the clanging in his hears began to subside enough for disjointed words to penetrate.
“Otto!”
“How could you—”
He was too fucking disoriented and that didn’t make sense. He wasn’t allowed to be so goddamn out of it when Lina was in danger.Lina.
“Otto!”
He needed to pull his shit together, make sure she hadn’t also been shot or otherwise hurt, and get them the fuck out of there. He blinked hard, willing his eyes to re-focus.
“—should be thanking me—”
The hands on his body lifted, grabbing hold of his face and turning his head. Fingers stretched, practically fondling his left ear and the back of his head, before both hands framed his face again and her voice came to him more clearly. “Otto, you asshole, stop scaring me!”
