Page 150 of The Enemy Protector
Finally, he signs. His signature is shaky but legible.
I take the papers from him. Nelson is there to take them from me.
“You’ll regret this,” Nelson whispers in my ear.
I know what he’s warning me against.
His hand touches mine, the one holding the knife. “I’ll handle it,” he says.
I look at Nelson and smile before I look at my father.
“I’m not doing anything,” I say. “You’ll sit here and rot in that chair. You’ll take your last, painful breath alone. You will die knowing you have nothing. I will not grieve you. I won’t eventhink of you. This house will be burned to the ground. You have no legacy. You will be forgotten five minutes after you’re gone. No grave. No funeral. Nothing.”
“Don’t you dare go back on your word,” he hisses.
I smile. “Rot in hell.”
I walk out with my father coughing and sputtering behind me. Nelson is at my back. The two guards flanking me.
I don’t look back.
I never want to see this place again.
When I get outside, I stop. The sun is too bright. I suck in a deep breath. I feel a bloodlust I’ve never tasted. I turn, ready to go back in there and give him what he wants.
No. He suffers.
“Sofia?” Nelson’s hand is on my elbow, steadying me.
“I’m fine.” I’m so far from fine I can’t even see fine from here.
“Let’s get you home.”
I let him guide me to the SUV. I climb into the back seat and stare out the window as we pull away from the compound.
I think about my mother. About the choices she made. Did she love Sergei’s father? She knew the risks, but she did it anyway. I want to believe she would only do that if she loved him.
I think about the baby growing inside me. The baby who’s going to be born into this violent, complicated world.
I press my hand against my stomach.
“I’ll keep you safe,” I whisper. “No matter what it takes. I promise.”
Sergei is waiting for us when Nelson walks me into the brownstone. Nelson immediately disappears.
“How did it go?” Sergei asks.
“I know Nelson filled you in.”
His lips quirk. “No, he didn’t. He told me I would have to hear it from you.”
“He signed.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
He nods. “Do you want me to do it?”
