He ignored her and kept holding her, whispering to her like he was comforting a little girl. She didn’t want his sympathy, his pity, his fake concern. What she wanted was him dead at her feet, blood pouring from every inch of his body.
“Let go,” she hissed.
“No now, stay still so Dimitri can take a look.”
Elaine stared warily at Dimitri as he approached her. He held his hands out to her, trying to show her he wasn’t a threat before he reached for the zipper of her leather jacket.
“Katarina, he doesn’t know,” he whispered, looking her straight in the eyes in earnest. One other thing she’d learned from her father was that she could always know whether or not someone was telling the truth by the look in his or her eyes when he or she was speaking the words.
“Your father gave you to me as a reward for all my hard work.” Ivan laughed hard and loud above her, his hands palming her as he licked his lips greedily. “You’re a gift I intend to enjoy my Katarina. So beautiful, so sweet. Will you taste as sweet as you look?”
Dimitri believed what he said was true, but Katarina knew differently. Volkov knew what he’d done to her.
“What don’t I know?” Volkov demanded.
Dimitri felt around the wound making Elaine hiss with pain before pulled his shirt tucked in his pants out and ripped the bottom all the way round. He pressed it to the wound and Elaine bit her tongue to keep from screaming. Her stomach roiled and she felt like she was going to be sick any second now.
“So strong, so brave,” Volkov whispered with such reverence in his voice it made Elaine pause.
So soft, so beautiful. I’ve loved you for so long Katarina.
Every time Volkov spoke, she could hear Ivan’s voice loud in her ears, sparking memories that made her head pound in pain.
When Dimitri was done, he gently pulled the jacket back over her shoulder and zipped it up. “It is her who should tell you,” he said stepping aside, but just a few feet away this time. He didn’t trust her not to try and kill his boss again. Too bad, because she wasn’t done trying. “Katarina,” he stared at the body on the ground before he turned back to her, “your boyfriend killed his brother.”
One of the men that Derek killed n Daniel’s house. Well, that explained a lot.
“His brother? One of the men I sent with you Dimitri to handle Tomas Jones’ problem?”
Elaine pulled herself out of Volkov’s arms and this time he let her go. She had to fight not to sway from the dizzy spell yanking out of his hold had caused as she faced him. She should have checked the wound herself, see if the bullet had struck something it shouldn’t. She could still feel it inside her, scratching against bone.
“That problem was my friend. He deserved what he got, I make no apologies for it.”
“And you shouldn’t,” he stated matter of factly, “Only the weak apologize. Now, what don’t I know?”
Elaine twirled around the blade still in her hand. Why she hadn’t used it against Volkov when she could have, she didn’t know. He was close enough to jab the knife through his kidney. He would have been dead in a matter of minutes. But so would she. She could only blame the pain of being shot, though considering her past, it was a lousy excuse.
“You hated what happened to mother so much you killed your wife for it. What I don’t understand was why you had it done to me?”
She hated how weak her voice sounded, how her eyes burned with tears. She hated for him to see her so pathetic and deserving of what happened to her all those years ago, but dear God, she couldn’t hold it in anymore. The betrayal had cut her so deep and seeing him for the first time since it happened, seventeen years ago, only made the wound open.
“I don’t understand?” confusion etched his face as he looked at Dimitri for an explanation.
“Katarina believes you sent her to Ivan for… for him to hurt her as her mother was, to make her strong, loyal to the family.” Dimitri quietly answered.
Volkov, gasped, his eyes wide with horror, his body shook like he was going into shock. He shook his head vigorously like he couldn’t fathom what Dimitri meant. Then he turned to her, his eyes round with denial and Elaine let him see what he’d done to her with just one look. He folded over and let out a roar of anguish that gripped Elaine’s heart in a vice.
Dear God, he never knew. He had no idea what had happened to her. He wasn’t responsible for it.
Then she remembered who delivered the message, the hint of satisfaction in his eyes. Vladimir, he had been behind it all along. It was vengeance for his mother and punishment for his father. He was also punishing her for being the child born by the woman Volkov truly loved. That’s why he’d left their home with her, took her in and made her his number one assassin. She had once felt guilty over his death because of the concern he’s shown her when she’d most needed the support, but it was all a lie. He’d been manipulating her, making sure she never went back to question their father and demand to know why he had her brutalized.
The sick bastard! If he were still alive, Elaine would make him pay!
“When? How? Why didn’t you tell me!” he screamed pain in his voice.
Elaine just shook her head, “It doesn’t matter anymore. The man responsible is dead.”
He charged at her, his every step echoing his anger. He grabbed her arms and shook her. She clenched her jaw to hide the pain the jarring movement was causing her shoulder. “Of course it matters! Is it not why you brought me here? To kill me for abandoning you when you needed me the most? For ordering that horrendous act upon you?”
Wait, what? She turned to Dimitri, who looked just as confused as she was.
“I didn’t ask you to come, you brought me here.”
Volkov froze, “No, I didn’t send for you.”
Dimitri groaned, then dropped to the floor with a loud thud. Volkov quickly shifted her behind him in a protective stance. “Ian, what’s the meaning of this?”
Ian, Ivan’s brother? How did she not notice him before? Because she was focused on Volkov and killing him. Elaine shifted to stand beside her father who looked none too pleased about it.
Ian. He looked just like his brother, except he wasn’t as big. Ivan had been a giant with generic blond hair and blue eyes. To a girl of fifteen, he’d looked even bigger and his body had held her hostage under his as he defiled her. But even as he did, he always looked at her like he was in love with her, except when she would anger him. Then he looked like a demonic monster as he beat her. Ivan hadn’t been very sane and at the moment she questioned his brother’s sanity. His eyes looked a little unhinged and he had a predatory smile on his face.
“You killed my brother!” he yelled, his eyes crazed, spit flying out of his mouth.
“He deserved it,” she delivered with just the right amount of boredom to anger him. Anger made people careless, case in point the bullet lodged in her shoulder.
He rushed her, wrapped his hand around her neck and squeezed. Elaine refrained from gasping or fighting him. She just stared straight into his eyes, showing him how much he didn’t scare her. She wasn’t that innocent fifteen-year-old anymore and Ian wasn’t Ivan. Her boogieman was dead and this wannabe was nothing but a nuisance.
“Let her go! What is this? You all betray me!” Volkov yelled insults at his three other men, but Elaine didn’t look at him, she kept her eyes on Ian.
He let go of her neck and cackled an evil laugh. Elaine discreetly pulled air into her burning lungs. “I will punish you like you deserve. We will all have a turn with you before I kill you. Your father will watch, then I will kill him and take over the Zolnerowich family.”
“You could try, but I highly doubt you’ll succeed.” Elaine countered.
Ian sneered, “You are nothing here. Jackie the Ripper, ha! All stories to make yourself look good.”
Elaine just shrugged, “You sure about that?”
“I say we settle it the family way,” Volkov stated, “You fight to the death and whomever is left standing wins. Ian, one of your arms will be tied around your back to make it fair.”
Ian looked like he was considering it, staring at her shoulder calculatingly then his eyes dropped to the blade she still held in her hand and they widened a little. She could see he must believe some of those stories. He must have realized how easily she could have killed him moments ago. She twirled it lazily in her hand to torment him.
“No weapons,” Ian announced and Elaine scoffed. She didn’t need a weapon to kill him, she was a weapon.
But before she could give her response to the challenge, something changed in the air. She looked around and that’s when she caught the shadow and she tensed. One, two, three of the men around Volkov dropped to the ground dead. Ian, looked around, fear radiating off him in waves.
Derek walked into view and said, “Yeah, I’m not all for that plan. You see, I’m trying to wean my woman off the bad habit of killing. A fight to the death,” he whistled shaking his head, “Not a good idea.” Then he raised his arm and shot Ian in the chest.
He dropped to the ground, gasping for breath. Blood pooled around him, and his lips slowly began to turn blue as he stared wildly around.