Page 86 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir

My heart swelled for a second before I turned off my emotions again. Right now, I couldn’t allow myself to relax. I had business to take care of.

For a second, Marguerite's lips opened and closed. I could almost see the wheels turning in her head. "You didn’t hear her plans, Ilya," she whimpered. "She was going to kill Alexander. I was just making sure she didn’t hurt him. Alexander knows I would never hurt him. That I am here to protect him. Isn’t that right, Alexander?"

Behind Daisy, my son gave a whimper, almost like he was too exhausted to even cry out.

"She kidnapped him," she carried on, obviously taking my silence as a sign that I believed her. "She paid those men out there." Unease flickered into her eyes as she glanced around my shoulder to the door.

There were no more loud pop-pops of gunshots now. Everything was silent. I couldn’t even hear the murmur of voices. It was almost like everyone was holding their breath and waiting to see what my decision would be.

"What happened to them?"

I didn’t miss a beat. "They’re dead," I replied, totally deadpan.

She blinked, just once before she shut the panic away and let out a theatrical sigh of relief.

"That’s good," she mumbled. "It’s good that you have dealt with them. Anyone who tries to hurt your family deserves no mercy."

"You’re right about that." Eyes narrowed, I lifted the gun more firmly. Pointing it directly between her perfectly arched eyebrows. "Anyone who hurts or tries to hurt my family must die."

I took a step forward, the gun never wavering.

Realization hit Marguerite slowly. She took a step back, like that would save her.

"What are you doing, Ilya?" Lifting her hands, she tried to push the gun away. Everything she was doing was futile. She couldn’t win against a bullet.

"Weren't you listening? She was going to kill him. Why are you pointing the gun at me?"

A wicked smile curved up the corner of my mouth. "Oh, but I was listening, Marguerite. In fact, I heard everything."

I let my words sink in for a second and then approached her again.

"Ilya, I—" she faltered, and the sound of her swallowing was loud in the sudden quiet.

"Be quiet."

Her lips snapped shut.

"I heard with my own ears your plan to kill my son and frame his mother." I dropped my voice and pressed the muzzle of the gun snugly against her unnaturally smooth forehead. "I heard that you planned to try and control my empire before you killed me and brought in your lover." Chuckling darkly, I lowered my voice to a jagged whisper that promised a painful death. "Your dead lover now."

The anger in her eyes was instant. "I did not—"

Again I snapped. "Be quiet. You played the long game and lost, Marguerite, and make no mistake about it. This game is over."

I knew the second she realized her end was coming because the anger in her eyes turned to cold fury. "My father—"

I laughed right in her face. "Your father is dead. His organization is disbanded."

And just like that, I took away her entire world. First by killing her lover and then by annihilating her father and the protection he had always given her.

"Most of his men now work for me," I continued, slightly moving the grey metal muzzle of the gun over her skin. "You and your father are not very well liked. Do you know that?"

In fact, they were hated, a fact that came to light pretty quickly. Her men, the men who were supposed to be loyal to her family, had given away her secrets, including a long-time lover, and helped us track this place down.

An empty building under her dead lover's name.

"You are nothing—" she began to say and froze again as the gun stopped. Pressing into her forehead with enough pressure to leave a mark.

"Close your eyes."