“Fine,” Carmine finally concedes, though not happily. “Then I guess we’d better make it official.”
He gives Yuri a signal. Immediately, he twists my arms behind my back. He isn’t using any strength at all, but he doesn’t need to: I let him.
“Matvey Groza…” My father grins. “I accept your surrender.”
It has to be. There’s no way this can be happening. There’s no way that Matvey…
He’s going to sacrifice himself for us.
I watch the man I love walk past me, hands twisted behind his back, and something inside me just snaps. My reason, my logic—it all goes flying out the window.
Because I can’t lose him.
“Matvey…” I whisper brokenly. “Matvey! MATVEY!”
Carmine’s men hold me back. I barely even feel them—like a banshee, I keep throwing myself forward and screaming. Wailing with a kind of p
