Page 90 of Vengeful King

I don’t want to believe it, don’t want to consider the implications. But the truth is heavy in my head, and it presses down on me.

There’s only one place she would go, one thing she would do.

“We’re going to Yuri’s home base,” I say grimly. “I know where she is.”

CHAPTER31

Katrina

When I got up off the bathroom floor, there was only one thing, one person, on my mind.

Yuri.

I don’t want to let him control my life anymore. I don’t want to live in fear of him. I’ve been afraid for so long—for weeks. I’ve been looking over my shoulder, checking my phone, thinking that every stranger is someone preparing to kill me.

It’s exhausting. The last time I was this afraid, it was just cancer.

Just.The cancer might be back now; I can’t fathom dealing with it and Yuri at the same time. Cancer is a struggle, and it’s not a pretty one. I can’t try to stay alive and deal with Yuri’s plotting at the same time.

I’m not going to die on his terms.

I don’t think much as I make my way to Yuri. I take the cash I have stowed from working at the club and catch a cab across town; I wander through the docks, trying to find the place I know he’s hidden. I don’t care about hiding. That’s not my plan.

I’m angry. Tired. I can’t stop thinking about how I might be sick again, how Lachlan was engaged and never told me. I keep thinking about how he held me after my mother died.

Was that a lie? Or was he just hoping he could fuck me again after I stopped crying?

It never meant anything to him.

I use the despair settling in my chest to drive me forward. The second I start to see signs of danger lurking around me, I know I’m in the right place. There are signs of activity everywhere—tire tracks black on the ground, unmarked cars sitting empty in random places.

I’m close.

When I finally find the right building, I pass through the first set of men guarding the door without an issue. I don’t know if they saw me coming or if they don’t care what a woman wants inside.

There are men farther inside; the place reminds me of the empty factory where Lachlan’s Russian contact was hidden. But there’s something smaller and dirtier about this place, something that reminds me Yuri hasn’t been back from the dead for long.

The men in the center of the room openly appraise me, something amused in their gazes. I ignore the way they skim my body, the way they’re obviously trying to guess what kind of woman I am.

“I’m here to talk with Yuri.”

Their gazes shift. Some of their leering looks wither, but they’re still too handsy when they pat me down. I try to ignore them and focus on standing still, playing through my mind what I want to happen.

They take me to Yuri, flanking me, keeping me in check. I would tell them I don’t pose a threat, but that would be a lie.

When I finally enter the room with Yuri, I know what I want to say. And I know I can’t get out alive.

“I want to help you take him down,” I say. “Lachlan.”

Yuri turns away from the window. There’s nothing in this room, just a concrete block two stories up from the ground floor. In the light, Yuri looks as horrifying as I always knew he was. His face is scarred, twisted and deformed from the trauma of his near-death experience.

I’d be scared of him if I wasn’t so furious inside, so righteously angry. All I can think of is how this man stood over my mother and smothered her with a pillow.

She didn’t even get a chance to fight back,I think.But I will.

Yuri appraises me. He doesn’t seem convinced. “Do you, now?”

“He was only using me,” I say. I let bitterness creep into my voice, trying to pretend it’s just about Lachlan.

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