Page 30 of A Secretary for the Bratva Boss
A voice. A scream. It's just... noise. Irrelevant.
"Anton."
A hand. On my arm. On my shoulder. It’s like a fly landing on a block of granite. I shake it off. I'm going to finish.
"Please! Stop! You're killing him!"
Da.That is the point.
"Anton!"
She's sobbing. Hysterical. Pulling on me.
"Please… please, you're scaring me… please…"
She throws herself in front of me. Her hands are on my chest, on my fists. Her small, warm,cleanhands are now covered inhisblood.
"He doesn't matter," she screams, her voice raw. "Look at me. Anton, look at me. He doesn't matter. I'm yours. I'm yours… You can stop… please."
Her. She’s... she’s here. Between me and the target.
My fist is still raised. My body jerks back reflexively, appalled that I'd ever point violence in her direction. I'd never hurt her. Fucking ever.
The arctic void shatters, and the roaring sound of my own blood floods my ears. I’m breathing like I’ve just run a marathon. My chest is heaving.
My eyes… my eyes hold death. But they’re… focusing.
On her.
Talia.
Her face is a mess of tears and mascara. Her body is trembling so hard her teeth should be chattering. And she is looking at me.
Like I'm a monster.
Like I am the thing that just crawled out of the darkness.
"Talia," I rasp. It's not my voice.
I look down. At the thing I've made. The... man. Alex. His face is... gone. A ruin of blood and broken angles. Then I look at my own hands. They are red. Dripping.
The sickness hits me. Not for what I've done.
For what she'sseen.
She saw the Pakhan. She saw the killer.
She’s going to run.
My parents. Gone. Ripped away. Everyone I've ever cared about.
I get off him. I stumble back. Alex... he’s breathing. A low, wet moan. I don't care.
I look at her. And the terror that fills me is a thousand times colder than the void I was just in.
The Pakhan is gone. The monster is gone.
And I am... terrified.
