Page 52 of Sold to My Ex's Brother
And then, it happens. A man at the table beside me lifts his chin, raising his hand to attract Artem’s attention.
“Half a million.”
I stare at him for a moment, this man who seems to think he can just lay claim to Maya like that. And, before I know it, I have raised the gun, and fired a shot into his head.
For a second, the room is silent. All eyes had been on him, since he was the first one to bid, and now, they are watching as he sways dangerously on his chair before falling back with a crash. The sound seems to break some of the quiet in the room, and all at once, two men at the tables around me are on their feet. I tapmy phone, sending the signal to Ilya, and hear the doors smash open at all sides of the building.
“What the fuck—” One of the men begins, and I fire a shot into his leg, sending him to the floor with a howl of pain. Chaos breaks out, gunshots fired, people trampling over each other to get to the exits only to be met by my men coming in the other side. I turn to make sure that the wait staff are safe behind the bar, and gesture for Ilya to get them outside.
“Take them somewhere else!” I yell to him, as he bursts into the room. “I’m going after Artem...”
I look back to the stage, just in time to see my brother vanishing back behind the curtain with Maya in tow. I grit my teeth and check to make sure that my gun is adequately loaded. If I have to fight my way through every man in this place to get to her, I’ll do it.
And my brother is about to discover that he will become collateral damage in my fight to save the woman I love.
25
MAYA
“Move, you stupid bitch,”Artem spits to me, as he shoves me back along the corridor we came out of. I stumble on the stupid heels I’m wearing, and I have to pause to right myself before I can go after him. He looks back at me, his lip curling up into a disgusted snarl.
“I said, move!”
“I’m trying,” I shoot back, but he grabs my arm and forces me along with him, and the best I can manage is to stumble after him and pray that I don’t get caught in the gunfire exploding outside.
I know who shot the first bullet. I saw his face, just for a split second—Anton, sitting there at the back of the room, killing the man who put a bid on me the second the words were out of his mouth.
I don’t know how he found me, but honestly, I don’t care. All that matters is that he is here, and I know he will not let anything at all happen to me.
Artem, for his part, must be aware that my safety is the only chip he still holds in all of this, and is racing back to the saferoom that me and the other girls were held in before Anton got here. I was the first one out, the first one forced into this gross skimpy lingerie and these heels that feel like they might snap my ankle in two at any moment. I hate the way I feel in them, so on-display, my body laid out for anyone who happened to glance in my direction.
I hear another gunshot, and gasp, looking back to see what is going on. I know that Anton would never have been stupid enough to attempt something like this alone, but I saw plenty of guards on this place while we were being led in.
What if he and his men are overwhelmed? I know that their numbers already took a serious hit after the fire at the mansion, and if Artem’s men get the better of them...
But Artem is pulling me away before I can so much as react, and I have to just hope against hope that Anton is smart enough to figure out a way through this. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something had happened to him as a result of coming after me.
Artem bundles me into the room once more, and Luna is already on her feet, her arms wrapped around herself to provide some kind of cover to herself.
“What’s going on out there?—”
“Shut the fuck up,” Artem snarls at her, but she stands her ground. She must have sensed that something had shifted, that the power was no longer entirely in his hands, no matter how much he might have wanted to convince us that it did.
But before she can shoot back a response, I hear footsteps rushing along the corridor – and Anton appears in the doorway, just a few seconds behind us. He is breathing hard, and his shirt is spattered with blood, but it doesn’t look like his.
“Anton,” I gasp, and I go to hurry over to him – but Artem grabs me, pulling me back roughly, making me cry out in pain as he closes his fingers around my wrist.
“Now, don’t think I’m going to hand you over that easily,” he reminds me, his voice a little mad with panic by now. “I was going to get a good price for you, remember?”
“Let go of her, Artem,” Anton orders him, and he lifts his gun, levelling it at his brother. Artem goes to reach for his, but I manage to shift my weight and knock it away from him before he can get a grip on it.
“You stupid fucking?—”
“Careful what you say to her,” Anton warns him, his voice low and filled with so much fury it takes me a second to recognize it as his. The way he speaks when I’m in danger, it’s like he can’t think of anything that matters more than ensuring that I’m safe, and the relief I feel knowing that he is there to have my back in all of this is everything right now.
“Why, because she’s the mother of your child?” Artem replies mockingly. I hear Anna gasp from behind me, and I remember how shocked they were when I brought up the mere mention of children. My head drops. She must think so much less of me, realizing that I’m carrying a child and trapped in this mess...
“Because she doesn’t deserve it,” Anton tells him. “None of these women do.”
