Page 97 of Then We Shatter

“There’s nothing you have that I’d ever want,” Katarina replies, but her smile is just a touch too tense.

My jaw feathers. It could be a bluff, but even as I get ready to throw my blades, Grigor grabs Sasha. He pulls her back against his chest, his machete pressing to her neck.

Katarina laughs. “She’s your bargaining chip? Have you not been paying attention these last few years?”

Grigor tips his head. “Clearly not well enough,” he says. “But your behavior just now was very telling. You were in full control of the situation from the moment you walked in here, and yet you let my darling wife sit at her laptop.”

“Grigor, please. Don’t test her. She’ll kill us both,” Sasha pleads as she digs her fingers into the arm pinning her in place. She’s shorter than Katarina and her husband’s frame dwarfs her. I can’t tell if her fear this time is real or an act.

“Then answer me this, Sasha. Why would Katarina let you keep tapping away when she knows you can do more damage from your keyboard than any of us could do with bullets and missiles?” He draws his blade gently over Sasha’s skin, leaving a thin line of scarlet. He smirks when Katarina’s eye twitches. “The only reason you didn’t act, Katarina, was because you trust your apparent nemesis. Implicitly.”

When Sasha starts laughing, Grigor’s brow furrows. He doesn’t know how she’s used her laughter in the past as a warning, but Katarina and I ready ourselves. Somewhere in the distance, a loud boom shakes the house and briefly distracts Grigor. My knife hits him in the upper arm, severing tendons that make the weapon in his hand useless at the same time Katarina shoots his kneecap.

Sasha twists away from Grigor and grabs the machete before it drops from his limp hand. He falls onto his back with a thud and the two women stand over him.

“Is there anything left of the gatehouse?” I ask, assuming that was the cause of the explosion.

“I doubt it,” Sasha says, smearing the trickle of blood from her neck before licking her finger. She’s a beautiful woman, but her sparkling violet eyes are stone cold.

“Now that we’ve dealt with all the guards,” Katarina muses as I round the table to join them. “We have lots of time to play.”

“Killing me would be a big mistake,” Grigor insists, blood leaking from his wounds while his arrogance remains stubbornly intact. “If you think you can lead the Bratva, think again. You need me.”

“But we don’t intend to run this crumbling empire,” Katarina corrects him. “We’re going to ruin it. We’ll harvest every scrap of information you have so we can hunt down all those sick bastards responsible for exploiting, abusing and killing countless men, women and children.” She doesn’t mention how that includes tracking down the man who bought Yana in an auction. She doesn’t want Grigor to know her sestra’s fate has haunted her for years. It’s enough that Grigor knows we’ll be dismantling his evil network. “We’ll raid the Bratva’s bank accounts to compensate your victims, and we’ll have fun along the way.”

“With Sasha?” Grigor asks, sliding his gaze to his wife before turning to me. “Do you seriously think you could ever trust her? I trained Sasha to be a chameleon. Too well it would seem. She’ll be whatever you want her to be while it suits her, but she’ll betray you one day just like she’s betrayed me.”

I don’t like the shudder that runs down my spine, knowing it’s a reaction Grigor wanted. He’s using me to plant the seeds of doubt because I don’t have a shared past with Sasha. But we do have history. Sasha helped bring Katarina back to me.

“You’d be wrong there,” I reply with a confidence I know pisses him off. “You see, these women aren’t just products of your training. They’re forged from something far stronger. Friendship. Loyalty. Love.”

“You’re a fool if–”

“Ah, we’ll be having none of that,” I interrupt. “And to be honest with you, Grigor, I’m getting fucking tired of listening to your voice.” I step closer. “Ladies, would you mind holding him down for me?”

Katarina and Sasha don’t ask what I have planned. The mutual trust we share is on display when they grab Grigor’s arms so I can kneel on his chest.

“Any last words?” I ask, taking out my Glock.

Grigor’s mouth twists into a sneer. “Do you want to know what I did to your–”

I grab his chin and shove the barrel of my gun into his mouth hard enough to chip teeth. “I’ll take that as a no.”

Using the gun I jammed into his mouth as leverage, I pull out his tongue and slice through it with my knife. Grigor’s screams turn into a gurgling grunt.

“Nice work, Killian,” Sasha says, taking the tongue and admiring the precision of my cut before slipping it into her pocket as a souvenir.

I wink at her before returning my attention to Grigor. “And there is one other wee thing I need to take care of before I hand you over to the women you abused.”

I reposition myself so I’m kneeling on Grigor’s calves, and he writhes frantically as I unzip his pants. He’s choking on his own blood, but whatever insults he’s hurling at me are unintelligible.

“I know many women will have dreamed of separating your dick from your body, but I don’t like the idea of my wife handling this…” My nose wrinkles as I pull out his limp dick. “This is one small matter I’d prefer to take care of on her behalf.” Grigor bucks his hips, trying desperately to resist my hold. “Could you not keep still for a minute? I wouldn’t want to snip off my little finger by mistake.”

My knife cuts through his shaft cleaner than I’d like, and Grigor’s muffled screams are music to my ears. Done with the bastard, I get to my feet and fling it across the room before Sasha gets any ideas about keeping another trophy.

“We should bind his hands,” she says, leaving her husband to thrash on floor.

Katarina pulls cable ties from her pocket. “Good idea. We don’t want him getting too cocky.”