“Just shoot him, Mila!” I dig my elbow into his stomach as Boris backhands me across the face.
I roll off him, and he gets on top of me, wrapping his fingers around my throat. “Mila,” I choke out.
But she just stands there, frozen in fear.
Then something shocking happens.
Andrei gets up and pushes Boris off me. “Don’t kill her,” he snarls. “She’s mine!”
I use the distraction to my advantage and jump up. Running over to Mila, I grab the gun from her and aim it at the two men.
They both stop short.
“Give me the gun, Sofiya,” Boris says. “You don’t want to kill us.”
“Don’t I?” I ask in a hysterical voice. “You’ve both tried to hurt me too many times. You’ve both hurt my sisters. You two are horrible, horrible people.”
“And you think Mikhail is any better?” Andrei asks. “He’s murdered people in cold blood without a second thought. I’ve seen him do it right before me.”
“I’ve seen him do it, too,” Boris adds. “He’s not a good man. You can come with us, Sofiya.”
“I’ve seen Mikhail kill people,” I say. Both of them look at me with surprise. “I know what my husband is capable of, and I still care for him. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s the truth. Neither of you are good men, but unlike Mikhail, you are both trying to hurt my sisters and me. I can’t have that. You need to die.”
“You really think you can pull that trigger?” Boris asks. “You don’t have the guts.”
Maybe he’s right. Taking someone’s life must change things. But I refuse to be a damsel in distress any longer.
“This is for trying to kill me.” I aim the gun at Boris’s shin and fire. He screams as the bullet rips right through his leg, and he drops to the ground. Andrei jerks back in shock. “And this is for trying to hurt Mila.” I raise the gun to Boris’ head and shoot again.
I land a shot through his head, killing him instantly.
Mila stares, mouth gaping open.
I can’t believe I just did that. I just killed Boris. Holy …
“Drop the gun,” Andrei says, drawing my attention back to him. I startle when I see he’s pulled his own gun out and has it aimed at Mila’s head. “If you don’t, I’ll kill your sister. I only want you, Sofiya.”
“Don’t,” I whisper.
“Then drop the gun.”
“It’s ok, Sofiya,” Mila says to me. “I know you tried your best to protect me.”
Her words eat at my heart. I can’t let Andrei win, but I can’t let Mila die.
I lower the gun.
“Good girl,” Andrei says. I flinch when I hear Mikhail’s name for me on his lips. It just doesn’t feel right. “Now, drop it.”
With a sigh, I drop the gun on the ground. Andrei grabs me and pulls me against his chest. His eyes are bleeding. I’m amazed he can even see at all. “You and me are getting out of here. Say goodbye to your sister.”
“Mila,” I gasp as Andrei shoves me toward the front door.
“Sofiya!” she cries.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask Andrei as we leave the house. “You can’t drive. You can barely see. What’s your plan?”
“My plan is that you’ll be mine.”
I hear something behind us as another loud bang goes off, and Andrei grunts and falls to his knees. Jerking back, I look behind me to see Mila in the doorway, the gun in her hands. She shot Andrei in the stomach.
Andrei still has strength left in him, and he swings around to point his gun at her.
“No!” I shout, reaching for the gun. I grab it as he pulls the trigger. I land on the ground and look over at Mila, hoping and praying she’s alive.
She is.
She’s standing in the doorframe, still holding onto Boris’s gun.
Andrei reaches over me to grab his gun from me, but I spin around on my back and fire—landing a shot straight to his throat. He gurgles as he falls back and lies on the ground, twitching as he slowly dies.
Once the light leaves his eyes, I allow myself to slump onto the ground, breathing heavily, knowing Mila and I just saved ourselves. I thought we would need Mikhail.
Turns out, we only needed each other.
Mila runs over to me and helps me stand back up. “What do we do? Where do we go?”
“We should head back to the penthouse. Mikhail will be looking for us.”
