Page 36 of The Bratva Sinner

Cinder’s attention is on the woman who’s just taken her last breath. “No, no, no.”

She begins chest compressions as Lila stares at Mara in horror.

The doctor bursts into the room. He takes one look at the scene and curses.

“What the hell?” he asks.

Cinder moves out of the way. Lila keeps holding the towel against her side. The doctor gently moves her hand, looks at the knife wound, and then uses his stethoscope to check for a heartbeat.

“She’s gone,” he says.

The room falls silent except for Lila’s ragged breathing. I look at her. She’s staring at Mara’s still form and her own blood-covered hands. She’s pale, and her hands tremble as her eyes meet mine.

“What did you do, Maksim?” I hear the anger in her voice.

“Me?”

“Why would you do that?” She takes a step toward me. “Why would you beat her like that and then bring her here to die?”

She thinks I’m the one who hurt Mara. It’s insulting. After all I’ve done for her.

“Lila,” Cinder says softly.

“I didn’t fucking do this.” My voice is hard and cold. The rage I’ve held back floods through me. “I found her like this. I pulled her out of an alley where they left her to die. I brought her here to save her, not to watch her die.”

She stares at me like I’m a monster.

I should say something. I don't. I just stand there with Mara's blood on my hands while she looks at me like every other dangerous man she's feared.

The blood on my hands looks the same as it did twenty years ago. I couldn't stop it then either.

“You don’t know me.” I step closer. “I would never hurt a woman, and certainly not one I’ve taken care of for years. They are under my protection, and someone just violated that in the worst possible way.”

“I will find who did this.” My voice drops to something deadly. “And they’re going to wish they’d never been born.”

I turn and walk out before I say something I’ll regret. Damien is waiting in the hallway.

“It’s the Albanians,” he says without preamble. “They grabbed her outside the Brickell house.”

I don’t wait for Damien to catch up. I move through the compound toward the garage, my hands still covered in Mara’s blood. White-hot rage burns through me, consuming everything else.

“Maksim!” Damien’s footsteps pound behind me. “Wait!”

I throw open the garage door and head for the SUV. My Porsche is in the shop. This will have to do.

Damien catches my arm. “Where are you going?”

“To end this.”

“The fuck you are.” He steps in front of me. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Get out of my way, Damien.”

“No.” His jaw sets. “Not until you calm down and think this through.”

“Think? They killed one of my women. They beat her, stabbed her, and left her in an alley like trash. What’s there to think about?”

“Strategy. Backup. Not walking into an ambush because you’re too angry to see straight.”