Is that Sasha? My heart immediately picks up its pace, and I frantically look around the room. I see Yuriy and Olga next to a huge desk, looking as unbothered as ever, and a few feet away from them, there are Sasha and Misha, kneeling on the floor with their hands tied behind their backs.
They both look at me with eyes full of surprise and relief, and Sasha even sits up in her place, her gaze darting over me from head to toe. “Are you okay?”
I nod, but before I can say anything Yuriy clears his throat and claps his hands. He looks between me and Sasha with a fake smile and shakes his head. “Ah, a family reunion! How sweet. It’s a shame you came all this way for nothing.”
“Let them go!” I immediately turn to him with a frown of rage, trying to step closer but being held back by the men behind me. “Sasha is my wife, Misha is my son, you can’t just take them away. They’re my family!”
I glance at them, and I see both Sasha and Misha looking at me with wide eyes, huddled together. At the same time, Yuriy leans back in his chair and hums as if he’s genuinely thinking about my words, and his theatrics make my blood boil. What a piece of shit! Is it so hard to be honest for once?
“Well, they’re my family, too, aren’t they?” He pointedly looks at Olga as if reminding me that she is Sasha’s aunt. Olga doesn’t even bat an eye, keeping her eyes on the laptop on the desk, but as always, it doesn’t bother him. “But you shouldn’t worry, I’ll let them go as soon as I’m done with your cousin.”
I blink. My cousin? Riccardo?
“Although I don’t think you’ll be there to witness it,” Yuriy adds, rubbing his chin and studying me with a thoughtful frown. “I don’t want you to spoil my plan, so-”
“No!” Sasha suddenly exclaims while I’m still processing his words. My mind is thick and slow, and it takes me a moment to grasp the hidden meaning. “Let him go, he hasn’t done anything!”
But Yuriy only chuckles and swings in his chair, turning to face her. “So now you are going to defend him. Interesting. Are you two actually in love or what?”
Sasha and I exchange a quick look, and I can see in her eyes that she shares my thoughts. Our relationship is none of his fucking business. But our silence speaks enough, and Yuriy laughs out loud and claps his hands.
“Oh, that’s brilliant! Olga, did you see that?”
He looks at her, but Olga only glances at us and nods, not a single muscle on her face twitching. God, it feels like only a damn apocalypse can catch her off guard.
“But as entertaining as it is to watch you, lovebirds,” Yuriy continues as if nothing and dramatically sighs, looking between us. “I can’t let the Italian go. It just doesn’t fit my vision, you know? Who knows what he’s gonna do next, and I don’t like leaving unpredictable variables in my plans.”
He looks me in the eyes and shrugs.
“Sorry, Louis, that’s life. Sergei, take him-”
But a sudden shriek interrupts him, and before I know it, Sasha jumps to her feet and runs at Yuriy with her eyes burning and her face bearing a grimace of rage. No! What is she doing? Stop! Adrenaline boils in my heart, clearing my mind, and I tense up, ready to jolt forward-but someone else beats me to it.
Sasha almost reaches Yuriy-who doesn’t even look that bothered by her sudden outburst-when Sergei barrels into her, pushing her off her course. The impact makes her stumble and almost fall down, but Sasha regains her composure only for Sergei to punch her in the face.
“No! Don’t touch her!”
The scream comes from the bottom of my heart, and I see dark dots of rage in my vision. Like in slow motion, I see Sasha losing balance and falling on her side, coughing out blood. God, no! No!
“You fucker!” I start thrashing and kicking my guards even harder, invigorated by the fire in my heart, when I hear another scream.
It’s loud and unintelligible, but I recognize Misha’s voice, and my whole body stills as I look for him in the room. What happened? Did someone hurt him? Where is he?
Only a moment later I catch the movement and realize that he’s running toward me. Wait, what?
I don’t have time to think before Misha barrels at full speed into one of my guards, forcing him to step back in surprise. It’s only a momentary distraction, and the guard is already pushing Misha away, but even these two seconds give me a chance to free myself. I yank my arm out of the Russian’s grip and, without holding back, swing my fist into my other guard’s face, catching him off guard in this chaos.
“Hold him, idiots!”
But it’s too late. The first guard tries to jump on me, but with my body moving on pure instinct, I meet him with my fist in his stomach. The man doubles over from pain, but I hold his shoulder and grab his gun out of his holster before kicking him away from me. I hear Sergei’s steps behind me, so I turn around and open fire before I can assess the situation.
Sergei yelps in pain, stumbling to the side, and it gives me a view of Yuriy standing behind his desk. God, finally, finally, he looks genuinely furious and caught off guard. He widens his eyes and opens his mouth to yell another command, but I shoot him before he can do anything.
Goddamnit. My focus is still blurry, so the bullet only reaches his shoulder. Yuriy cries out in pain and pure rage, yelling frantically, “Kill him! Fucking kill him! Sergei, why are you lying there? Do something!”
God, he looks so sad and pathetic, and I take a moment to enjoy it. A moment that’s enough for one of my guards to bump into me from behind. It throws me off balance, and I sway forward and backward, trying to push him off me, when suddenly a gunshot pierces Yuriy’s hysterical cries-but it comes from the other side of the room.