The Empire Bleeds
1028 Words
Konstantin
The gate opened with a slow metallic groan.
His fingers tightened around the gun beneath his jacket as he moved forward cautiously, keeping his eyes on the mansion. A body lay near the fountain. He recognized the uniform immediately. One of Sergei’s guards. Konstantin crouched beside him and checked his pulse even though he already knew what he’d find. The man was already dead.
He stood and continued toward the house. Another body lay near the eastern entrance, then another beside the garage. Whoever had attacked the estate hadn’t simply broken in. They had moved through it systematically, killing anyone who stood in their way.
The front doors were still open.
Konstantin entered.
The smell of gunpowder and blood hit him immediately. Glass covered the marble floor, furniture had been overturned, and bullet holes marked the walls. He walked through the sitting room slowly, checking the bodies as he went. He knew almost every man lying there.These were men who had spent years protecting Sergei, men who had eaten at the same tables and stood guard through countless nights.
Seeing them scattered across the mansion made something inside his chest tighten.
“Damn it.”
A body was sprawled beside the fireplace. Another lay near the dining room. Konstantin continued deeper into the house, his eyes constantly moving from one corner to another.
“Big Boss?”
His voice disappeared into the empty corridors.
No answer came.
He checked Sergei’s office first. It was empty.
The desk had been searched. Drawers hung open, papers scattered across the floor.
Konstantin stopped in front of the bookshelf in Sergei’s office. He ran his fingers along the edge until he found the hidden switch.
A click sounded softly.
The bookshelf shifted, revealing the secret passage behind it.
Konstantin pulled his gun higher as he entered. The bookshelf closed behind him, leaving the destroyed mansion behind as he moved into the narrow passage. The only light came from the small attachment beneath his weapon, illuminating the concrete walls as his footsteps echoed through the darkness.
Konstantin reached the bunker door.
It stood open.
He pushed it wider with the barrel of his gun.
“Big Boss?”
He stepped inside.
The room was almost completely dark. His light swept across the walls, the desk, the chair, the weapons cabinet, then the floor.
Konstantin stopped so suddenly his entire body went rigid.
For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.
The old man was lying against the wall, his black shirt soaked through. His silver-headed walking stick was several feet away from his body.
Konstantin lowered his gun.
“No…”
He crossed the room quickly and dropped beside him.
“Big Boss.”
He pressed two fingers against Sergei’s neck, hoping—against everything he had already seen—that he might feel something.
There was nothing.
He checked again, pressing harder this time as though his own refusal to accept reality could somehow bring back a pulse.
Still nothing.
“Come on.”
He pressed his palm against Sergei’s chest as if somehow he could force the heart beneath it to beat again.
“Come on, old man.”
Nothing change
His jaw trembled once before he clenched it.
“You don’t get to do this.”
His voice was rough.
“You don’t get to leave me with this mess.”
Sergei didn’t move.
Konstantin looked away for a moment, swallowing hard. He had seen Sergei wounded before. He had watched him survive situations that should have killed him. Somewhere inside his mind, he had always believed the old man would somehow survive this too.
But there was no surviving this.
His hand slipped from Sergei’s chest. Konstantin looked down at the blood covering his fingers, then stared at the man who had been the closest thing he had ever had to a father and felt something inside him go completely still.
He remembered the first time Sergei had found him. Konstantin had been nothing but a starving boy with anger in his eyes and nowhere to sleep. Sergei could have ignored him like everyone else had, but he didn’t. He gave him food, a room, a name, and eventually a place within the Romanov empire.
He taught Konstantin how to survive, how to fight, how to lead, and most importantly, how to never depend on anyone.
Yet Sergei had become the one person Konstantin had depended on without even realizing it.
Konstantin had spent his entire life repaying that debt.
And now the man was gone.
His fist slammed into the floor.
The sound echoed through the bunker. He struck it again, harder this time, his breathing becoming heavier as the anger finally pushed through the grief.
“Ha!”
He reached for Sergei’s walking stick and held it tightly. His eyes burned, but he refused to let the tears fall. After a moment, he carefully placed the walking stick beside Sergei.
“I’ll find whoever did this.”
His voice shook.
“I swear.”
A faint sound came from the corridor.
Konstantin’s head turned sharply.
He immediately grabbed his gun and moved toward the bunker entrance, pressing himself against the wall. Footsteps approached slowly from somewhere beyond the passage.
He waited.
The footsteps stopped.
Konstantin’s grip tightened around his weapon.
For a moment, he thought it might be one of the attackers who had somehow remained inside the estate.
He stepped into the corridor, his gun raised.
Empty.
He listened again.
Another faint movement came from farther down the passage.
Konstantin moved toward it carefully.
Then he heard a door open.
He immediately turned toward the mansion.
Whoever was inside was moving toward him.
His instincts sharpened.
He reached the end of the passage and stepped out into the main hallway.
At that exact moment, bright headlights swept across the front windows.
Konstantin stopped.
His eyes narrowed as he looked toward the gates.
More headlights appeared behind the first.
One SUV. Then another. Then another.
Several black SUVs were parked outside the mansion, their engines still running. Armed men were moving around them, spreading across the grounds and checking the perimeter.
Konstantin’s hand remained firmly around his gun.
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