Page 79 of Then We Shatter

I let out a roar that rips at my throat as I catapult myself down the stairs. They’re not getting away. I won’t let Vasili take Katarina from me. It’s not going to happen. It can’t happen. I won’t…

The pastor scurries out of my way to the nearest corner, raising his bible to hide behind. I’m almost at the door when my brain tells me it’s not a bible he’s raised. Two shots ring out. Someone else kills the pastor, but not before he fires his gun. There’s an explosion of pain in my thigh and my rifle skitters across marble tiles.

“Fucking bastard!” I yell, drawing my Glock as I drop to the floor.

I fill the pastor’s body with bullets, but he’s too dead to bleed. Unlike me. Blood gushes from the bullet wound in my thigh and as Rory rushes towards me, he unbuckles his belt to use as a tourniquet.

I snatch it from him. “I can look after myself. Go! Don’t let Vasili take Kat!”

As I tighten the belt around my thigh, the three Moncrief brothers take their precious fucking time checking the exit before pursuing Vasili.

No shots are fired after they disappear through the door, which means there’s a stand-off.

“Is Killian OK?” I hear Katarina ask through the door the Moncriefs have left ajar.

I struggle and fail to stand as I call out. “I might need you to kiss my leg better, Kitty!”

My leg is well and truly busted, and even worse, the blood loss is making me light-headed. I’m next to useless, but when one of the bastard Moncriefs closes the main door so I can’t add to whatever discussion is taking place outside, pure anger gets me to my feet. Unfortunately, even my unbridled fury can’t keep me upright for long and I crash to the floor again.

Not willing to admit defeat, I drag my sorry arse towards the door, climbing over dead bodies I don’t have the strength to circle around, and leaving a trail of blood across the floor.

There’s pounding against my ears as my heart works overtime to keep the ever-decreasing volume of blood circulating around my body. I should have tied the tourniquet tighter, but every second without seeing Katarina is what’s killing me. And I can’t hear a fucking thing that’s happening outside.

Inch by agonizing inch, I get closer and I’m about to reach for the door handle when the weight of the Glock I’d tucked inside my waistband disappears. I’ve been disarmed.

Ignoring the red-hot pain in my leg, I flip onto my back, but before I can reach for another weapon, I see the barrel of a gun pointed at my head and the face of one of the men I’m desperate to kill.

“Don’t even try it,” Danyl snarls.

Cursing myself for not considering someone would circle back and attack from behind, I raise my hands and reevaluate my options. To my surprise, they’re not completely zero.

I don’t react to the two figures creeping up on Danyl while his single focus is on me. In an ideal world it would be the Griffins coming to my rescue, but fate has sent me Grace and a guy dressed up like a guardian angel in his white tuxedo.

Both are armed, and while my odds are better than they were, they’re still not great. White tuxedo guy is chewing his lip as he creeps towards us. Neither of my guardian angels look ready to shoot, and even if they do, their nerves suggest there’s just as much of a chance they’ll hit me as they will their intended target.

For now, all I can do is keep Danyl focused on me.

He looks down at me and sneers. “A cockroach like you has no right touching a Bratva woman, but Katarina is my toy now. I wanted you to know that before you die.” He smirks when he adds, “By tonight, I will have filled every one of her pretty holes and I’ll keep doing it until she can’t remember your name.”

As I clench my jaw and fists, I’m torn between wanting the guy behind Danyl to kill him and be done with it, and maiming the Bratva bastard so I can gut him myself. And all the while, I’m sick with worry about what’s happening outside.

“You couldn’t handle a woman like Katarina,” I reply. “I’ve seen what she does to men who take what they don’t deserve. That woman will survive us all.” The thought of him touching her turns my stomach, but I could never picture her as a victim. She’d kill me if I did. “I doubt she’d notice your limp dick inside her anyway, and I’ll die happy knowing it’s only my cock that could ever satisfy her. So go on, you useless piece of shite, shoot me.”

Danyl taps his earpiece. He could choose to talk in Russian to his pakhan, but he speaks in English for my benefit. “I have him in my sights. Just say the word.”

Time has officially run out and my gaze snaps to the guy in the white tuxedo. “For fuck’s sake, shoot!”

The guy jumps at my command and shoots Danyl. In the fucking arse.

As Danyl drops to his knees, I sit up, ignore the wave of dizziness, and reach for the knife beneath my bulletproof vest. Danyl has managed to stay upright and extends both his arms, a gun in each hand. As he checks where the shot came from behind him, I flick my knife, aiming for Danyl’s throat but it’s his shoulder I hit and he barely flinches.

Danyl dismisses white tuxedo guy and returns his attention to me. I’m staring down the barrel of my own fucking gun and there’s nothing I can do about it. Not a thing.

My heart is heavy with regret. I’m sorry I won’t be around to witness Katarina exact her revenge on Vasili and every monster who thrived under his command. But she will do it, I know she will.

Danyl smirks as his finger tenses on the trigger, aiming right between my eyes. The wound to his shoulder means he can’t hold his pose for long. I hate that his ugly mug is the last face I’ll see.

I want to look upon Katarina one last time. This was meant to be the start of something special, and perhaps it will be for her. I just won’t be by her side. I’d like to see my family too. I know I was willing to walk away from them, but I never truly believed it would be forever.