“I’m no one’s bitch!” he yelled in anger and then fired twice in Sergei’s direction.
He dropped to the ground, and even his men couldn’t do anything to help. They, too, were outnumbered.
Tension rose in the air as he faced me again, the gun aimed at me this time. “You’re next, Tarasov. Any last words?”
I hesitated for a moment. “Now!”
At my signal, bullets rained into the room, knocking down the men around us before they could fire their own weapons. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and the echoing sound of rapid gunshots.
Within seconds, only my men and I were left standing in the pool of dead bodies. Even Anatoli was shocked at what had just happened. He looked at me with wide eyes, surprised and relieved at the same time.
Rocco was hit during the ambush, and now he lay on the floor, clinging to life. When the shooting ceased, and he saw me walking toward him, he tried to reach for the gun lying at a distance.
I stepped on his wrist, crushing his bone beneath my boot. He yelled in agony.
“This is where you die.” I aimed my gun at him. “Any last words?”
He spat out blood, his face twisted in fury. “Go to hell.”
My lips curled into a self-satisfied grin. “You first.” I pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The single shot rang out, creating a hole in his head as blood pooled beneath him.
Across from me, Anatoli kicked Sergei’s corpse multiple times, cussing at him in Russian.
“It’s over, Boss,” Konstantin’s voice came through the bud in my ear. “You won.”
“Good job,” I replied, watching Rocco’s dead body at my feet.
Konstantin and the fourteen other men I had positioned on the surrounding rooftops were responsible for the bullet rain that killed the enemies. Sergei thought he was wise, but I was wiser.
I knew the very minute he suggested infiltrating the warehouse that he had something up his sleeve. The information about Rocco’s location came from him. And he did all he could to convince us to attack tonight.
That’s when I knew he was planning to lead us into an ambush. I wasn’t so sure at the time. But I couldn’t risk it. That’s when I reached out to Konstantin, who’d recently been released from the hospital, and asked him to mobilize a fourteen-man army.
I sent him the coordinates and told him to be as discreet about the operation as possible. Even Anatoli was in the dark about my plan B because I didn’t trust him either.
A part of me was glad he wasn’t in on Sergei’s treachery. It would’ve been such a shame to waste him.
He approached me, his palm on my shoulder. “I don’t know how you pulled this off, but thank you, brother. You saved my life. For that, I owe you one.”
My response was a subtle nod.
“Listen, I uh…I had no idea Sergei was going to sell us out,” he added, his voice tinged with a hint of regret.
“It’s a good thing I saw it coming then.” I tapped his shoulder and walked away.
From the warehouse, I drove straight to the safehouse, my mind reeling with the possibilities of my wife’s reaction. She wasn’t expecting me, and I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face.
I’d missed her so much. More than I ever cared to admit. But now that the war was over, I was going to make sure I spent every moment of my life with her.
My grip tightened around the steering wheel as I drove all night, my car speeding through the city like a missile. I arrived at the cabin in the early hours of the morning before sunrise.
I pulled over outside the building, the guards on high alert, bowing as I walked past them.
“Boss.” Dimitry approached me, a faint grin tugging at the corners of his lips. “Good to have you back, sir.”