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“It’s about Maxim Petrov,” I said.

That got his attention. His eyebrows hit his hairline, and he sat up straighter. “Leave us and close the fucking door behind you.” The guard turned to leave. “And check the perimeter. Full scope,” Dominick said, giving him a pointed look before sliding his attention to me.

But I stayed relaxed, thankful that I’d made the guys go check on Niko at the warehouse. Kenji bitched the whole time, not wanting to leave me, but Caleb told him I could do this shit on my own.

This time, the click of the door sounded like the slamming of the gavel of Dominick’s sentence.

“What the fuck is it you want, Scarletta?” he asked, taking another puff of his cigar, the smoke wafting in the air between us. “Shouldn’t you be with your husband and the men you whore yourself out to?” he asked. His condescending tone grated on my nerves, reminding me of all the lectures he’d given me over the course of my life. Every moment was an opportunity to make me feel less-than.

“They’re busy at the moment,” I stated, moving closer, blood roaring through my veins. This moment was the culmination of everything I’d worked for my whole life. Every cell in my body screamed for me to pull the trigger. That he didn’t deserve to breathe one more breath.

He grunted a response. “Why the fuck are you coming to me now, girl? You made it clear where your loyalties lie when you stole my daughter’s fiancé,” he sneered, spit flying from his lips.

“I didn’t have any fucking part of that. I didn’t even want to go to that party, remember?” It wasn’t difficult to sound convincing since everything I said was the truth. I discreetly flicked the lock on the handle before moving farther into the room and plopping down in the chair in front of him. “I didn’t have a chance to come sooner. They’ve kept me locked in the apartment,” I said, eyeing how he shifted in his seat.

His hand was slowly reaching for the Glock I knew he kept hidden in the crevice of the chair. Thankfully, I hadn’t fully relaxed in, and my position would make it easy for me to leap behind the desk when he drew his firearm.

Because the fucker definitely would.

“You always were a stupid fucking girl,” he sneered. “You didn’t look locked up when you perched your ass on that bike and shot at my men.”

I caught the movement of the black barrel as I threw myself to the side, scurrying behind the desk as a shot rang out and hit to the right of where I’d been sitting.

“Your shot is as fucking trash as you are, Dominick,” I called out, poking my head out and firing off a shot of my own. Blood and muscle matter exploded from where the shot struck him in the shoulder of his dominant arm.

His strangled yell was music to my fucking ears. The beast lurking beneath my skin roared in victory at the bloodshed of our enemy.

“Are you a shit shot with your off hand too?” I taunted, rolling across the floor as wood shrapnel rained through the air where his bullet hit the desk. My manic laughter echoed through the room, combining with another pained yell as I hit Dominick in the other shoulder.

“Fucking bitch,” he yelled.

I used his momentary distraction to rush him, knocking his gun loose as I plowed into him, his body colliding with the bookshelf. The butt of my gun struck him in the temple, and blood seeped from the head wound.

“I’m going to fucking kill you, Dominick,” I seethed. “And it’s going to be long, drawn out, and painful as payment for all the shit you put me through.”

Ice chilled my veins when he laughed. His body gave out below me, but his laugh sounded as if he was the one who’d won.

“What’s more important, Scarletta? Your revenge, or those men?” he asked, his eyes glazing over with a crazed look. “Because you can’t have both. I bet you choose revenge. I fuckin’ ruined you for love. You don’t fucking work right, do you? Your head is too fucked up to care for others.” He was rambling nonsense, but the words caused my heart to pound.

“This is my fucking city. You don’t think I know what happens in it?” he yelled out. “I know everything, and you’re as pathetic as your whore of a mother. If you want to spread your legs, I’m going to at least get some money for it. So thanks for bringing your pussy to my doorstep. I was going to have to send Enzo to collect you after he buried the bodies of your men in the rubble.”

My hands moved on their own, instinct and skill taking over, smothering the panic threatening to drown me. “Fuck you, Dominick.” I pressed the barrel of the gun to the tender flesh under his chin. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Those boys are about to be on the news. Three men killed in a warehouse fire,” he said, his voice thick with gloating. An evil sneer curled up on his ashen face. “Did you know your mom moaned with pleasure when I fucked her before selling her? She didn’t want you. I asked her if she wanted to keep you, and she said no.”

I cut off the self-loathing that wanted to creep in. I kept my face neutral, knowing I needed him to keep talking. “Now, these three will be gone, and Enzo is married. Who will you have if you kill me? Admit it, Scarletta, I raised you well. Taught you how to survive. You let me live, and this will all be forgiven. Things go back to the way they were. You don’t even love those fuckers.”

His words snapped me out of the trance I’d fallen into.

I dug the barrel in deeper. “You didn’t teach me how to survive, Dominick. You helped me turn into the beautiful fucking monster I am, and I can’t fucking wait to paint the walls with your brain matter. Splatter the fucking walls like a macabre piece of art.” I leaned closer, hissing in his face, lapping up the fear in his shit-brown eyes. “But that’s going to have to wait, because you’re going to be a gift to the Circle. They are going to love when I deliver Maxim’s killer.”

His face blanched, his eyes widening the second before I slammed my gun into his temple for a second time and knocked him out.

His head snapped back as blood pooled under his body. As much as I wanted to kill him, I wanted him to suffer even more. Saving him to be tortured would be even sweeter than a quick death. And right now, I didn’t give a fuck what happened to Dominick, because I was terrified at the idea that my three men were in danger.

I shut all my emotions off before the terror caused me to freeze.

My body moved on autopilot. The cries of Dominick’s men were muffled, barely registering as I moved like a blur through the home, riddling each man with bullets.