This means we have company. I peek around the corner and sure enough, Detective Daniels and the two officers who took Reina stand in front of a metal door.
They’re laughing and drinking as if this is some sort of a celebration.
Blood pumps in my veins with the need to murder them. I knew Daniels was shady. I should’ve suspected he was working with these motherfuckers.
I expect Kyle to sneak up or to stay here until the danger passes, but he retrieves a suppressor, hooks it to the tip of his gun, and goes out. Just like that, he’s out.
His eyes remain the same, bored and motionless as he clicks a few times. Curses and a commotion erupt in Russian from where he’s aiming, but the sound of his muffled gunshots are louder.
Then all sounds disappear as he motions at me to follow him.
In front of the door lie three men with three clean shots to their foreheads. Daniels’ neck is covered with a bandage, but that the least of his problems. He and the other men have their mouths wide open, and their eyes stare at nothing.
Impressive.
No wonder Alexander thinks highly of Kyle when he rarely does that with anyone.
I should probably feel something about seeing three people murdered, but I don’t. They took Reina from me and they deserve a fate worse than death.
Kyle kicks the bodies away to walk to the door. “Ivan should be in there, and he’s a good shooter. Stay here.”
“No. Reina is in there, too.”
He faces me, his gun lying by his side. “If you die, I’ll tell your dad you went in for suicide.”
“Fine with me.”
A smirk curves his lips. “Deal.”
“No deal.” The voice comes from behind us, and both of us spin around.
Reina.
She’s wearing jeans and a black hoodie that camouflages half her face, but I know it’s her—or rather, the original Reina, not my Reina.
They’re so similar, I thought Reina was the one who called me earlier today. They look so much alike, too—face, body type, everything.
Except, I realize it’s not my Reina. She’s not the girl who had me whipped then destroyed me then slowly put me back together again.
Kyle tilts his head. “What are you doing here?”
“Ending this.”
“We decided we’d do this my way, Rai.”
“You decided. I never agreed to that.” She squirms free from his hold. “If you go in there, raising your gun, Ivan won’t hesitate to shoot her.”
“Well, genius.” He speaks with mockery. “If you go in there, he won’t hesitate to shoot you, too.”
“He will.”
The calmness and determination in her voice and face are so similar to Reina’s when she’s set on doing something. There’s no changing her mind.
“I have something he wants,” Rai says.
“Your only lifeline.”
“No.” She smiles. “His.”
She brushes past him and to the door. Kyle attempts to grab her again, but she pushes away from him, holds a phone to her ear, and speaks something in Russian. It sounds smooth and authoritative, like someone who knows exactly what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.
Since she called when I was in Alexander’s office, I knew Rai had a plan bigger than sending Kyle and his assassin after Ivan.
“For fuck’s sake,” Kyle says after she hangs up, but he doesn’t try to stop her again.
She smiles at me; it’s slight and barely there. “Let’s get my sister back.”
With purposeful strides, she pounds on the metal door and doesn’t even blink at the corpses lying in front of it. “I’m here, Ivan. I have the ledger.”
Kyle creeps to her right and I stand to her left as we wait for a response.
One second passes, two—
The door opens with a creak. A blond man stands in the entrance, filling it up and disallowing any view of the inside.
“Rai…” he says in an accented voice, grinning. “Isn’t this a surprise? You even brought the traitor.”
Kyle lifts a shoulder. “I was never with you.”
Now I know why he sounded familiar. Although he feigned a Russian accent at the time, this is the man who was at the forest the night Reina—and supposedly Rai—were assaulted. He pretended to be with them but was actually saving Rai. That’s why she’s been relatively safe since.
“If you want the ledger, you can have it.” Rai steps forward.
“Where is it?” The humor Ivan tried to fake disappears.
“Where’s my sister?”
A red drop hits the ground and I follow the line, realizing the source is his hands, which he’s been hiding since he opened the door.
Reina…?
“See, it’s a bit too late. She wouldn’t talk, and you know I hate the silent ones.” He pauses. “She’s not dead yet, though, so give me the ledger and I might let her breathe another second.”
The need to pull the trigger and shoot him in the head overwhelms me, but I can’t do that, not without knowing how many of his men are in there. What if I hurt him and the others kill Reina?
“My sister first.” Rai’s voice doesn’t change.
He extends a hand. “The ledger, Rai. Don’t make this too difficult and try to take what was never yours.”
“That’s you, not me. But fine, I guess you win.”
“I always win, suka. Now give it.”
Rai reaches a hand under her hoodie and Ivan’s eyes light up like a kid.
Instead of a ledger, she pulls out something glinting and grabs him by the hand, going straight to his eyes with a knife. His roar of pain can be heard in the long empty hallway.
He reaches blindly at her. The knife in his right eye gushes blood all over his cheek and neck and down to his shirt.
I push him aside in his stupor and run inside. If there is anyone in there and they’ve hurt—
The sight in front of me stops me in my tracks. Reina lies on the ground, tied to a chair. Her blond strands are smudged with red. Everything is red—her face, her arms, and even her clothes.
Fuck!
I run toward her, tuning out the commotion between Rai, Kyle, and Ivan. Crouching in front of Reina, I push the strands over her cheeks and find one of her eyes swollen, the other closed shut. Her lips are bloodied and busted. If I hadn’t recognized her as my Reina from afar, I wouldn’t have known it’s truly her.
I cut through the wires around her wrist like a maniac with the knife Kyle gave me. I hold her hand mine and wait with a held breath to see the rise and fall of her chest, the proof she’s alive and won’t put me through the torture of living without her anymore.
A small sound rips from her, something that resembles a whimper or a moan of pain—or both.
I release a breath and stand up.
The fucker tortured her. He beat her up until he erased her features and turned her unrecognizable.
Ivan is still fighting off Rai as Kyle holds him with both his hands locked behind him. The moment Rai sees Reina, she abandons Ivan and runs toward me. I don’t think twice. I don’t even count as Kyle told me to.
I aim my gun, cock it, and then shoot straight into the fucker’s chest. Kyle glares at me as Ivan falls limp in his hold. I ignore him and focus back on Reina.