Page 161 of Like Grim Death: Part One
My mouth goes dry, but I force myself to smile at him. “Go home.”
He glances down between us, teeth flashing in a grin as he shakes his head once. “Nah.” He drags his gaze back up to me, steps closer.
I can smell his sweat. The fear in his fucking pores.
The barrel of my gun touches his abs and he’s got his weapon by his side now but I’m very aware of his fuck-face friend watching us all.
“I can’t leave this street without a piece of you, or a fuck from her.”
It’s like red lights erupt inside my head with thoughts of Nikita touching my wife. I want to explode. I want to squeeze this trigger with the gun against his fucking temple.
But before I can react, while I try to think clearly and temper myself, Nikita says, so quietly it’s a whisper, “Did you know there were three of us in the car? There’s me, Raz,” he jerks his head toward the guy beside him,“and Leon.”
The names mean nothing to me, but numbness floods my limbs. I glance at the car, seeing only two open doors, and I don’t know if he’s bluffing but it wouldn’t have taken much for someone to crawl through the front. Or shut their door in the chaos of everything that already went down on this street.
Nikita laughs, a light, raspy chuckle. “You should be thanking me, really. I could have gone after the kid and the old lady, but seeing the way they meant so much to you, I decided to come after yours instead.”
My chest heaves and in a flash of regret, I wish I had murdered EstherandFinn. He isn’t mine, and I’d give him up a hundred times over to ensure my own is safe.
Nikita cocks his head, grinning at me. “Do you understand the kind of game we’re playing now?”
And in the night, somewhere at my back, as if to punctuate his question, a scream pierces the air.
Ezra and I both turn on reflex, my body seizing to run, to fuckingflyto my wife and my son, but before I can take a single step, the scream dying off in the night, I feel the barrel of the gun against the back of my skull.
“Don’t move, or there won’t be anything left of you to find him anyway.”
I clench my fingers around my gun, staring into the night at my home. The pumpkins lining the drive don’t illuminate anything, and there’s nothing else to see by. Nothing else tosee.
“Where is she?” I can’t stop the words coming out.
Nikita trails the gun down to the back of my neck. “Be patient, Malikov.”
“Wherethe fuckis she?”
Ezra’s elbow bumps mine, but he’s the one who speaks next. “You fuck with them, you understand even if you kill us, we have three more brothers who won’t hesitate towreckyour entire world, right? You won’t leave this city alive.”
Nikita leans in close to me, his mouth over my ear. “But I’m not so sure you’re even getting off this street.”
I hear something, then, besides the beating of my own heart thundering in my ears. It’s a scuffling sound, like feet against pavement, heavy breaths. A soft whimper. I blink, still seeing nothing but my long driveway, the garage bays closed, the front door too. There’s not even a light on inside my fucking house.
But then I realize the noise is coming from my left, toward Maverick’s home, and as I try to turn, Nikita slams the barrel against the side of my temple, aiming at my brain. “Don’t fucking move.”
The whimpering grows louder, followed by a cruel laugh I don’t recognize. Then a voice. “Shh, shh, it’s okay. We’ll let him watch you drop to your knees for me.”Leon.
It feels as if an artery is going to burst in my veins.
And I can’t wait anymore. I don’t care if they’ve got more people than we expected. I don’t give a fuck if Cain and Atlas aren’t here to seek revenge for us. I can’t just stand here and let my family get hurt. I take a breath in through my nose, the stench of shredded tires still heavy in the air.
Then I throw my elbow back, aiming for that sweet spot I stabbed Nikita in.
His gun goes off, right next to my ear, and for long seconds, I can’t hear a fucking thing. I wonder if I’ve been shot, even as my elbow collided with his body, and I heard him grunt the second before he pulled the trigger. But now there’s a ringing sound inside my head, and I feel dizzy.
Suddenly…weak.
A hand grabs my elbow, steadying me, and my eyes flick up to see Ezra’s staring down at me. Anotherpopgoes off in the night, another after that.
Panic makes it hard to breathe and I’m still not sure I didn’t get shot. I spin around, only by Ezra’s grip on my arm am I able to stay upright. But as my ears continue to ring, like my eardrums are bleeding, I realize Nikita isn’t right behind me anymore.
