NIKOLAI
THE GUN WAS empty. I already f*****g knew that. He knew that. But I still held it like it meant something. Like I could shove it down his throat and pull the trigger just to hear the useless, hollow click.
Viktor stood there, f*****g smirking, like he hadn’t earned the slowest death I could give him.
I wanted to carve that smirk off his face. I wanted him on his knees, choking on his own f*****g teeth.
His nostrils flared. He was scenting me—like an animal, like he had any right. I dragged in a sharp, deep, breath trying to steady the anger clawing at my ribs.
And then he grinned.
“This must be him,” he said, voice low, amused. His eyes slid past me—to Claude. Hanging there. Bound in chains. “The man I could smell all over you.”
A pause. Just a second. Just lon
