Chapter 160 160

Chapter 160 160
I press my gun to Maksim’s forehead. “You betrayed me.”

“I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.”

He doesn’t lower his head. Doesn’t stop holding my gaze, not for a second. “You betrayed me first.”

“No.” I shake my head, reject his accusation with every fiber of my body. “I⁠—”

“You abandoned me when I needed you,” he accuses. “When my woman needed you. I risked my life for Mia every day, and you couldn’t put your ego aside for five minutes when it was my girl on the line. Instead, you stomped out like a fucking toddler.” He spits a glob of blood on the floor. “Thank fuck your old man can’t see you now.”

Those words cut through me like a knife. Is that what I did? Abandoned my second? Let him down, let Mia down, when they needed me most?

No. I was just cooling off, that’s all. The deadline was still far off. There was plenty of time to come up with a plan.

Except…

“I need you to trust me.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

Maksim must see my inner turmoil, because he twists that knife right up. “That’s right,” he presses. “She asked you for help. She needed to save her friend, and you weren’t fucking there.”

“Careful…”

“Or what? You’ll kill me?” He coughs out an ugly, bitter laugh. “Go ahead. I’m at peace. But don’t you dare come lay a single flower on my grave, brother. ‘Cause it won’t have been Desya who put me there, or Prizrak, or even fate. It’ll have been you.”

I’m forcing myself to breathe, but it’s a fucking battle. Rage is burning me up from the inside, clouding the last scrap of judgment I’ve got.

Maksim is a traitor. He conspired with Mia to drug me, traded her in for his own girlfriend. He betrayed me. He deserves to die.

But didn’t I betray him first?

And finally, I’m at war with my own self. The human being on one side, the pakhan on the other, each fighting over the last square on the board. Deciding, once and for all, which one will rule from now on.

I grip the gun tighter. Hover with my finger on the trigger.

Then I shoot.

For a long second, Maksim stays perfectly still. His eyes squeeze against the noise, despite all the determination he’s shown so far. No matter what, he’s just a man.

And so am I.

Slowly, he opens his eyes again. We both stare at the hole in the floor, black and gaping, smoke rising from the mouth of my lowered gun.

“I missed.” I hand him back the gun. “You’re free.”

After a pause, he takes it. “You never miss.”

“Everyone misses sometimes.” I avert my gaze. “It’s just part of being human.”

A slight smile curves Maksim’s lips. There’s fondness there—and pride, too. “I hear they make the best pakhani. Humans.”

Maksim stands. Kallie instantly throws herself back at him. “Thank God,” she cries. “I thought⁠—”

“What, that this guy was gonna shoot me?” He scoffs. “Please. Who else is gonna drive him around?”

“You’re both assholes, you know that?” Nik exhales, massaging Kallie’s shoulders as she shakes. “Putting a girl through all of that just to prove a point.”

“You’re a girl,” Maks points out.

“I don’t count.”

“Enough.” I fix my cuffs and call the attention of the room back to me. “We need to find Mia.”

“She’s at the hospital,” Kallie says. “The parking lot. Something weird’s going on there.”

“How so?”

“There isn’t a single car. And Brad, he… he seemed to know there wouldn’t be. I think someone from the inside is helping him. And then…” Her face turns grayish with fear. “The guys who kidnapped me? They weren’t amateurs. They had camo on. Felt like I was being ambushed by the military or something.”

Camo. “That’s Prizrak,” I infer. “Brad is using them.”

“Must be their last favor to him,” Maksim grits. “Before they ship it all overseas.”

Right. Last year, they’d been in the process of moving their organization abroad. Desya must have been the one to slow things down—one last game of revenge. Now, Brad’s taking advantage of that little hiccup to call in his favor.

But I won’t let him.

Like hell is he going to take the woman I love from me.

“Nik, you drive,” I order. “Maks, with me.”

“I’m coming, too,” Kallie says. Her tone brooks no argument.

But I’m not planning to argue. Time is already working against us here. If we’re going to save Mia, we need to move now.

And when I get my hands on Brad Baldwin…

He’ll learn just what it means to touch what’s mine.

59

MIA

“Now… whatever shall I do with you?”

I fight the urge to recoil. In an ideal world, I’d grab Brad’s greasy fingers and snap them clean in half. No matter how badly I want to do that, though, getting Kallie out was just part one of the plan. If I want part two to work…

Then I’m just gonna have to grin and bear it.

“I remember the day I saw you on that beach.” His fingers trail lazily down my chest. “Sluttiest little whore I’d ever seen.”

“Oh?” I want to punch him, but I force myself to act curious. “How did you figure?”

“Are you kidding? You had that skimpy string bikini on. Barely covered a thing.” As if to make his point, he trails the edge of my cleavage. The hunger in his touch makes my stomach churn. “I knew, then and there, you’d be the easiest lay of my life.”

Fuck you. I thought you loved me. The words are on my lips, but I don’t speak them. I know better than to wear my heart on my sleeve now—he’s the one who taught me what happens if I do.

Besides, that pain belongs to another version of me. A younger, more innocent Mia, one who still answered to the nickname “Euphie.” Who still believed in love at first sight, thunderclap and all.

But this Mia doesn’t give a shit whether Bradley Baldwin loves her or not.

“Who’d have thought that little slut would have the guts to go through my laptop?” Brad shakes his head, as if the idea amuses him. “But then again, you always did surprise me.”

“Doubt I found even half of it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I keep my tone casual. “Prizrak… they’re not your only benefactor, are they? You’ve got more.”

Brad’s chest literally puffs up at that. “A good businessman knows to keep his friends close.”

“And his enemies closer?”