“No,” he barks. Then, he tips his head to the side and gives me an apologetic smile. “I have to see this through. I have to.”
“I get it,” I say, squeezing his hand. “I do.”
He grabs my fingers and kisses the back of my hand. “But you should go. Both of you.”
He looks over my shoulder at my dad, and I hear my dad walking towards me, ready to grab me the way he did in the hallway. Ready to haul me away and out of danger.
I pivot so I can see both of them—the two men who love me—and I shake my head. “I’m not leaving.”
“Bella,” my dad argues, lowering his head to plead with me.
“I’m not going,” I say again. “Not until we all leave together.”
My dad opens his mouth to argue, but Yuri nods. “Okay.”
I could kiss him again. Because no matter how much my dad loves me, he thinks he knows what is best for me. He sees me as the little girl who needs guidance. But Yuri trusts me. He respects my opinion, and he knows that I will fight for what I want.
“There isn’t time to argue, and I know it won’t make a difference anyway,” Yuri says. “So, let’s go.”
Outvoted, my dad closes his mouth in a tight line and follows us out of the room and into the hallway. He follows behind us silently until we stop in front of Ivan’s office door.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Yuri
I know it would be better to stop and formulate a plan, but knowing my father is sitting behind the door in front of me makes it impossible not to kick it down. The door rattles on the hinges as it bounces off the wall, and still my father doesn’t move. He’s sitting behind his desk, a fake smile plastered on his face, with his hands folded on the desk in front of him. In the exact same position he always takes when meeting a client or waiting for someone to walk in. It’s the posture he uses to intimidate people.
But I will not be intimidated.
“I knew you would fight your way out,” he says, beaming at me.
I can’t understand how I didn’t see it before. The paper-thin smile. The forced light behind his eyes. Everything about him is curated and false. Even his love for me.
“You knew I would defeat five of your strongest men?” I ask.
He shrugs and turns slightly in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. He wants me to know he isn’t nervous. He wants me to see how casual he feels in my presence, how unthreatened. “I taught you to fight, didn’t I? I had faith my teachings would serve you well, and now that they did, I know you are ready to lead both groups. Ready to pick up my mantle when I’m ready to put it down.”
He’s lying. I know that, but Bella steps up behind me and touches my back. She’s reminded me of what is at stake, and I’m grateful for it. I reach around and grab her hand. My father follows my movement.
“I see you brought the sacrifice and the pussy.” He pulls his top lip back in a snarl and looks at Senator McNair. “I’ll let you decide who is who.”
I drop Bella’s hand and step forward, gun aimed straight at his heart. “Don’t talk about her that way.”
Before I can react, doors on either side of the room open and burly bodyguards step out. One grabs the senator, another grabs Bella, and the last two aim their sights and weapons on me. Once again, we’re surrounded.
“Did you think I would be unprepared?” my father asks, standing up and folding his hands behind his back. “I was not going to leave myself open to attack while you were loose in the building. Like I said before, I trained you. I’m no fool.”
I turn to face him and realize that the anger flowing through me has been replaced by something strongly resembling pity. I feel bad for my father.
“But you are a fool,” I say, realizing it at the same time the words are coming out of my mouth. “You had a family who loved you. People who were loyal to you. You had more money than most people will ever see in their lives. You had everything, and yet you traded in your family for more money. You traded in your family for guards who only care about the money you can give them.”
“Do not underestimate my men,” he says, glancing nervously at the bodyguards holding Bella and her father.
“What do you think they will do when I offer them money?” I ask, turning to look at the man on my right. He’s young, barely in his twenties, and he blinks nervously when I look at him. “I will give you twenty thousand dollars right now to lower your gun.”
The man glances at my father, eyes wide, and then adjusts his stance.
“I’ll double it,” the senator says, wincing when the bodyguard holding him squeezes tighter.
“Forty thousand dollars.” I shrug. “Seems like a good offer. What do you say, Father? Will you match it?”
My father snorts. “I do not need to. These men will not turn on me.”
The young man looks conflicted, so I turn to the man on my left. He’s middle-aged with gray around his temples and lines around his mouth. “Your friend is hesitating. Would you care to take the deal? Lower your weapon, and we’ll give you forty thousand dollars.”
He blinks once and then lowers his gun. “Deal.”
My father roars just as the man on my right lowers his gun and cries out, “No, the deal was mine.”
“You hesitated,” the other man says.
A fourth voice is added to the melee when Bella kicks the shin of the man holding her. His arm slips up around her face, and she bites his forearm, drawing blood. As soon as he lets go, she draws the gun she had hidden in
