Page 102 of Bound Bride
She pried my obsessive nature away from work and attached it to herself and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I was enjoying myself. I wasliving.
But it wasn't real.
She was just another Vasiliev pawn.
"Boss?" Ethan glances at me as he turns onto the street with the dry cleaners. "You wanna run me through your plan?"
"My plan?" I pull my gun from my hip and flex my fingers around the grip, enjoying the weight against my palm. "My plan is to go in there and kill that son of a bitch while you stay here in the car and keep yourself safe."
"Boss, I'm not letting you go in there alone!"
"I will not be alone. My people are here."
"That's not the point!" Ethan purposely slows the car down. "What if this is what they want? They've made it clear that they can't face you directly so they've been chipping away at you, using Rose and the Italians and fuck knows what else. What if rushing in there without a plan or focus is exactly what they want from you?"
I grit my teeth and rock my jaw from side to side. "I understand your concern, Ethan. I do. But I need to kill him. I need to kill them both. I need to look in the eyes of the bastards who tortured my wife and watch the light leave as they realize that I have beaten them."
"Boss!"
He's barely pulled the car to a stop when I throw myself out the door and charge toward the group of guards carefully positioned around the front of the dry cleaners. "Where is he?!"
"Inside," one man calls. "We've got the place surrounded, but he killed two of ours so we were waiting for you."
I hesitate and glimpse the two bodies neatly lined up behind one of the cars. Two gone. Two families I have to contact and explain everything to, two families losing their loved one because of me and these fucking brothers.
"Lev!" I roar. I storm right up to the front door, then kick it open with as much strength as I can muster. Anger pulses through me like a fever, raising my temperature and tightening all of my clothes against my body.
Every graze of fabric against my skin amps up the fury inside me, as does the faint chemical stink in the air and the fact that Lev isn't in the very first room I check.
"Where the fuck are you?!" I roar again, my heart pounding in my ears. I'm going to find him and I'm going to break every fucking bone in his body. The next room is also empty, as is the room filled with old washing machines and fabric softener.
Then I find him.
He cowers in the back room amidst empty metal racks meant for hanging clothes.
As soon as I kick open the door, he shoves one toward me, but I catch it and toss it to the side with a snarl of rage.
My gun drops to the floor when I see both his hands empty and I lunge at him with both arms outstretched.
We collide like a crack of thunder and I crash him into the opposite wall. His head bounces with an audible crack and a snarl of pain escapes his clenched teeth.
Balling up my fist, I slam it hard into the side of his face again and again, pouring all my fury into each brutal blow.
He tries to fight back.
His knee collides with my crotch, then his elbow swings around and catches me on the edge of my jaw as I stumble back with a gasp of pain.
My white-hot rage numbs almost everything and I'm back on him like an animal.
Two more punches, and blood sprays across the stone floor with a smattering of broken teeth.
I grab Lev by the collar and haul him back up, then punch him again so hard that the blood pouring out of his mouth causes my fist to slip and his teeth cut my knuckle.
"You fucking motherfucker!" He falls and I haul him up, then drive my fist into his soft gut. "You twisted sick son of a bitch!"
Lev gurgles and grabs my arm near the elbow, twisting sharply as he turns his body around, but I grab the back of his head with my other hand and slam his face into the wall.
Bone crunches and Lev stumbles, then he collapses down onto the ground.
