Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“She killed at least a dozen men on her own.”
I turned back to him.
“Must have gotten one of their riles. Their bodies were on the other side of the warehouse, so she made it pretty far.”
Pride swelled within me. “Attagirl.”
“She suits you.” He said all of it without looking at me, eyes still on the window.
“She does.” That was the closest thing to approval I would ever receive from my brother.
The rest of the drive was spent in silence, but for a change, it wasn’t packed with layered hostility and resentment. For the first time, I felt like I was sitting beside Luca, beside one of my guys, beside a friend.
When we approached the cordoned-off street, we pulled over in the middle of the road, the other Hummers and SUVs already there. There were police cars and SWAT vehicles, all dispatched by President Martin.
The building was surrounded.
Godric got out and strapped on his vest before he grabbed his automatic rifle from the back.
I did the same and walked with my brother toward the building.
Then gunfire erupted, bullets spraying the roads as shooters fired from the windows.
I shoved Godric to the back of a car for cover. The windows shattered from the bullets, and glass splashed across the ground.
“Not going down without a fight, is he?” Godric said without raising his voice.
“He’s choosing to die like a rat. Not much of a fight to me.” I crept around the side of the car and saw the Foreign Legion deploy out the back of one of the vehicles. “If we don’t hurry, they’re going to kill him before I get a chance.”
“What does it matter? Let them kill him.”
“It fucking matters.” I watched the soldiers leave the van and break down the barricaded front door. More gunfire erupted. “I’m going for it—”
“Bastien.”
I took off, sprinting between the cars, avoiding the gunfire that rained down because I was too fast. I zipped left then right, evading their aim until I reached the front with the other soldiers.
I took cover and caught my breath, squatted on the ground with my gun in hand.
Godric appeared from the other side, as if he’d taken a different path.
“You didn’t have to come.”
He watched the soldiers break down the door and kill Ivan’s men. “Yes, I did.”
They moved in and swarmed the building, and I followed behind them with Godric, clearing the building like we were other members of the team. There were three floors, but several different office spaces and conference rooms, a building up for lease that no one occupied.
It was like finding a needle in a haystack.
I wasn’t on the comms system with the rest of the team, but I knew that wouldn’t be the best way to speak with Martin, so I called him directly, standing in one of the hallways.
“Bastien, this is a government matter now, so you can stand down.”
Godric stood with his gun lowered, watching the hallway in case we encountered company.
“I need to kill this guy, Martin.”
“Luca briefed me. He’ll be executed.”
“You don’t understand. I need to kill him.”
After a beat, he spoke. “They’ve pinned him down to the northwest corner. Top floor.”
“Thank you.” I hung up then headed upstairs and caught up with the guys who were continuing to break down doors and get closer to the rat trapped in a corner. When they reached the last door, it was barricaded, so they broke it down with a battering ram and shoved aside all the furniture there.
But we got there too late.
Ivan had already hanged himself. He dangled from the chandelier in the center of the ceiling.
One of the guys cut him down, and he hit the floor. No life-saving measures were taken. No CPR or epinephrine. If he could have been revived, no one bothered.
I stood over him and watched him lying there, his eyes open and his skin pale, like he’d been dead for at least a couple minutes. I was robbed of my revenge, robbed of the sick pleasure I was owed.
I grabbed my pistol from the back of my jeans and shot him in the face.
Shot him again.
And again.
Shot him until he didn’t have a fucking face.
The guys didn’t stop me.
Godric just watched.
I fired until the barrel was empty.
He was gone and the fight was over, but I felt empty inside. I didn’t save Fleur, and I didn’t avenge her either. The rat chose to die like a coward rather than face me, rather than face my wrath like a man.
Godric came to my side and placed a hand on my shoulder. “It’s over.”
“For him,” I said. “But it’ll never be over for me.”
Luca picked up on the first ring. “I saw the whole thing on the news.”
“He hanged himself before I got there. But I shot his face off.”
The news was audible in the background, like the TV was still on. “It’s done. All that matters.”