Page 204 of Cashmere Ruin

“Nothing’s fair,” he rasps, catching a falling tear with his thumb, “in love and war.”

Then he stands up again. “Yuri.”

Like old times, Yuri obeys the unspoken command in an instant. He secures Matvey’s hands behind his back one more time and curses, low enough that only he and I can hear, in a Russian dialect I can’t understand.

“You should’ve just killed me,” he whispers to Matvey in English. “Why didn’t you kill me?”

Matvey doesn’t reply in English. When his words come, they come in his native idiom. “Potomu chto ty moy brat.”

And this time, I don’t need to speak the language to know what they mean.

Because you’re my brother.

Then Carmine forces him down to his knees. “You played a valiant game,” he commends. “But in the end, you just can’t beat the house.”

Then he points a gun at Matvey’s head.

Matvey sets his jaw. In the crook of Carmine’s spare arm, our daughter is still sleeping. Is he going to do it like this? Kill his own son and let his blood cover his daughter?

“Monster.”

He glances towards me. “Sorry, what was that?”

“I said you’re a monster,” I growl. “You don’t deserve your family.”

“Let me tell you a secret.” He smiles cruelly. “There’s no such thing as ‘family.’ And we’re all monsters in the end.”

“Like fuck we are,” Yuri snarls.

“Huh?”

It happens in a heartbeat. One second, Carmine’s giving his evil villain speech, and the next?—

The next, Yuri’s kicking the legs out from under him.

Matvey reacts instantly. The second Carmine’s down, he uses both hands to block the gun while Yuri lunges to break May’s fall.

“I got you,” he exhales as he catches my baby girl. Then he rushes to my side and gives her back to me.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“Take cover,” Yuri ushers me towards the exit. “We’ll talk later.”

“What about Matvey? Wait, what about Pet?—”

“IDI NA HUI, PERHOT’ PODZALUPNAYA!”

Petra’s battle cry cuts me off. I twist my head around as we run, and there she is, a stolen gun in each hand, shooting and roundhouse-kicking her way to freedom.

No need to worry about her, I guess.“What, uhh—what does that mean?”

Yuri winces. “‘Fuck you, peehole dandruff.’ More or less.”

“Sorry, pee-what?”

“GET THEM!” Carmine yells over the chaos. “THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!”

“But boss, you didn’t give the signal?—”