He unlocked the door and jerked it open. Krystoff stood on the other side, a half dozen men surrounding him.
Nikolay frowned. “Where are the rest? This isn’t enough people to take out Jozef. You won’t even reach the top floor.”
Krystoff gave Nikolay an icy look, telling him what he thought of Nikolay’s intelligence, before answering. “We’ll meet them at strategic points around the building and let them in.”
Nikolay nodded. He recognized the strategy as one Jozef implemented often. Send in a few scouts to secure key areas and let the rest of the team inside.
“Make sure you send men who know how to disarm a C4 pack. All the doors are rigged,” Nikolay told him.
Krystoff ignored the comment.
“Is your roommate still upstairs?” Krystoff demanded, entering the building.
Nikolay nodded, his stomach twisting. He knew what was coming next. Had suspected it from the moment Havel called to tell him to be ready for an attack. Krystoff had texted shortly after letting Nikolay know he was on his way.
This was the moment he truly had to pick sides.
“Kill him,” Krystoff said coldly. “The fewer of Jozef’s men we have to contend with, the better. Don’t leave any witnesses.”
Nikolay swallowed and forced himself to nod.
Krystoff must’ve caught onto Nikolay’s hesitation. He gripped Nikolay by the back of the neck and pulled him close in a half hug with threatening undertones. “You knew this was coming,” Krystoff said in a low voice as the rest of his men passed into the building. “You rightfully chose my side and I promise you will not regret it. In this life, we must make difficult decisions. Jozef betrayed me when he chose his woman over his own family. You will not make this mistake. You will choose loyalty.”
Nikolay’s gut twisted. If he was choosing loyalty, then why did he feel as though he would regret what was about to come? No, he was choosing money, power and position. He might not be a good man, but the least he could do was be honest with himself.
He pulled away from Krystoff. “It’ll get done.”
“Good boy,” Krystoff told him and then took off with the rest of his men to secure the main floor.
Nikolay ran to the stairs and took the flights two and three steps at a time until he’d reached the third floor. He stopped in front of his apartment door sucking in deep breaths as he prepared himself. The hallway was eerily silent considering what was happening on the lower floors. He wondered if his teammates were dead. Havel, Terek, Halil. It would be better if Halil was downstairs so Nikolay didn’t have to do it himself. He knew better though. Halil and Giselle had been asleep when he’d been summoned to let Krystoff in the building.
Once again, the crushing guilt of betraying the team he’d worked so closely with for so long was nearly overwhelming. He had never in his life felt so conflicted. Now, when he most needed to man up and do what needed doing, he was sinking into a pit of his own feelings.
The irony was, he’d been bottling them up for years. He’d bottled the anger and resentment while working with Jozef. He’d bottled his feelings toward Saskia while coldly wooing her. He’d withheld his glee as Krystoff finally noticed him and made moves toward making a place for Nikolay in the family.
And now those feelings were bubbling up, threatening to strangle him. Threatening to stop him from doing his job.
He ruthlessly set those feelings aside as he let himself into his apartment.
“Thank god,” Halil said, relief in his voice. He was strapping weapons to his belt and shoving ammunition into his cargo pockets. “My phone was on vibrate. I didn’t see Havel’s message until a few minutes ago. He said the building is being evacuated and we’re to prepare for an attack.”
Halil checked his phone again. “He wants us to secure the weapons locker on the second floor and hold the building until the we can get the women out.”
“I want to go now,” Giselle said from the bedroom door.
She was fully dressed, her hair a tangled mess and her makeup smeared. She was clutching her purse against her chest as though someone might try to tear it from her arms.
Nikolay took a breath. It was now or never.
“Giselle, you have a weapon?”
She nodded, her hand automatically slipping into her purse as though feeling for it to make sure it was still there. She came from a background of shady politicians and Italian mafia. She likely never left home without a weapon, having been born and raised to expect a threat.
“Give it to me.” Nikolay reached a hand out to her. “I want to make sure it’s loaded in case we run into trouble getting you out of the building.”
“Of course it’s loaded.” She frowned, but reached into the bag, pulling her pistol out.
It was small, mostly decorative, but it would get the job done.
Nikolay opened the gun and checked. Loaded.
He turned on his heel and pointed it at Halil.
Halil looked up, his eyes widening in surprise before Nikolay put a bullet in his head.
Pain pierced Nikolay as the body of his best friend hit the floor. He barely noticed Giselle’s scream of surprise and fear as he was forced to face everything he’d just sacrificed. Halil had been his confidant, listening without judging, his softer personality more compassionate than most of the men on their team. No more boisterous laughter. No more video games and pizza Saturday nights. No more women sharing. Gone in the blink of a bullet. Betrayed by the one man he probably trusted most.
Giselle was still standing next to him, her shrieks bouncing off the walls.
He looked at her. “Run, Giselle.”
She didn’t need to be told again. She hurtled toward the apartment door and fumbled with the lock Nikolay had engaged.
He strode to Halil’s body and picked up
