Owned by the Hitman

Chapter 20 - Katy

"I'm going to make you mine before we leave," Konrad croaks, grinding up against me and jerking a hand up under my skirt, trying to rip my panties off. I'm almost dizzy with fear, and I know I have to act, fast.

I bring my lips up to his ear, brushing against it ever so slightly. "Let me get you out of that jacket, I want to really see you," I breathe, and he's too lust-ridden to refuse me.

He turns around, and with one hand, I trail my hand up his chest and to his collar, unbuttoning the top buttons and sliding the jacket down just enough to leave his neck exposed.

With the other hand, I slip between the cushions of the couch, searching for what I left there the last time Ivan and I fucked on this very spot. Then my fingers find it.

The black strip of cloth he used as a blindfold.

With every bit of speed I can muster, I yank the black cloth out and take hold of both ends of it, jerking it around Konrad's greasy neck and pulling and twisting as hard as I can.

There's a sickening gagging sound as I pull back with all my weight, and his hands immediately go to the cloth, trying to pry himself free.

"I'll-" he chokes, "I'll kill you, b-backstabbing bitch!"

"If I'd stabbed you in the back, you'd be dead already!" I shout back into his ear, pulling the cloth as tight as I possibly can. His face is starting to purple. Just a little longer...!

My hand slips.

In an instant, I see my life flashing before my eyes as Konrad uses that half-second lapse in my grip to rip the blindfold from my hands, tossing it aside and spinning around.

It's the most terrifying face I've ever seen in my life.

The next thing I know, I'm being hoisted into the air and tossed like a ragdoll onto the carpeted ground, sprawling onto my back and looking up at the enraged Konrad in terror.

"Fine," he spits, "if that's how you want to play it, you treacherous cunt, I'll take what your father owed me!"

He puts a knee on one side of me, and I feel his hands wrap around my throat as he descends on me with murderous rage in his eyes-

CRACK.

I see Konrad's face go placid for a moment, then his grip lessens, and he slumps off me, and I see Ivan standing over him, my father's bloody baseball bat in his hand, fury on his face, and a trickle of blood running from a cut in his forehead.

Konrad rolls over on his stomach, clearly dazed, and he mouths something before Ivan grabs him by the neck, picking him up like a piece of trash with one arm, hoisting him up in the air with one hand. His eyes are filled with fire, and I'm paralyzed on the floor before the scene.

"I'll bury you with the rats that birthed you, sookin syn!"

Ivan's arms move like a flash of lightning, bringing the baseball bat over his head and crashing down in half an instant, caving Konrad's hideous face in with a sickening crunch. I turn away, covering my mouth after catching a glimpse, and a moment later I hear a second crack, and I glance back to see that Ivan has broken the bat delivering a second blow to the side of the bloody stub that used to be Konrad's head.

There's a moment of silence, Ivan staring at Konrad's body, me staring up at Ivan, both of us breathing heavily and petrified.

Then the splintered bat falls from Ivan's grip with a clatter, and he turns to scoop me up into his arms, embracing me tight as I descend into sobs.

"Shhh," he whispers into my ear, his whole body warm and comforting as I break down in them, hands shaking and tears pouring from my face. "It's over, Katy, it's all over. Are you okay? Did he harm you?"

"Ivan," I choke out, "Oh my God Ivan, I thought you were...I thought he was going to—"

"He isn't going to do anything anymore," that thick, commanding voice states, and he holds me tighter in his arms.

"I had no idea Nic would be here," I manage, and he starts stroking my hair.

"I thought Konrad might have a friend to tip him off," he replies, "but I was surprised he would take such a risk. He must have been truly desperate. Nic is unconscious and restrained."

My eyes flutter open and look up at him in shock. "What?"

Ivan looks down at me steadily, his eyes utterly at peace with his actions as always.

"One life was sanctioned to be taken this morning. Nic aided a traitor, but he was not my target tonight, so I had to restrain myself." He turns his eyes back towards the lounge doors. "But truthfully, it would be a mercy to slay him now. The mafia's punishment for this action will be unthinkable." His eyes look back to me, brow furrowed in concern. "But not so unthinkable as what Konrad almost did to you."

I nod silently as tears roll down my cheeks. I feel a strong finger wipe them away as gently as though he were stroking my hair. "Thank you, Ivan," is all I can whisper out, exhausted and shaken beyond belief as I hang limply in his arms.

His lips press into my forehead. "I would go to the ends of the earth for you, solnishka. Come, let's leave this place. The cleaners will be here soon."

Without another word, my hitman protectorcarries me out of my club, leaving behind all the baggage of my past and intowhat my muddled, tired mind thinks just could be a better future at last.