Page 123 of Twisted Little Game

He’s going in Tate’s direction.

“Go,” I try to shout, but it comes out more like a groan.

Lucian turns to look back at us, one last time, with a crazed look in his eyes. “This could have been so fucking easy, Petrov.”

And I see, behind him, Tate walking up.

He has my metal flashlight in his hands.

And he brings it down, hard and true, right at the center of Lucian’s skull.

Not even a real fucking weapon, beauty.

My vision is hazier at the edges now as I watch Lucian sway in place. Shock is settling in my nervous system. I’ve felt it before, but I’ve never had a gunshot this close to my vital organs before.

Tate brings the heavy flashlight down onto Lucian’s head again.

And then again.

Look at you.

You never needed my protection, did you?

So capable. So utterly perfect, all on your own.

He is my guardian angel, and I don’t know if I’m losing consciousness, but I know that Tate Landrey holds my heart in his hands, and I would trust him with it forever.

Forever.

A surge of adrenaline flows through me, giving me enough energy to rush back into clarity for a brief moment.

I reach lower, patting around for any weapon I can find, but the reach makes my stomach drip with too much blood.

Have to finish it…

Have to kill him.

“Roman, rest,” I hear Yegor’s low voice from beside me. “Let me. I owe it to you… I owe you everything.”

Yegor’s shot is true.

His bullet hits Lucian Farina, going right through his temple, and I exhale relief. My own pain isn’t registering anymore. It’s setting in… and finally, I am free. Tate is free. As I slip into the darkness, only one thought swirls through my mind.

You are safe, my beauty.

That’s all I ever wanted.

18

Tate

The back of the ambulance lurches as it hits a bump in the road and I reach out instinctually, putting my hands at Roman’s side.

As if I could stop the bleeding.

As if anything I could do now would change anything.

I’m in a dream, the sirens wailing out from the truck as we drive, the smell of blood and antiseptic and rubber trapped in the air of the back of this thing.