Montana Falls (Red Diamonds #5)

Chapter Twenty Eight

T he heat was unbearable, and I was sure I was going to die. Thick, choking smoke filled the small reading room I’d been hiding in, curling in through the cracks between the door and the debris, suffocating in the air. I could barely breathe, my lungs struggling against the bitter sting of ash and burning wood. My vision swam, the fire roaring somewhere beyond the walls, casting flickering shadows through all the cracks that danced like demons across the room.

The Montana mansion was burning down around us, and we were trapped.

Fuck .

“Yeva,” Rika’s voice came from behind me, weak but trying to sound like it wasn’t. “Do you think I’m pretty? Tell me that I am pretty before I die in such a bad way.”

I turned and knelt beside her, my breath shallow, the heat making it hard to think. She had a nasty gash on her forehead, blood streaking down the side of her face, mixing with the soot and sweat. Her tawny skin was too pale, her eyes fluttering in and out of focus as she leaned back against the wall, her lips twitching into a faint, almost absurdly calm smile.

Even with all that, she was still flirting with me and pretending everything was fine. It was honestly ridiculous, but I kind of liked it. It helped me panic less about being trapped in a place I could not escape. And sure, had she been a man, I would have sown her mouth shut for the things she kept saying to me. But she was a woman, and I also knew she was joking; Rika flirted with her own reflection sometimes. She was just funny like that.

“You already know you are pretty,” I said, gripping her hand. “But maybe we can talk of things later. Right now, we’re getting out of this death and fire.”

She blinked; a slow, lazy gesture that made my chest tighten with concern. “I’m starting to think this is karma,” she said, her voice faintly teasing despite the situation. “For that one time I killed a man.”

“You’ve not killed a man.” Nobody who cried at the sight of dog shelter videos had the capacity for murdering another human being without reason no matter how much she liked to pretend otherwise.

“I did. I winked at him and two hours later his heart gave up in an attack.” She groaned. “He was the baker by my house, and he did bread so good that I would eat it as my death row meal if I needed to - I miss him.”

“What was his age?”

“Ninety.” She sniffled. “Right in his prime.”

I ignored her and turned back toward the heavy wooden beam that had collapsed in front of the door, blocking our only way out. The fire had weakened it; the wood splintered and blackened, but no matter how hard I pushed, the damn thing wouldn’t budge. Rika could barely stand without fainting, and I wasn’t strong enough to move it on my own.

For the first time in my life, I wished a man was present. Someone stronger than me who could help. Someone whose only purpose was to have muscles designed for hefty jobs and destruction.

I threw myself against the beam again, my hands trembling and burning from the effort. My whole body ached, but it was nothing compared to the rising panic gnawing at my chest. The fire was spreading. We didn’t have much time left, and I refused to die in such a horrific manner. I was far too spiteful to allow the universe to take me in such a way.

I would die after slaughtering dozens of disgusting men, covered in their blood and a wicked grin upon my face, or I would not die at all.

“Come on,” I hissed through gritted teeth. “ Move, you fucking bastard!” I braced my shoulder against the beam again, shoving with all the strength I had left, but it barely shifted an inch.

The heat bore down on me, and my lungs burned with each labored breath, but I refused to quit or lie down and allow the universe to fuck me over once again.

I would die here, but I would die fighting. The same way I always had whenever I was in the dark and horrid places of a life I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue having.

“I like the whole ‘take charge’ thing you’ve got going on, Yeva, it’s very attractive.” Rika’s voice came again, and I could hear the dizziness lacing her words. “But maybe we should try a strategy of something else? Like, I don’t know… calling for help from a stronger person? A sexy firefighter?” she paused. “I would yell for Koko but he is mad at me. He says I should have told him about Sapphire not dying right away and…” she chuckled breathlessly. “He said he would let me choke in a fire. So we need someone else. Someone I did not hurt.”

I shot her a sharp look over my shoulder, not even bothering to respond. I didn’t need to tell her that no one was coming and she was a fucking idiot if she thought for a moment that Kody wouldn’t be fighting to get to her.

Everyone who could help was either dealing with their own chaos or already dead, but I wasn’t about to rely on anyone else, especially not after everything that had already gone wrong. We were on our own, the same way I always had been, and I would fix it.

Rika coughed, the sound wet and strained, her hand pressing against the wound on her head as she sagged further against the wall. “Seriously, you should probably stop and—”

“Stop talking,” I snapped, my voice sharper than I intended. My frustration was starting to show, the panic bleeding through the cracks in my composure. “We’re getting out. I’m not dying in this room, and neither are you. You can sit there because you are injured and weak like baby deer. But you do not need to talk; I can do without all the talk.”

Rika attempted to stand and quickly failed.

“You’re such a sweetheart when stressed.” She said.

I ignored her and shoved the beam again, harder this time, even though I knew it was pointless. The fire crackled louder; the heat growing more intense with every passing second. I was drenched in sweat, my heart pounding in my chest and my positive – okay, I was never positive – thoughts were quickly dying out.

And then I heard it—voices. Faint at first, muffled by the roar of the flames, but getting closer. Male voices.

No.

No, no, no .

I recognized them instantly, and a knot of dread coiled in my stomach as they got closer to us.

I didn’t have to see them to know who it was. I knew their voices better than I did my own. Because I fucking hated them.

“Yeva !” Kiril shouted for me, but I ignored him.

I didn’t hate him as much as I hated Daniil and Vissarion. But he was still a man, and they were pointless. I had no desire to let him rescue me, least of all from something I was sure I could fix myself with enough effort.

I pushed harder against the beam, my hands shaking as I tried to block out their voices, but it was useless. A moment later, the door I was after creaked open, barely a crack, but enough for them to see me there.

Of course, they would come. Of course, they couldn’t leave me the hell alone.

“ Yeva ,” Kiril’s voice was first, his tone commanding, but with that infuriating calm he always carried, as if nothing in the world could shake him. “ Step back; we can get this out of the way .”

I didn’t even look at him. “ Go away, Kiril .”

“ We don’t have time for this ,” Daniil cut in, his voice a mix of irritation and concern. “ Move, Yeva . We will get you out. ”

I glared in his direction, my jaw clenched. “ I’m not asking. Leave us. We’ll manage .”

“Who is with you? ” He switched to English.

“ Just me, hot stuff!” Rika shouted. “Please rescue me – I don’t want to be burning and stink to death!”

Behind the beam, through the small gap in the door, I caught a glimpse of Vissarion, his soft brown eyes behind his glasses, burning with something close to panic.

I hoped he was terrified. It made a spiteful part of me happy.

“Yeva, stop being stubborn,” he said, his voice thick. “Step back so we can help.”

“ I’d rather burn ,” I spat, the words coming out harsher than I intended, but I meant every single one of them.

“ Too bad .” He didn’t wait for me to argue again. None of them did. They just worked together, breaking down the door and shoving the thick, crumbling beam out of our way.

I staggered back toward Rika, my hands shaking, anger flaring white-hot in my chest. How dare they? How dare they come in here and act like I needed saving? I was fine . I was handling it. I didn’t need their help.

With a scowl, I shot a glance at Rika, her eyes glazed, blood still dripping from her head wound and staining her pink hair. Fine. Maybe we weren’t handling it. But I still didn’t want them .

“Yeva,” she murmured, her eyes fluttering open and closed. “Maybe… maybe let them do their thing, huh? Use the men for men’s jobs, then send them packing. I mean no offense, but I am… I am needing help more than you could give to me.”

I gritted my teeth but said nothing, crossing my arms over my chest as I watched the three men work. The beam groaned as they worked together and lifted it, their muscles straining but nowhere near as much as mine had.

I hated how easily they were doing what I had failed to do. They were stronger than me. And that only made me angrier because they had no fucking right to be.

I wanted to be stronger than them.

I wanted to save someone for once in my fucking life, instead of being helpless.

The beam shifted, and with one final push, they lifted it free, tossing it aside like it weighed nothing. The doorway was clear now, the path to freedom open, and I came face to face with three Russian gangsters I vowed to make bleed one day.

“ Get walking .” Kiril ordered, his big blue eyes locking on mine, daring me to refuse his commands again.

“ Don’t tell me what to do ,” I hissed, but I crouched down beside Rika anyway, helping her to her feet. She was weak, barely able to stand, but she managed a grin through the haze of pain.

“Thank you for the rescue boys, but now we handle things. Be gone and we can…” she wobbled, almost fainting, “we can be strong, independent women again.” She continued her words in Hungarian without realising she even switched.

“Shut up, Rika,” I muttered, trying to hold her up as we moved toward the door. But I could feel their eyes on me, watching my every step, and it made my skin crawl.

Would it have made me a complete bitch to lock the door behind me and let them cook to death?

I didn’t do it. That was something, right?

Right ?

Vissarion was the first to move forward when I struggled, reaching out to take Rika from me, but I jerked back, holding her tighter.

“ I’ve got her ,” I snapped.

He didn’t argue, but his jaw tightened. He was clearly annoyed with me, but he stayed silent as we made our way out of the burning mansion, the heat still licking at our backs.

I could hear the fire roaring behind us, the sound of destruction and chaos humming in my ears. But when the fresh air hit as we stepped out onto the driveway, and I could finally breathe again, I stopped hearing anything but my grateful lungs. It was a nice feeling. One I appreciated far too much. But I would eat my own tongue before I thanked men for giving to me.

Paramedics and firefighters swarmed the grounds, the chaos of the night still in full swing, even if I felt like the drama was now a little over what with me being able to breathe again, and in no danger of becoming nothing more than ash. There were dozens of people running around, shouting commands and doing their best to play hero as they put out flames and healed injured.

Or covered up the dead.

“Koko!” Rika shouted for her when she spotted him trying to get back inside the house.

She was immediately taken by one of the medics the second they saw her, and she shot me a weak thumbs-up as they loaded her onto a stretcher. Kody was instantly at her side, fussing and cursing to high heaven.

I stood there watching it all play out, my hands still trembling, the adrenaline still coursing through me. But before I could take a step in any direction, I felt a hand on my arm. With a snarl, I spun around, ready to tear into whoever it was, and finding Daniil right behind me. His hazel eyes, the same damn ones as I remembered from childhood, bore into mine. Concern. Relief. Obsession. All things I didn’t want.

“You’re welcome for rescuing you ,” he said, his voice low. Soft . Like he cared about me. When I knew he didn’t. He never had.

I yanked my arm free, glaring at him as my hands balled into fists. “ Don’t ever touch me again. This is your only warning.”

“ Yeva .” Vissarion’s voice came from behind him, quieter than Daniil’s, but no less persistent. “ You can’t stay mad at us forever .”

I turned to face him, my heart pounding in my chest, temper flaring like it always did. “ You don’t get to make that decision .”

Kiril stepped forward, his expression unreadable, but his voice was firm. “ Look, let’s just get you to a paramedic. You look alright but you inhaled a lot of smoke .” He turned his back on the other two men, ordering them to go away so he could help me.

I hated him the least. In fact, I barely hated him. It was more of an incessant dislike because he had a cock and anyone with a cock was worthy of death, because they served no use to society and all the world’s problems were caused by them, yet they claimed women were the dramatic and ridiculous ones.

“ Stop trying to help me .” I spat, but with only half the venom that I would have offered the other two.

“ Do you have injuries I can’t see?” Once more he ignored my temper with the same ease that he ignored the ruins of Sapphire’s home behind us, flickering away as the firefighters worked desperately to stop it.

“ No. I am fine .” I lied as I swallowed hard, my throat raw from the smoke, and turned away, walking toward the paramedics without another word.

The men followed me, but I didn’t thank them. I didn’t look back. Because I would rather walk through fire a hundred times than owe them my life, and the last thing I needed was them trying to play hero again just because I was bleeding and a little burned and my hip throbbed from where I’d hit the side of something in the blast.

“Miss?” The first paramedic to see me stepped forward with his bag of medical supplies, his hands covered in crinkly blue gloves. “Would you like to take a seat and let me check you over?” He waved to the ambulance near him. “Are you hurting anywhere in particular?”

He reached out to touch me and Vissarion grabbed his arm before I could flinch, holding it hard enough that it had to have hurt.

“Not you.” He snarled. “Get the woman.” He nudged his chin at the only lady nearby, who hurried to take over from her visibly shaking colleague that quickly scarpered to another injured person.

I felt a little bad for the guy because he was just doing his job, and he didn’t deserve to have multiple tattooed Russian gangsters shooting daggers at him. But he was also a man, so… fuck it. Not my problem if he pissed himself at the sight of Vissarion’s glare.

He could glare rather well for a man wearing glasses. I would have thought the effect would have been dulled by his frames, but if anything, they only added to it all.

I would stab him in the eye with his glasses if he ever glared at me like that.

The woman began checking me over, only a little hesitant as she peppered me with questions. Most of which I just nodded at or shook my head. I was fine . I didn’t need a hospital. Didn’t need to be poked and prodded by doctors. A couple of painkillers, some oxygen from the mask she hurried to put around my mouth and nose, and I would be okay.

I did a good job of pretending to be okay until she touched my hip, and I slapped her hands away on instinct, hissing between my teeth.

“What did you do?” She instantly asked.

“I was in a house explosion.” I snarked.

“What did you hit?” She didn’t falter at my attitude. If anything, she just turned her tone firmer, and I was amused enough to be honest.

“There was a… a thing for décor. How you call it? For the rich items to show off, like in a museum.” I switched to Russian, begrudgingly asking Kiril for help to translate because I didn’t know the stupid fucking words I needed.

“She hit a pedestal.” He told the paramedic. “It was made of stone, and she cracked her hip against it when the blast sent her flying.”

She nodded and reached toward my hip again, this time slow enough that I could expect it coming. “I’m going to just have a look, okay?” She realized what I was wearing and paused. “Are you able to lift your dress for me? I can get your friends to cover you if you want more privacy.”

“They’re not my friends.” My jaw ticked. “But fine. I can stand a second to show you things. But you overreact – there is nothing but bruises on me.” My head snapped toward the men. “Turn the fuck around or I will take a scalpel to your eyes.”

They all turned their backs to me and shuffled around, blocking anyone nearby from seeing as I pulled the skirt of my dress up and my tights down low enough for her to get a good look at my hip. She carefully poked at me for a minute, until she pulled back, letting me know I could redress.

The entire time she touched me, I’d been biting my tongue and now I was sure it was bleeding.

“It could be a fracture.” She said once I sat back down, and the guys turned around again with my permission. “You have to go to a hospital to get checked out more.” She stared at my face for a minute, her features softening. “Are your parents here? I think it would be better for you to have an adult present who-”

“I’m her cousin.” Kiril stepped forward, lying through his teeth flawlessly. “Her parents are dead, so I can sign anything or do whatever you need. But she is eighteen.”

I didn’t know if it was his looks or the way I clearly despised him, but the paramedic didn’t swallow his shit for a second and concentrated only on me.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” She asked gently as she handed me a bottle of water from inside the ambulance.

“Yeva.” I sipped the drink eagerly. “Yeva Montana.”

She blanched at that, and I fucking laughed. I knew it was rude. Maybe a little childish of me. But seriously? A single surname and she was panicking like I had a knife against her throat?

She would never have survived real pain and danger. She was weak to fear words and meaningless letters piled together.

“And you’re okay with your cousin coming with us and helping you to the hospital?” To be fair to her, she continued her questioning, even going so far as to make sure I wasn’t in danger or in need of help.

She didn’t know the only danger here was me stealing a scalpel or something from inside the ambulance and using it to carve three human pumpkins.

“Yes, but I don’t need it.” I got to my feet, ignoring the pain flaring in my hip. “Give me painkillers and I sort things out later for myself. Trust me, I am okay – this is nothing.”

I wasn’t being brave. I’d just had worse. Far worse.

This felt like nothing compared to that.

With only a little more protest that I secretly appreciated, she handed me some painkillers, another bottle of water to replace the one I’d quickly finished, and some wet wipes before she headed off to do her job elsewhere.

Shaking off the throbbing in my head and hip, I swallowed the drugs and then turned to the three monsters still crowding me in the hubbub.

“ Why the fuck are you even here?” I dragged some wipes over my face, no doubt smearing my eyeliner in my bid to get rid of the ash that made my skin feel gross.

“ We’re Red Diamonds members now .” Daniil slid his leather jacket off, wrapping it around my shoulders before I could move out of the way. “ You would be dead in a fire without us; say thank you and we can move on to other things .”

“ I would rather be dead than indebted to you .” I didn’t take his jacket off, but only because I felt a little better with it hiding my arms away.

The more layers I wore when on edge, the better I felt. Even if those layers came from a rodent.

He didn’t miss a beat as he crossed his tattooed arms over his chest, jostling his silver chain. “ Want me to hand you my gun, then? You can kill yourself now and feel better.”

I scoffed as I locked eyes with Lincoln across the driveway and saw him stride my way. “ If you give me a gun, I will put a bullet in you .” I told Daniil with a bright grin.

“ I’d let you put anything in me if you asked nice enough .” He winked and – all thanks to the pain I was in and the adrenaline shooting through my veins – I snorted a tiny laugh before I could school my features.

Lincoln stopped before us, ignoring the guys as he spoke to me and thankfully gave me an escape from having to crush Daniil’s ego just because he’d made me laugh.

“You okay, kid?” Lincoln stopped a decent enough distance away and didn’t try to touch me. That was why I liked him the most out of Sapphire’s men. He understood how to be trained in civility.

I nodded. “Are your friends and people good?”

“Mostly. Logan’s legs are broken and we’re all a little burned. But we have shit we need to do, so I can wait to see a doctor.” He pulled a gun from the back of his black trousers, offering me the handle. “Can you keep things in control for a bit? You’re the only Montana here right now, and I need to go and chase another one.”

“You trust me to be boss for a while?” My brows rose, a bright spark of excitement thrumming through my veins.

“Sapphire would.” He replied. “So can you handle clean up and making sure things go smoothly until Beau arrives?”

I took the gun from his hand and that was all the answer he needed, before he yanked Kody away from Rika – who, true to form, was flirting with the female paramedic that had helped me – and found the nearest car to borrow. As the two men sped away, off doing whatever other nonsense the night had thrown our way, I turned back to the three banes of my existence, petty power fuelling me.

“ It’s your lucky night, boys .” I grinned as I made a list of my demands, dishing out the best ones for the three of them. “ I’m going to be talking to you, after all .”

If they didn’t hate me by the end of the night, then I would be thoroughly surprised.

It was my mission to hurt them.