Page 159 of The Enemy Protector
“Or what? You’ll kill me?” He laughs. “You’re going to kill me anyway.”
“True. But I can make it quick or I can make it hurt. Your choice.”
He considers this for a moment, then tosses the gun onto the bed. “Fine. Let’s talk like civilized men.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” I move into the room, keeping my distance. Kirill enters behind me, covering the doorway.
“You think this ends with me?” Yuri’s smile widens. “You’re a fool, Sokolov. I have brothers in Russia. All waiting for my call.”
I already know about the brothers. Kirill found them in his research. All connected to the Moscow operations. All dangerous.
“They’re not getting a call,” I say.
“They don’t need one.” Yuri spreads his hands. “The moment I stop checking in, they’ll know. And they’ll come for her. They’ll come for your precious wife, and they’ll beat her just like they did to Elena. She’ll suffer.”
Rage floods through me. White-hot and consuming. I want to empty my entire magazine into his face.
But I force myself to stay controlled. To think.
“You’re lying,” I say.
“Am I? Bitches that betray the men in my family don’t die easy or quickly.”
I pull the trigger.
The bullet catches him in the right shoulder, spinning him around. He hits the wall hard, gasping.
“That was for Elena,” I say.
He slides down the wall, leaving a smear of blood on the faded wallpaper. His hand goes to the wound, but he’s still smiling through the pain.
“My brothers will finish what I started,” he pants. “The Baranov empire will be theirs. And that bitch you married? She’ll die screaming.”
"Mikhail knew what she was." His voice is ragged now, bleeding out but still trying to win. "A consolation prize in a black dress. You're the only fool who looked at her and saw a queen. She was never going to hold that seat. I would have been doing her a kindness."
I cross the room in three strides and grab him by the throat, lifting him off the ground. His feet kick uselessly. His hands claw at my wrist.
“Her name,” I say quietly, “is Sofia. And no one touches her.”
I squeeze harder. His face turns red, then purple. His eyes bulge. But even as he’s dying, he’s still trying to smile. Still trying to win.
I drop him. He collapses to the floor with a loud thud, gasping and choking.
“Kirill,” I say without taking my eyes off Yuri. “Get me a knife.” I won’t dirty mine on this pathetic man.
I hear Kirill move behind me. Hear the sound of a blade being unsheathed. He presses it into my palm.
I crouch down beside Yuri. He’s still struggling to breathe, one hand on his throat, the other on his bleeding shoulder.
“I want you to understand something,” I say. “You came into my city. You threatened my wife. You tried to take what belongs to her.” I press the tip of the knife against his chest, right over his heart. “That was a mistake.”
“Fuck you,” he rasps.
I drive the knife in slowly. Watching his face. Watching the realization hit that this is really happening. That he’s really dying.
His mouth opens in a silent scream. Blood bubbles at his lips.
“For Sofia,” I whisper.
