I ignored her, grinning ruthlessly at Declan. “You will release my sister, or your son will die.”
Emma gasped in horror and I nodded to Anatoly, who had crept up, getting him to grab her around the waist so that she wouldn’t do something stupid and ruin my plans. She tried to fight him, but Anatoly quieted her quickly, locking her arms behind her back roughly, causing Emma to cry out in pain. Jealousy threatened to rear its ugly head as I watched my cousin touch my wife, but I tamped it down. This was not the time or the place to be having emotions cloud my judgment.
Declan cocked his head to the side, a snide expression on his face. “I don’t believe you. You don’t have my son.”
I shifted my weight. I had anticipated this. He didn’t want to believe that I was a smart fucker and had bested him once again. The man was a fucking murderer, but he wasn’t a genius. “My sister for your son.”
“Artem,” Emma pleaded, her voice cracking. “Give him me instead. Don’t put Harvey in this. Please, I’m begging you.”
“Listen to her,” Declan replied evenly, a sheen of sweat breaking out on his forehead. “You have already taken one of my children. You don’t need them both. Let my fucking son go and we will be done with this shit.”
I shook my head slowly. “Harvey for Irina or I will kill him, and you will be left with nothing.” I already had his daughter, though Declan did not realize just how much I had her.
“Artem, no!” Emma cried out, pain laced in her voice. “You promised! You said no one would get hurt. You promised not to harm my father, but you are killing me too! Do you want to do that?”
I absorbed her pain, allowing it to lash through my heart, knowing that I was doing this to her. It was necessary, but Emma wouldn’t see it that way. She needed to know that I was ruthless. I had to be fucking ruthless.
Declan shifted his stance, his eyes flitting to the hooded figure. “It’s not Harvey. There’s no way you could find him. I couldn’t even fucking find him.”
My grin was lethal. “Call his cell. You will see.”
Declan visibly swallowed, but the need to know if the hooded figure was indeed his son proved too great and he fished out his cell phone. A moment later, a shrill ringtone filled the air and Emma sobbed aloud, every sound tearing me in fucking two. “No,” she whispered, her tearful eyes on me. “Please don’t hurt my brother. Haven’t you already done enough?”
Not near enough. I strode forward until there was very little distance between me and the hooded figure. “Tell me what to do.”
“I will fucking kill you for this,” Declan seethed, putting the gun to my sister’s head. “Or better yet, why don’t I just kill her instead? Tell me, Krylov, do you want to see her brains smeared on the runway?”
I gave him a feral smile, doing the same to Harvey, clicking back the hammer on my gun. “The same could be asked of you, Declan. Tell me, is your son important to you?”
“Artem!” Emma cried out, struggling against Anatoly’s grip on her. “You promised you wouldn’t harm my family. You promised me!”
It was hard not to respond to her. She had no idea what her words were doing to me, her reaction to my plan. I knew she would struggle with it, but I hadn’t anticipated how much it would affect me as well. Emma had gotten under my skin, in my heart, and was my weakness. Hearing her in pain, I couldn’t even begin to describe what it did to me. “I will give you to the count of ten,” I forced out, my words biting. “And then I will blow his fucking brains out.”
“Daddy!” Emma screamed. “Stop this! Let her go so that you can save Harvey’s life! This isn’t right!”
“Emma,” Declan gasped, his eyes wide as he watched me hold the gun to his son’s head. “I—”
“Ten,” I started out, breaking their conversation. My palm was sweating, making it hard to hold onto the gun, but I wasn’t about to drop the damn thing.
I really was going to do this.
“Nine.”
“Shit,” Declan muttered.
“Eight.”
“Artem, please,” Emma begged. I kept my eyes on Harvey, not wanting to see the disappointment in her eyes. She didn’t understand what lengths I would go to in order to protect those I loved.
“Seven.”
Harvey visibly shook in front of me now, evident by the movement of the hood that covered his face. I wouldn’t have to see his eyes when I put a bullet through his skull.
“Six.”
“Fuck,” Anatoly breathed as Emma cried uncontrollably, trying her best to reach her brother.
“Five.”
“Wait!” Declan called out. “Wait.”
I shifted my gaze over to him, not removing the gun from Harvey’s head. “Say it.”
“You got a fucking deal,” he ground out, looking put out that he had to even say the words. “Don’t kill him.”
I lowered my gun, hearing Emma’s sob of relief behind me. I had won. I had gotten to him. “Then we will trade at the same time.” Grabbing Harvey’s arm, I forced him forward. “Walk.”
Declan did the same with my sister, though her glare could have set him on fire if she could. I watched like the world was moving in slow motion, keeping my eyes on my sister and my gun in my hand. I didn’t think that Declan would shoot her in the back, knowing that I could easily do the same to his son, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
The two captives passed each other, and I urged Irina to move just a little bit faster, wanting to grab her and get the hell out of here before something else happened. My nerves were on edge, every fiber in my being willing Irina to walk out of my line of sight and out of danger.
The next few moments happened so quickly, I barely registered it happening. I felt the bullet whizz past me, and in a roar, I raised my gun and fired, hitting Declan’s hand that held the gun. Emma screamed somewhere behind me, but I was already moving, grabbing Irina and propelling her behind me. Fuck him. He had just taken a shot that could have hit Irina or worse, Emma.
Declan roared as blood dripped from his hand. “Fucking kill him!”
“Run for the car!” I yelled at my sister, firing and hitting Declan’s guard in the arm. “Get in the fucking car!”
Irina ran for the car and I backed up, crouching by the tire, and taking aim. I barely felt the backfire of the gun in my hand as the bullet flew out of the barrel, finding its mark seconds later.
The scream that Emma let out was unlike any I had ever heard as Harvey’s head exploded in a pink mist, his body dropping on the runway. Declan was yelling, waving off his gunmen, but I wasted no time following Anatoly into the car, the car speeding off the moment I shut the door.