Page 5 of Then We Shatter

He lifts his head, baring his teeth in a smug grin. “Feels good, doesn’t it, Kitty?”

He thinks he has me at his mercy. He thinks he’s tamed me. He thinks the desires consuming me are carnal. Fool.

I groan in satisfaction. “This. Is. Perfect,” I whisper as my back arches and my leg muscles tense.

I plant a heel between Vlad’s shoulder blades to give me the leverage I need, and as I snap my thighs together in one violent jerk, I dislocate his upper cervical spine with lethal precision. Paralyzed from the neck down, poor Vlad can no longer breathe and death is inevitable.

“Oh dear, you’ve gone all limp,” I tell him gently. “It happens to plenty of men, but I’m pretty sure in your case it’s a one-off problem.”

I slip my feet beneath his dead-weight and with a grunt, roll Vlad’s body over the edge of the bed. He hits the floor with a satisfying thud. I just knew he could satisfy me.

With my hands still bound, I shuffle backwards and twist so I’m sitting with my shoulder against the bedstead. I turn my head to the side, leaning towards my hands so I can reach the wire I’d hidden in my hair when I braided it. The cage from my uncle’s champagne bottle has become tangled, but it comes away with only a small clump of dark strands.

Straightening the wire into the shape of a pin would have been easier if I hadn’t been chewing my nails. I miss my acrylics, but I’d been stripped of anything with the potential to cause harm to my captors when I was hauled back to Russia. Fortunately, they couldn’t take back my Bratva training and unpicking the lock is simple. I free myself within seconds.

Jumping off the bed, I check Vlad’s body. His grey, lifeless eyes don’t flicker when I grab his feet and pull him across the room and through the door.

I’m almost tempted to drag him to the staircase and over the balustrade just to hear the splat when he lands on the marble floor below. The sound would be markedly different from that of a young girl’s body hitting the tiles, silencing her scream but not the echoes of her friends’ cries, mine included. Tanya was the first sestra to be taken from me. Her death was my uncle’s way of teaching me not to get attached. One of many such lessons.

I abandon the guard’s body next to the small arsenal of weapons he’d left outside the door. The only thing I take is Vlad’s earpiece so I can order a clean-up. Killing that piece of shit isn’t the start of some elaborate escape plan I’ve hatched in the last two months. There is no escape. It’s the middle of winter and the roads are impassable. There are those I could call for air support, but I’d most likely face a counter attack from senior Bratva members before help could arrive.

I’ve done what I set out to achieve. Vlad is one more name crossed off my list. He shouldn’t have called me Kitty. He shouldn’t have gloated about Killian’s death.

“Damn you, Shorty,” I whisper. Killian claimed to hate his pet name, but his eyes would twinkle whenever I used it. He had two names for me. Kitty and mad, psycho bitch.

Taking a deep breath, I tap the earpiece. “Hey, Alexei. There’s some garbage I need you to pick up outside my bedroom.”

“Katarina?” Alexei demands. “What–”

“And I don’t want to be disturbed until morning.”

Dropping the earpiece, I slip back into my bedroom and use Vlad’s keys to lock myself in. The only thing left on the dresser is his phone. I’m not going to waste time trying to hack into it. His biometric access requires a living user and besides, reaching out to share my location would be futile given this is my last night here.

I’m going to have to bide my time, and thankfully I have all the time in the world. There’s nowhere else I need to be, or anyone to be with. I don’t care if it takes the rest of my life to right some wrongs. It gives me purpose.

As I strip out of my clothes, I hear heavy footfalls and heavier curses.

“Katarina!” Alexei bellows. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Alexei isn’t one of the worst, but if there are any good guys in my uncle’s army, I’ve yet to meet one. There are those who do the unspeakable, and those who say nothing when a comrade tells them they’ve disabled the security cameras and not to disturb them.

“I’m taking a shower and going to bed!” I shout back. “You can tell Vasili that if he still thinks I need a guard, he should pick one who isn’t going to force their way into my room and try to rape me. I have a wedding to prepare for!”

When I step into the shower, I’m not expecting my uncle to take the matter further. In fact, he’ll probably be relieved I’ve been able to vent my anger on a target that isn’t him. I just need a moment before the next chapter of my life begins. I need time to take a breath. I need…

I need Killian.

As I tip back my head and hot jets of water hit my face, a silent sob rises up through my chest and breaks the dam holding back my emotions. Another sob quickly follows. And another. And another. Water spray hits the back of my throat, but it’s my unfiltered anguish I choke down.

I tell myself it’s water stinging my eyes and blocking my nose. It’s not tears. I don’t cry. I’m not made for crying. Tears are weak and I’m not weak. I’m stronger than that. I’m unbreakable. Untamable.

A hand wraps over my mouth before I can scream. My hand.

I press my lips against my palm and they pucker, like a kiss. I’ve been kissed by many men, and I’ve returned that sensual movement with practiced ease. But as my mouth opens and my tongue probes warm flesh, I long for something I will never get again. Connection. A melding of one body with another. A promise of love. A promise of a future. A future with Killian.

“No, no, no,” I repeat over and over as my body tingles with memories of his touch.

The keening sound I make strains my vocal cords as I slide to the stall floor, my body wracked with sobs as I draw my knees up to my chest.