Page 144 of Ruined

I slid my baseball cap lower and exhaled, pressing the gun’s weight into my palm to steady myself. They’d trained me for this. Too bad for them.

I crept along the shadows, skirting a rusted fence line. Two more guards patrolled lazily ahead, smoking. I crept up behind them.

One turned his head. Too slow. My arm snaked around his throat, my other hand muffling his scream as I twisted hard and dropped him like dead weight. The second guard was faster—he fumbled for his gun—but I fired once. Point-blank. Blood sprayed the gravel. He fell.

Don’t think about it.

I stepped over their bodies and pushed toward the rear of the building. The air stank of old oil and rot. I swallowed hard, the memories coming too fast—metal doors slamming, voices shouting in Russian, the endless darkness of the room they used to throw me in. My side throbbed from my stitches tearing open.

I forced my way through a back window, glass shards catching my sleeve. I dropped into the shadows of an empty hallway, gun raised, ears straining. Footsteps echoed deep in the building. I followed, slipping in between shadows.

Where are you, Dom?

Then a voice rang out.

“Luca.”

I froze. The lights snapped on.

“Welcome home.”

Alexei stood at the far end of the room, dressed in a dark coat and tailored slacks. The bastard barely looked older than he had the last time I’d seen him. Two of his men flanked him, rifles in hand.

His lips curled. “I wondered how long it’d be before you came.”

I raised my gun. “Where is he?”

Alexei’s gaze dropped to my side, where the blood soaked through my shirt. He tsked, shaking his head. “I trained you better than this.”

That’s what he called it? The nights spent locked in a room, the endless beatings until I couldn’t move, the humiliation that made me wish I’d die?

“You didn’t train me. You tortured me.”

“You were nothing when I found you. A scared little rat hiding in the walls.Imade you useful.Igave you strength.” He sneered, his voice dropping into a growl. “And what did you do with it? You put a bullet in the Pakhan’s head.”

I could still smell the blood. Feel the weight of the gun in my hand.

Alexei took a step closer, the guards mirroring him. “You slaughtered your own leader. The man who gave you a roof, food,purpose.And for what?”

I aimed the gun at his face.

Alexei chuckled. “Look at you. Bending over for the Italians like a good boy. A Bratva brat turnedwhore.”

My teeth ground together. “Watch your fucking mouth.”

He took another step closer. The guards flanked him, the barrels of their rifles dipping. “The tattoos on your skin mean loyalty, and you’ve turned them into a joke.”

“Good. I never wanted them.”

“I’m going to burn them off you,” Alexei continued calmly. “That’s what you deserve. You’re adisgrace.”

My back throbbed like it remembered every blow meant to break me.

“You’re not laying a fucking hand on me.”

He raised his gun, the barrel aimed right at my head.

I dove to the side as the shot rang out. The sound shattered through the air, the force of it splitting my eardrums. I hit the ground hard. My gun clattered out of reach, skidding across the floor.