ALEXANDER DIDN’T WANT me to come here, but fuck him and anyone who thinks I’d stay still when Reina’s fate is unknown.
After I received that phone call, we shot into action.
The only one who matters right now is Reina.
I haven’t been able to breathe since she went out of my sight this morning. It’s as if I’m living on borrowed time and borrowed air until I find her.
And I’ll find her even if it’s the last thing I do.
“Check your vest,” says the man at my side. His name is Kyle, as Alexander introduced us. No idea if that’s a real name or an alias, but I don’t give two fucks right now.
If he has the skills to get Reina out of that hellhole then he can be an alien for all I care.
“It’s fine.”
“That’s what amateurs say.” He has a slight Northern Irish accent and appears to be in his late twenties to early thirties. No idea why he sounds familiar when we’ve never met before.
He’s too laid back for all the hitman work Alexander said he does. According to my father, he’s the best man for mafia-centered jobs, and I trust Alexander to always find the best for shady jobs.
Kyle clicks his gun and hides a few knives in his waistband and offers me one. It’s only me and him and another hitman who runs in his crowd.
Naturally, Kyle and his sniper friend don’t function well with the police, so they’ll do the rescue and disappear before cops show up.
The sniper is positioned somewhere on the opposite building. Since I can’t see him—and I’m looking—it should mean he’s good.
“If you hinder me, I’ll knock you out.” Kyle doesn’t look up from his weapons as he says the words.
“Give me a gun.”
He pauses. “Do you even know how to use one?”
“Yes, I do. I’ve had shooting lessons.” And boxing ones and a whole lot of fucked-up shit I thought would keep me from acting out my obsession with Reina.
They didn’t.
“Lessons and real life are different.” He points the gun to my chest and clicks the magazine. “There would be a hole here and a lot of blood. Just saying, in case you’re squeamish.”
“I tortured a man nearly to death for her. If you think I would have second thoughts about shooting any motherfucker who hurts her, you don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
The fact that he’s holding a gun straight against my chest doesn’t faze me or scare me. Determination shoots through my veins, and all I can think about is finding her.
Kyle drops the gun in my hand. “Count your bullets and never leave yourself without backup.”
I give a curt nod as we slip into the back entrance of what looks like an old factory. Like some apocalypse, the area is deserted and there are no people in sight. It’s the perfect location to dispose of a body.
Those thoughts won’t consume me.
Reina will be fine. She’s a survivor.
As Kyle instructed, I remain behind him. He’s wearing a white T-shirt and black slacks as if he just left a business meeting. His build is tall and fit, and he makes no sound.
I try to walk as quietly as possible, but I don’t match the way he moves through the shadows as if he belongs in them.
The inside of the factory is shabbier than the outside. The windows are half-broken, allowing the wind to slide into the space. I stare at the roof, speculating if the sniper has a good range from here.
“Forget about him,” Kyle says in his bored voice. “Imagine you’re on your own. If you keep waiting for others to save you, you’ll die.”
That’s true in some ways.
“Why did you agree to do this?” I ask. He sure as hell didn’t seem on board when he talked to Alexander.
“It’s what I’m paid to do.”
Suddenly, he stops at the corner and places a finger to his mouth before grabbing his gun with both hands. He motions at me to remain where I am. I do, tightening my hold around my own pistol.
This means we have company. I peek around the corner and sure enough, Detective Daniels and the two officers who took Reina stand in front of a metal door.
They’re laughing and drinking as if this is some sort of a celebration.
Blood pumps in my veins with the need to murder them. I knew Daniels was shady. I should’ve suspected he was working with these motherfuckers.
I expect Kyle to sneak up or to stay here until the danger passes, but he retrieves a suppressor, hooks it to the tip of his gun, and goes out. Just like that, he’s out.
His eyes remain the same, bored and motionless as he clicks a few times. Curses and a commotion erupt in Russian from where he’s aiming, but the sound of his muffled gunshots are louder.
Then all sounds disappear as he motions at me to follow him.
In front of the door lie three men with three clean shots to their foreheads. Daniels’ neck is covered with a bandage, but that the least of his problems. He and the other men have their mouths wide open, and their eyes stare at nothing.
Impressive.
No wonder Alexander thinks highly of Kyle when he rarely does that with anyone.
I should probably feel something about seeing three people murdered, but I don’t. They took Reina from me and they deserve a fate worse than death.
Kyle kicks the bodies away to walk to the door. “Ivan should be in there, and he’s a good shooter. Stay here.”
“No. Reina is in there, too.”
He faces me, his gun lying by his side. “If you die, I’ll tell your dad you went in for suicide.”
“Fine with me.”
A smirk curves his lips. “Deal.”
“No deal.” The voice comes from behind us, and both of us spin around.
Reina.
She’s wearing jeans and a black hoodie that camouflages half her face, but I know it’s her—or rather, the original Reina, not my Reina.
They’re so similar, I thought Reina was the one who called me earlier today. They look so much alike, too—face, body type, everything.
Except, I realize it’s not my Reina. She’s not the girl who had me whipped then destroyed me then slowly put me back together again.
Kyle tilts his head. “What are you doing here?”
“Ending this.”
“We decided we’d do this my way, Rai.”
“You decided. I never agreed to that.” She squirms free from his hold. “If you go in there, raising your gun, Ivan won’t hesitate to shoot her.”
“Well, genius.” He speaks with mockery. “If you go in there, he won’t hesitate to shoot you, too.”
“He will.”
The calmness and determination in her voice and face are so similar to Reina’s when she’s set on doing something. There’s no changing her mind.
“I have something he wants,” Rai says.
“Your only lifeline.”
“No.” She smiles. “His.”
She brushes past him and to the door. Kyle attempts to grab her again, but she pushes away from him, holds a phone to her ear, and speaks something in Russian. It sounds smooth and authoritative, like someone who knows exactly what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.
Since she called when I was in Alexander’s office, I knew Rai had a plan bigger than sending Kyle and his assassin after Ivan.
“For fuck’s sake,” Kyle says after she hangs up, but he doesn’t try to stop her again.
She smiles at me; it’s slight and barely there. “Let’s get my sister back.”
With purposeful strides, she pounds on the metal door and doesn’t even blink at the corpses lying in front of it. “I’m here, Ivan. I have the ledger.”
Kyle creeps to her right and I stand to her left as we wait for a response.
One second passes, two—
The door opens with a creak. A blond man stands in the entrance, filling it up and disallowing any view of the inside.
“Rai…” he says in an accented voice, grinning. “Isn’t this a surprise? You even brought the traitor.”
Kyle lifts a shoulder. “I was never with you.”
Now I know why he sounded familiar. Although he feigned a Russian accent at the time, this is the man who was at the forest the night Reina—and supposedly Rai—were assaulted. He pretended to be with them but was actually saving Rai. That’s why she’s been relatively safe since.
“If you want the ledger, you can have it.” Rai steps forward.
“Where is it?” The humor Ivan tried to fake disappears.
“Where’s my sister?”
A red drop hits the ground and I follow the line, realizing the source is his hands, which he’s been hiding since he opened the door.
Reina…?
“See, it’s a bit too late. She wouldn’t talk, and you know I hate the silent ones.” He pauses. “She’s not dead yet, though, so give me the ledger and I might let her breathe another second.”
The need to pull the trigger and shoot him in the head overwhelms me, but I can’t do that, not without knowing how many of his men are in there. What if I hurt him and the others kill Reina?
“My sister first.” Rai’s voice doesn’t change.
He extends a hand. “The ledger, Rai. Don’t make this too difficult and try to take what was never yours.”
“That’s you, not me. But fine, I guess you win.”
“I always win, suka. Now give it.”
Rai reaches a hand under her hoodie and Ivan’s eyes light up like a kid.
Instead of a ledger, she pulls out something glinting and grabs him by the hand, going straight to his eyes with a knife. His roar of pain can be heard in the long empty hallway.
He reaches blindly at her. The knife in his right eye gushes blood all over his cheek and neck and down to his shirt.
I push him aside in his stupor and run inside. If there is anyone in there and they’ve hurt—
The sight in front of me stops me in my tracks. Reina lies on the ground, tied to a chair. Her blond strands are smudged with red. Everything is red—her face, her arms, and even her clothes.
Fuck!
I run toward her, tuning out the commotion between Rai, Kyle, and Ivan. Crouching in front of Reina, I push the strands over her cheeks and find one of her eyes swollen, the other closed shut. Her lips are bloodied and busted. If I hadn’t recognized her as my Reina from afar, I wouldn’t have known it’s truly her.
I cut through the wires around her wrist like a maniac with the knife Kyle gave me. I hold her hand mine and wait with a held breath to see the rise and fall of her chest, the proof she’s alive and won’t put me through the torture of living without her anymore.
A small sound rips from her, something that resembles a whimper or a moan of pain—or both.
I release a breath and stand up.
The fucker tortured her. He beat her up until he erased her features and turned her unrecognizable.
Ivan is still fighting off Rai as Kyle holds him with both his hands locked behind him. The moment Rai sees Reina, she abandons Ivan and runs toward me. I don’t think twice. I don’t even count as Kyle told me to.
I aim my gun, cock it, and then shoot straight into the fucker’s chest. Kyle glares at me as Ivan falls limp in his hold. I ignore him and focus back on Reina.
Rai kneels beside her, begging her to open her eyes, demanding she keeps her promise.
Reina always said shit about wanting to leave, and this better not be the time she decides to do that.
I can’t possibly live in a world without her anymore.
