He tugs on his collar. “Where did you hear that? It’s not true.”
“At least don’t lie to me Antoni. Do yourself a favor in the last minutes of your life.”
“Please, Mikhail. Don’t do this.”
I whip out my gun and smack it against his head. He groans as he falls back against the seat. “Shut up. You’re gonna die, Antoni. Accept it like a man.”
My driver stops the car and I push Antoni out of it. We’re near a woodsy area. “Walk.” I push him towards the tree-line.
Antoni gulps and starts walking. I wait until we’re far into the woods with no one around before I place the gun to his head.
“Any last words?” I ask.
“Fuck you.”
“So original. You’re going to die knowing you’re not even clever enough to come up with any good final words. See you in hell, Antoni.” I pull the trigger. With my silencer on, the sound isn’t loud. Only a couple of birds in the area nearby fly into the air.
Antoni slumps to the ground, face first. Good. I head back to my driver and tell him to bury Antoni’s body. He does as I instruct. That’s loyalty.
Now, I just need to get Natalya back so I can marry her and truly make her mine.
Natalya
The meeting with Antoni comes around but Antoni doesn’t arrive at the house. Uncle Denis paces the living room, muttering to himself.
“Where the fuck is he? He was supposed to be here by now.”
I know why. Mikhail killed him.
For me.
Because he wants me.
I’m still not fully sure how to feel about that. Both elated and scared. Will it ever not scare me?
He tries calling Antoni again but of course, Antoni doesn’t answer. “Fuck.”
“Don’t cuss,” I say without even thinking about it.
He frowns at me. “What?”
“Our dad never liked to cuss and he didn’t like for us to cuss.” My sisters are upstairs in their rooms. I didn’t want them to be around for my meeting with Antoni in case either of them got any ideas about my sisters.
Mom, who enters the room, carrying a tray with tiny sandwiches on it, stops. “What’s going on?”
“Apparently, I can’t live up to my brother.”
“Of course you can’t,” she says it like it’s obvious. “Lev was a great man. You’re not.” She sets the tray down hard on the coffee table.
“Careful. You’ll ruin the wood.”
She gives Denis an annoyed look. “This coffee table isn’t yours. I picked it out. I bought it. So I can do what I want with it.”
He sighs and tries Antoni again before giving up. “I’m going to his house. See where he is. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
Once he’s gone, it’s like I can breathe again.
Mom sits down beside me. “I wonder what happened.”
