I’m about to barge inside and abort his plan, but I stop when Bran reaches a hesitant hand to Nikolai’s…hair.
He slowly, gently slides it back, revealing his unconscious face. A groan spills out of Nikolai’s lips and Brandon jerkily releases him. His hand finds the back of his neck and he pulls on the short hairs there.
Nikolai’s eyes blink open, his pupils dilated, and he appears to be as high as a kite.
“Lotus flower…? What are you doing here?” His voice is craggy, a bit slurred, barely understandable.
Bran reluctantly releases his hair. Then he pulls out a knife from his waistband and starts cutting at Nikolai’s bindings. “You’re the one who came into my house. You just couldn’t stay away?”
A lopsided grin lifts Nikolai’s lips. “How else would I see you so adorably worried about me?”
“I am not worried about you and don’t fucking call me adorable again.”
“Wow. The posh boy can curse.”
“Shut it or I’ll leave you to my brother’s and cousins’ nonexistent mercy.”
“If I’d known I’d see this side of you, I would’ve gotten myself kidnapped long ago.”
“Are you insane?”
Nikolai lifts a shoulder. “Probably.”
Brandon shakes his head and releases a long sigh. “I’ll release you and leave the back door open, and you’ll have to find your own way out.”
“No.” I stroll inside and Bran freezes, then slowly faces me.
“Creigh.”
“Step back,” I order when he continues trying to cut the ropes.
“This isn’t right and you know it—”
“Step the fuck back, Bran. I won’t repeat myself another time.”
He complies, but he doesn’t put away his knife and lets it hang at his side. When I went to my room earlier, Lan and Eli filled him in about the situation, so he knows exactly why I’m doing this.
“Get out.”
“Listen…” He steps toward me. “I know you feel the need for revenge, but this whole thing is wrong.”
“No one asked for your opinion. Stay out of this.”
“I won’t allow you to throw your life away for parents you’ve never known and a past you’re better off without, Creighton.” His voice hardens. “I’m letting Nikolai go and then we’ll talk about this. Rationally.”
He turns around to our prisoner, but before he starts trying to free him again, I punch him on the back of his head.
A groan spills from his lips as his unconscious body falls on top of Nikolai. I pull him back, then lower him to the floor against the wall.
Sorry, Bran, but your morals have no place in this situation.
“That was unnecessary,” Nikolai says in a deadpan voice.
I face him, both hands in my pockets. “Attempting to save you is what’s unnecessary.”
He’s about to say something when the door opens again and Landon strolls inside dressed in new clothes and sporting a galaxy of bruises.
His gaze roams over the room and pauses at the sight of his brother, but he doesn’t appear surprised in the least. “And what is he doing here?”
“He was trying to rescue Nikolai,” I say.
“Should’ve known since the little fuck was acting suspicious.” Landon’s gaze is disapproving but he picks Bran up and half carries him, stops at the door, and says, “Oh, by the way, Jeremy’s here. I’ll let him in once I lock the king of morals up.” With one last glance at Nikolai, he leaves, taking Bran with him.
I lean against the wall and cross my arms, summoning the calm I don’t have.
Nikolai glares up at me from beneath strands of his wild hair. “What are you up to, King? What’s the revenge lotus flower was talking about?”
I say nothing, meeting his glare with my signature blank stare.
“Shouldn’t you be bribing Jer so he’ll let you be with his sister instead of encouraging him to rip your balls out?”
My jaw clenches, but I neutralize my expression.
“The fuck? Say something. Wait a fucking minute. I say, were you playing Anni? If that’s the case, I’ll help Jeremy tear your head off and throw your body in the ocean as food for the fish.”
When I continue my silence, he releases a long sigh. “You think Jeremy wasn’t aware of your relationship? He’s had an idea ever since that fire, but the reason he let you get away with it is because he knew his sister felt suffocated by all the security and guards, so he gave her some leeway. He kept watching you and knew you were treating her well and she was happy. The only fucking reason he started suspecting your intentions again is due to your intimate relations with that fucker Landon. He was leading you astray and Jeremy questioned whether or not he should’ve trusted you with his sister in the first place. Was he right?”
I walk toward him and pick up the knife Brandon dropped on Nikolai’s lap when he fell. The same knife that this fucker has been trying to hide between his thighs while distracting me with his word vomit.
No clue if Bran left him the knife on purpose or not, but the intent is obviously there.
The door opens again and I slip behind Nikolai, holding the knife to his throat.
Landon and Eli lead Jeremy inside. He looks ragged and probably came here right after he landed.
Does that mean Annika came with him? Or did he leave her in the States?
I mentally shake the thought of her out of my head.
This is the worst time to be distracted by Annika Volkov.
Jeremy is forced to a halt in the middle of the room by a squeeze from Landon’s hand. He slides his dark gaze from Nikolai’s face to the knife I hold to his throat. “Anyone care to explain the meaning of this?”
“Old-fashioned revenge?” Landon says with a grin.
“That’s right. Revenge.” Eli circles him. “See. Your mummy killed Creigh’s biological father and your daddy covered it up, ruined his reputation, and drove his wife to commit suicide. And the bitch attempted to drag Creigh with her to hell. He barely escaped the clutches of death when he was three years old. So…he kind of holds a grudge.”
“A big one,” Lan supplies.
“My mother did not kill anyone,” Jeremy says. Point-blank. Matter-of-factly.
“Even when she was crazy?” Lan whispers the last word with a mocking edge.
Jeremy swings around and punches him across the face. “Call her crazy again and it’ll be your funeral.”
“Ouch. It’s ‘we’re jealous of Landon’s face’ day.” He still smiles. “Hit a nerve, mafia prince?”
I can tell he wants to send Lan to oblivion, but he schools his expression and stares at me. “Mom said she saw your picture on Annika’s phone and recognized you because you have your father’s eyes. Eyes she’ll never forget.”
“Because she killed him?” I don’t know how I speak so calmly.
“Because he wronged her. She didn’t disclose any details other than that, but I know my mother is not a killer. She’d never willingly orphan a child or be the reason for his demise.”
“Then you obviously don’t know your mother. Or you’re too blind to it.”
He grinds his jaw. “Dad told me to keep you away from Annika in any way possible, but I’m willing to listen. I’m willing to see the end of this bad blood.”
“That makes one of us.” My tone is dead with no inflection whatsoever. “There’s nothing to listen to, Jeremy. My only goal is to wipe your family off the face of the earth. I’ll start with you.”
“Then I will kill you.”
“If you can, by all means. That’s the only way you’ll be able to stop me.”
“Hey, motherfucker.” Nikolai grins up at me with manic eyes that resemble Landon’s when he’s on a high. “You’re not using me for this.”
And just like that, the crazy bastard shoves his neck against the blade. A deep gash opens on his skin, causing blood to pour out.
“Nikolai!” Jeremy roars and starts to run toward us, but Landon keeps him back.
I step away, still holding the bloodied knife in my hand.
“I…won’t be your…downfall…Jer…” Nikolai gurgles, the sound vibrating off his throat.
“This crazy bitch.” Eli starts toward us, removes his jacket and methodically presses it against Nikolai’s bleeding throat. “Oi. Don’t die, little fuck. You’re not making my brother a killer when he didn’t sign up for it.”
“Nikolai!” Jeremy struggles against Lan and tries to punch him, but this time, my cousin ducks and even drives his fist in his face.
Me? I stare at the blood dripping from the knife. So taking a life is this easy and quick.
A nanosecond of slicing a throat is enough to end it all.
Why the fuck did I struggle so much back then? Why didn’t I let it end so…easily?
“Creighton!”
My red vision shifts focus to my brother, who still has the jacket against Nikolai’s neck as his head drops sideways, eyes barely open.
“Release him. He needs to go to the hospital.” He glares at Lan. “Couldn’t you bring Gareth? Why did you have to take this crazy prick?’
My cousin lifts a shoulder. “He insulted me.”
My movements are sure and detached as I cut the ropes. Eli knots the jacket around Nikolai’s neck for the time being. Once the bindings are gone, he carries him outside.
Jeremy tries to follow, but Lan shoves him against the wall. “We’re not done with you yet, Heathen.”
“The fuck are you waiting for?” He glares at me instead of my cousin. “Want to kill me? Want to avenge your pathetic family? Your weak father who couldn’t protect you? Your criminal mother who wanted to kill you? Do it. I’m right here, so fucking do it.”
I storm toward him, wrench him from Lan’s grip and shove him against the wall, my elbow and the knife at his throat. “You think I’m avenging those fucking losers? I couldn’t give a fuck about them, their makeshift family, or their rotten world. This vengeance isn’t about them, it’s about me. I was the fallout of the whole situation that no one thought about. I was the one who was left starving, thirsty, and with no destiny but to die. I didn’t crawl out of that hellhole to let bygones be bygones.”
“If you don’t let go of that grudge, you’re going to die at the end of this,” Jeremy says calmly, assertively. “One way or another, whether it’s at the hand of my father, his guards, or his friends. You’ll be killed in the most brutal way possible and lose the life you fought so hard for.”
“At least I’d get closure.”
Lan raises a hand from his position against the wall. “I vote for closure.”
My knife presses closer to Jeremy’s neck. He attempts to kick me but misses when I tighten my grip.
“Anoushka will hate you,” he murmurs.
“Not more than I already hate her.”
And myself for allowing her to have this hold on me.
I hate her for coming into my life, destroying my plans, and somehow still tugging at a strange part of me.
Even now. As I threaten Jeremy, I can’t forget that he’s her fucking brother.
“What the fuck? What the actual fuck?” Remi’s bewildered voice comes from the entrance. “Is that blood? Like real blood? Is this what you meant by an emergency, Anni? What—”
I throw a glance over my shoulder to tell Remi to fuck off but freeze when my eyes meet Annika’s.
Hers are glittery, rounded, and caught in a stupefied faze.
For the first time since I’ve known her, she’s not in one of her purple dresses and is sporting jeans and an oversized hoodie instead.
Her hair is covered by the hood and she’s shaking from head to toe.
“The fuck are you doing here?” Jeremy yells. “Leave!”