Chapter 168 170

Chapter 168 170
Ivan moves closer, but then I feel it. A blade pressed to the side of my neck.

“She has a knife,” I gasp.

Ivan stops in the middle of the room. I’ve never seen him so tortured. Torn between keeping me safe and wanting nothing more than to rip Francia’s head from her body.

“That’s right. I have a knife.” Francia cackles. “Cora here keeps destroying all of my plans, so I came with plenty of backup. It’s time you learn that you can’t steal from other people and get away with it.”

“You think I stole something from you? You’re the one who stole my life. My husband!”

“The only reason you know Ivan is because I dressed you up and pushed you in the right direction,” she snaps. “If it wasn’t for me, the two of you would have broken up once Ivan completed his little mission. You’d be back waiting tables at Quintaño's, pretending you don’t regret letting Ivan get away. Maybe that would be better than how things are going to turn out for you. At least you’d be alive.”

I shake my head, talking more to Ivan than to Francia. “No matter what happens, Ivan is worth it. He’s worth every insane thing you’ve put me through. We aren’t together because of you. We’re together because we love each other. Because we are meant to be. You had nothing to do with it.”

The tip of the knife twists in my neck. I feel a warm trickle of blood running over my skin. “One thing is for sure, even if you think I had nothing to do with getting you two together: I’m going to have everything to do with keeping you apart. In the end, Ivan’s future is in my hands. His fate belongs to me. Ivan is mine.”

She’s insane. Francia is certifiable.

But hearing her claim Ivan with so much conviction is all it takes to send rage burning through me.

Suddenly, I’m back in the training room with Anya. She’s behind me, her hand wrapped around my neck.

“Destabilize,” Anya instructed. “That’s your only goal in this position. You want to get the person off balance long enough to escape. Slam them against a wall, kick their kneecaps, rock back and forth—whatever it takes to loosen their grip.”

Without another thought, I grab Francia’s wrist and pray my grip is strong enough to keep her from stabbing me in the throat. Then I throw all of my momentum backwards and slam her spine against the wall.

I feel the air whoosh out of her, hot on my neck.

Ivan rushes forward, but I’m not waiting for him. Not when I have her exactly where I want her.

I spin around, grab her wrist with my other hand, and drive Francia’s own hand still holding the knife straight up into her jugular.

Her eyes go wide as hot blood pulses from her neck and pours over our interlaced hands. Her lips move, but no words come out. I’m glad. The time for her to explain and rationalize is over. She was a crazy bitch, and now, she’s a dead, crazy bitch.

“The only person’s fate you should have been worried about is your own,” I say, stepping back as she slides to the floor. “Ivan belongs to me.”

64

IVAN

Cora is swaying over Francia’s body, blood dripping from her fingertips onto the tile floor.

She looks like hell, but she did it.

Cora killed Francia.

Since the moment I got the call at the warehouse, all I’ve wanted to do is get to Cora. Now, I take a moment to admire her. Bloodstained and breathless and fucking fierce. My queen.

Then she takes a stumbling step away from Francia and I can’t wait another goddamn second. I need to hold her and feel her, warm and alive, in my arms.

Cora keeps backing up until she thuds against my chest. I catch her with an arm around her waist and press my lips to her ear. “I’ve got you. You’re okay.”

She jolts for only a second before she sinks against my chest. “Ivan.”

“You were fucking incredible,” I whisper. “You did everything right. Everything we taught you. You were amazing.”

If I had things my way, Cora would have never learned to fight. It wouldn’t have been necessary. But I’m glad she did. She took care of herself and I could not be prouder.

Her head lolls back against my shoulder. “I’m tired. My head… I’m dizzy.”

I press a kiss to her temple—the same spot where, just a few minutes ago, Francia had pointed a gun. I’m not sure the image of Cora on the ground at Francia’s mercy will ever fully leave my head. That is the kind of shit that haunts you.

I’ll remember it forever.

And make sure it never happens again.

“You’re okay now,” I tell her. “I’m going to get you to the doctor. You’ll rest and be fine.”

She sighs. “Thank you, Ivan.”

I’m so focused on her heartbeat fluttering in her throat and the way her lips part around a sigh that I don’t hear the footsteps behind me until it’s almost too late.

At the last second, I push Cora forward and spin around, positioning myself between her and the threat.

In this case, the threat is Alexander McAllister. And he’s pointing a gun directly at my chest.

At this point, I’m more annoyed than anything. When are these bastards going to give up?

“I knew you weren’t going to disappear. That would’ve been the smart thing to do.”

He grimaces, his face screwed up in rage. “Francia told you she had a backup plan.”

“You are her backup plan?” I almost laugh. “You hitched your horse to that crazy bitch? You must have been desperate.”

“You left me no choice! Konstantin made his deal with you and cut me out. After everything I did—for him, for Mikhail—they… they all abandoned me. Me and Francia. Because of you. Both of you.”

As Alexander has been talking, I’ve edged ever so slightly away from Cora. One half-step at a time, I’ve moved so the gun isn’t aiming at Cora at all. She’s off to the side, staying quiet and still. Alexander is fully focused on me.

“You could have left Cora alone. You didn’t have to drag her back home and marry her off.”

“I needed that arrangement with the Sokolovs to—”

“You weren’t starving in the streets. You didn’t need anything. You wanted it. You got greedy and you took a risk. I never would have bothered you if you hadn’t taken her from me.”

“You took her from me,” he rages. His face is red and sweating. “She was promised to Mikhail and I was going to make sure that deal happened. Then you showed up. It ruined everything. Konstantin Sokolov was going to sink me if I didn’t complete the deal. And now, my name is trashed. No one is going to come to me. What good is a fixer with an endless trail of scandals in his wake?”

Yet again, I could take a shot at Alexander, but he might shoot back before he falls. He could kill me where I stand.

I’d rather it be me than Cora, but if there’s any way we can both make it out of tonight together, I’m going to take it.

So I wait for an opening, gun clutched in my right hand.

“About as good as a fixer who is charged with double homicide in the death of his stepdaughter and her husband,” I tell him icily. “You say you’re ruined, but this will ruin you, Alexander. Right now, you could walk away and make a life for yourself. But if you pull that trigger, it’s over.”