Chapter Twenty-One

For moments, silence descended on the group as they became wrapped in a cocoon of tension. It didn’t last long. It couldn’t, and no one knew it better than Bogdan. He knew how quickly a situation like this could escalate and turn upside down.

“You made one miscalculation, Cermak,” he taunted Marek. He showed no concern for Svetlana and her men but kept his eyes glued on the three master manipulators.

“I doubt that, but I’m willing to humor you. Pray tell, Rusu, what did I miss?”

“Her.” His eyes moved to Zafira, who at the same moment, lifted her right leg and with precision and brutal force, kicked her foot back.

“Christ! Ty zasraná svině,” Marek cried out as a cavitation pop followed by a sickening crack sounded as the bony surfaces in his knee hit each other when the force of her kick snapped it backward.

All hell broke loose then. Bogdan yanked Zafira from Marek’s loosening hold while wringing his gun from his hand with such force that four of his fingers were fractured.

Arian and Andrei shot two of the four men who tried to scramble for cover. The arrival of Izolda and Sabira behind them abruptly ended the others’ attempt at escape with a bullet to their chests.

“So, bitch... let’s have at it,” Vanya taunted Svetlana.

“Do prdele, Vanya! Get down,” Andrei shouted as he dove at her when the Czech woman raised her gun and pulled the trigger. But he worried for naught. Vanya was already moving, and by the time the bullet buried itself in the wall, she was on Svetlana.

“I’m gonna cut out those two brats inside your belly and feed them to my dogs!” Svetlana spat as she swung the blade in a clockwise spin, only to run into Vanya’s savage left hook. The impact was so hard, she dropped hard onto her knees with a soft “oomph.”

“No one threatens my children, unborn or not, you fucking bitch!” Vanya sneered as she yanked Svetlana’s head up by the hair. “Now, you pay the price.” She was barely conscious as Vanya drove her thumb into one eye socket to mash it against her cranial vault. Blind with anger, Vanya tapped into her Krav Maga skills to unleash a devastating kick that suddenly came out of nowhere as her leg swept up, powered by a perfectly timed movement. It exploded at the end of her heel across the front of the redhead’s face, splitting her upper lip in two and splintering cartilage through the soft, mushy nasal tissue. “Burn in hell, bitch,” Vanya said as Svetlana’s eyes rolled up into their sockets. It was light’s out... permanently.

“Vanya, get down!”

Andrei’s graveled voice echoed through the room with the demand for immediate obedience. She hit the deck as the loud crack of his gun exploding zinged in her ears. Luciano Maranzano’s muscled body flung backward against the wall, the gun in his hand clattering to the ground before he managed to pull the trigger. The surprised look on his face was supplemented by the round bullet hole between his eyes.

“Let’s see you touch my wife again, you fuckface,” Andrei growled as he leaned over to pick Vanya up from the floor. “What about the concept of keeping out of fights and conflict while you are pregnant don’t you understand, wife?”

“I tried, honey, but the situation... hick... demanded... oh, lordy me... hick,” she wailed as the tension and hormones clashed, and she burst out in tears. “Don’t you d-dare fight with... sob... me. I’m... sob... p-pregnant.”

“Who the fuck would’ve guessed,” Andrei muttered as he carried her outside, murmuring sweet nothings in her ear.

“Now, that just leaves you two lovebirds,” Bogdan said, watching Triska fuss over Marek, where he sat on the ground, nursing his knee and broken fingers. “So, Ms. Guzun, it’s your call. What do you want me to do with this fuckface?”

“Careful, Bogdan. It’s not polite to curse at family, and seeing as he’s my brother...”

“Since he’s your brother, I’ll concede to killing him quickly instead of making him suffer,” he offered in an amused tone.

“I second that,” Arian growled. “He murdered grandmother and tried to have you killed many times.”

“Arian, help me. Vadim has lost a lot of blood. We need to get him to a hospital,” Sabira’s concerned voice sounded from behind them.

“I’ll be okay,” Vadim mumbled, but it was clear he was close to passing out. “Stop worrying, Mother. I’m fine,” he said as he caught her indecision between going to him and finishing off her enemies.

“Arian, get your brother out of here. Bogdan and I will manage.”

Arian didn’t need a second invitation, as concern for his brother drove him to act. Like Zafira, he knew Bogdan would never allow anything to happen to her.

“Why kill him at all?” Triska said once they were gone, and Zafira turned to face them. “Why not use us? We’ve got contacts in places you’ll never reach. With our help, the Novaya Volna would rule the world within months instead of years.”

“Now see, that’s where we differ. I don’t believe in rushing anything. Fealties take time to form, and time separates the true followers and loyalists from the deceitful. Something your interference has taught me afresh.” Zafira smirked and continued drily, “And don’t bother playing on my empathy that you’re family,” she cut Marek off when he opened his mouth. “If anything, Mother did everyone a favor by giving you away. She must’ve known you would turn out as selfish and one-dimensional as Father.”

“Well, now you’re just begging for it,” Bogdan said as Marek grabbed the gun with his other hand. Charging forward, Bogdan didn’t even check his advance when Marek pulled the trigger, and the bullet penetrated his shoulder. “Time’s up, Zafira.”

“Do your worst, Bogdan. For what he did to my mother, he deserves nothing better,” Zafira retorted with the vision of her mother’s mangled body on the coroner’s table. Looking back, she now realized the viciousness of her death had spoken of deep hatred and malice. Understandable, but Agata was still his mother. There had been no need to mutilate her body.

Bogdan reacted to the suppressed sadness in Zafira’s voice as he reached Marek just as he fired the second shot.

“You heard your sister,” he sneered and grabbed his head between his huge hand and with one brutal twist, broke his neck. Adrenaline coursed through his system, activating his sympathetic nervous system. With his heart beating faster, blood got diverted to his muscles and away from his gut. The blade of his K-bar sliced through sinew and muscle when he cut Marek’s throat. Flushed with the power of a berserker, Bogdan’s muscles bunched.

“Yaaahhh!” His shout echoed over the shocked scream of Triska Cermak as with inhumane force, he twisted his arms and ripped Marek’s head right off his body. “Marcire All ”inferno, Marek Cermak.”

“Oh no, you don’t.” Zafira stopped Triska from picking up the gun Marek had dropped by pressing the muzzle of her gold-encrusted Glock 9 between her eyes. “I’ll make sure your daughter is invited and accepted into our family as one of our own. She deserves to be loved for the wonderful young woman she is, irrespective of how you neglected her all her life. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure she knows exactly how wanted she was. Oh, one last thing... send my regards to Momma and Poppa, will you? Bye-bye bitch.”

The final gunshot sounded with finality through the late afternoon air. The Guzuns were finally free from their nemesis. Life could finally return to normal.

“Iisus Hristos, Bogdan! You’re bleeding like a stuck pig!” Zafira cried out as Bogdan turned to face her. She didn’t watch Triska’s lifeless body being flung back with the force of the bullet but rushed to his side. With trembling hands, she yanked off her sweater and tried stemming the blood flowing from the two bullet wounds.

“Stop fussing, woman. It’s just flesh wounds. I am fi—” His eyes rolled back in their sockets as with a gruff sigh, his huge body fell backward when he passed out.

“Gmphf, flesh wound indeed,” Zafira mumbled as she rushed over to lift his head onto her lap. “You’ll probably deny you’re dead even when you’re pushing up daisies, you hardheaded fool of a wonderful man.”

“What was that?”

Zafira didn’t blink as his eyes opened and held hers captive.

“What? Oh! That must be the sound reverberating back from the mountains of your big ass body making a dent in the floor. The neighbors must be thinking a nuclear bomb exploded.”

“Hmm... not sure what daisies have to do with a bomb exploding, but I’ll take your word for that.”

He promptly passed out again.

“Typical. He only woke up to pester me, then poof, he’s gone.”

No one stood witness as the mighty Matriarch brushed her hand over his hair, then leaned in and gently kissed him on the lips. Only the dust particles shimmering in the sun that shone through the wood slats heard the softly whispered words.

“I love you, Bogdan Rusu. I always have. I always will.”