Chapter 9 - The Bride's Last Stand
Elena was running.
She had abandoned her high heels long ago, her bare feet bleeding on the gravel driveway.
She clutched a small black detonator box in her hand.
If she couldn't have the empire, she was going to blow the estate to the ground.
She reached the iron gates, desperately trying to punch the code into the security keypad.
"The code was changed an hour ago."
Elena gasped and spun around.
Roman stood at the edge of the manicured lawn, the moonlight casting long shadows across his face.
He didn't look angry.
He looked incredibly disappointed.
"Roman, please!" Elena begged, holding up the detonator.
"Let me walk out of here, or I swear I'll press this button and the secondary charges will level the mansion!"
Roman took a slow, deliberate step forward.
"There are no secondary charges, Elena."
Elena’s eyes widened in panic.
"You're lying!" she screamed, her thumb hovering over the red button.
"Viktor found them in the wine cellar ten minutes before I walked down the aisle," Roman stated calmly.
"Why do you think I was so willing to let you stand next to me at the altar?"
Elena stared at him, the reality of her failure crashing down upon her.
She had been outplayed from the very beginning.
Roman had used his own wedding as a trap to draw out all his enemies at once.
"You are a monster," Elena whispered, tears of defeat streaming down her ruined makeup.
"No," Roman corrected her softly.
"I am just a man who protects what belongs to him."
He nodded into the darkness behind her.
Viktor stepped out from the shadows of the guardhouse, perfectly silent.
He struck Elena in the back of the head with the butt of his rifle.
The beautiful, treacherous bride collapsed onto the gravel, dropping the useless detonator.
Roman looked down at her unconscious body with utter disgust.
"Put her in the trunk of the black sedan," Roman ordered Viktor.
May you like
"Take her to the warehouse. She belongs to the interrogators now."
The battle for the Sokolov empire was over.
