I drag his body to a dark corner and cover it with some loose branches. Hopefully, his friends won’t come across it before they come across me.
Then I continue pushing forward. Two other figures only lurk a few feet away.
I move stealthily, taking care to time my footsteps so the crunch of leaves meld with sounds of the forest creatures.
“Where’s Suka?”
I stop moving and listen.
“Went that way. Come on…”
“I told the fucker to stay with us.”
The second voice is closest to me. I pull out the sleek switchblade I bought in town and move as fast and as quietly as I can.
He sees me right as my blade finds his throat.
His eyes bulge in terror.
And one smooth, seamless cut robs him off his life.
He falls to the forest floor with a thud. I dart back behind another tree.
“What the fuck was that noise? Where are you?”
The new man is about to turn the corner. When he does, I know he’s going to see the body and he’s going to alert the rest of them.
I try to time it, but he’s faster than I expected. He sees me coming before I can reach him.
I’m halfway across the distance when he unleashes his gun.
It fires just as I tackle him to the ground.
By some miracle, it misses. The bullet buries itself in the dirt. I don’t wait to see if he fires again.
Instead, I snatch the gun right out of his dumbstruck hand and turn it on him. No explanations, no introductions, no apologies.
I just fire it into his face.
The gunshot makes me wince. But I’ve just announced my presence to the whole damn mountain range, so the guns might as well come out to play.
I hear more coming. I curse viciously under my breath.
By my count, I would guess at three more men, at least, and that’s a modest estimate.
And they’re coming fast. Too fast to hide.
I hear raised voices a quarter-second before they emerge into the clearing.
I dive for cover and start firing with abandon. I hit one man in the shoulder and one in the chest.
The latter falls to the ground instantly and I know I’ve made a kill shot.
The others take firing positions or fan out. I duck behind a rock outcropping and curse again under my breath as I replenish my ammo.
The adrenaline is still coursing hot through me, but now there’s worry and a twinge of fear.
All I can think of is Esme.
Stay with her, Cillian. Don’t fucking leave her side.
We’re still close enough to the cabin, that both Cillian and Esme will have heard the gunshots.
I’m hoping that Cillian is in the process of getting Esme out of these fucking mountains as soon as possible.
But I can’t be sure and it’s driving me fucking crazy.
Focus, Artem. Think about this later.
For now, you need to concentrate.
New determination gives my muscles fresh strength as I peer around from the boulders.
I can see four men, all large and all armed. They are dressed differently than Razor and his men were, but I don’t dwell on it.
Instead, I dart between trees just long enough to get another round of bullets in the air, forcing the attackers to scatter for cover.
Fuck.
There’s too many of them.
It’s starting to dawn on me that if this becomes a fight to the death, I might not make it out of these woods alive.
I may be more skilled than all of them, but guns don’t care about skill. They’ll kill you no matter how good you are.
One bullet is all it would take. One bullet, to make my wife a widow, to leave my child fatherless before he is even born.
Fuck that.
This is not the day I die.
I burst out from behind the tree, a gun in each hand as I fire like a madman with nothing to lose.
The moonlight glitters above me, illuminating the blood seeping out from the dead bodies that litter the leaf-covered floors.
One man crumples to the ground.
Another.
Another.
Then my gun clicks—empty.
And in the silence that follows, I hear at least a half a dozen guns cock at the same fucking moment.
I freeze even before I hear the command.
“Stop or we will kill you!”
I’m surrounded now from all sides. Six men in front of me, and at least that same number behind.
If I start firing now, I might take down a few more, three, maybe four if my aim is precise.
But it would still end the same way—with a dozen bullets in my twitching body.
“Stand down.”
“Who the fuck are you?” I growl.
I can’t tell who’s in charge and I don’t recognize the voice barking at me to stay still.
But something tells me that these are not the men I thought they were.
Footsteps approach. The men in front of me part like the Red Sea.
I frown as a figure walks through the darkness towards me. When he crosses into the lone moonbeam piercing the trees overhead, my blood runs cold.
He throws back his hood and pulls down his face mask.
I keep my eyes locked on his.
I don’t want him to see my fear.
I don’t want him to see my fury.
I don’t want him to glimpse how much I wish I’d told Esme the truth.
Because if I die here—and that’s looking more and more likely with each passing second—the last thing I’ll have said to her was a lie.
The man’s face is lined with age, but his eyes glow with the hunger and ambition of a man fifty years younger.
Budimir smiles at me.
“Hello, nephew.”
TO BE CONTINUED
Artem and Esme’s story will finish in Book 2 of the Kovaylov Bratva duet, GILDED TEARS.
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Also by Nicole Fox
Kovalyov Bratva Duet
Gilded Cage (Book 1)
Gilded Tears (Book 2)
Princes of Ravenlake Academy (Bully Romance)
*Can be read as standalones!
Cruel Prep
Cruel Academy
Cruel Elite
Bratva Crime Syndicate
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Lies He Told Me
Scars He Gave Me
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