John Wick - Chapter 85: Isn’t It Better to Stay Alive? (Patreon)

The Marker ledger lay in front of Santino. The man slumped over the table was in so much pain that his face had twisted beyond recognition. His body kept jerking, making the table shake along with him.

Summoning what little strength he had left, Santino finally pressed his bloody finger onto the ledger before sliding helplessly to the floor.

Nate immediately collected both the ledger and the Marker and placed them behind him. Then he pulled out his phone, tapped the screen a few times, and sent someone a message.

“The antidote... anti... dote...”

Santino lay on the floor with vacant eyes, still convulsing. His consciousness was already starting to fade.

John flicked the small pill straight into Santino’s mouth, and Nate tilted his chin up to help him swallow it.

After a while, Santino finally stopped convulsing.

He looked as though someone had dragged him out of a swimming pool. His suit was completely soaked through with cold sweat.

His pants were especially drenched.

He struggled back to his feet and collapsed into a chair, waiting for the lingering pain from the spasms to subside.

It took him a long while to recover enough to raise his head.

“You’re good, Nate Lin.”

“Thanks.”

“That poison was impressive. So was the planning.” Santino’s voice was ice-cold.

“No. You’re just stupid.”

Nate shook his head, refusing the compliment. He straightened in his seat and leaned forward.

“Santino, is power really that important? Important enough that you’d use your own family as stepping stones to climb higher?”

This time, Nate was completely serious.

Santino thought for a moment. He studied the young man in front of him as though something had occurred to him, then nodded.

“Yes. It is. Very important, Nate. And soon enough, you’ll find yourself facing the same situation.”

He no longer bothered hiding his intentions.

Santino gave Nate a meaningful smile, though with the state he was currently in, the effect was more ridiculous than intimidating.

John frowned at the wet patch on the carpet.

“Enough. Your Marker has already been used. What are you planning to do now?”

Santino slumped gracelessly into the chair and spread his hands.

“Am I actually going to walk out of here alive?”

“That depends on what you choose, Santino. I don’t want to kill you,” John said.

Nate turned to John in disbelief.

“Seriously? After everything we just did to him, you still want to let him walk?”

John shot him an irritated look.

“You think I want to? His sister is a close friend of mine. If I kill him, how am I supposed to explain that to her?”

Nate covered his face.

“I’m telling you, John. There was definitely something going on between you two.”

“Bullshit!”

Nate grinned. “Wow. Defensive.”

Santino watched the two of them bicker, then smiled.

“Well, apparently there’s still room to negotiate. My sister will be crowned in Rome a week from now. The safest way in is through the catacombs.”

He turned toward Nate.

“What do you think, Mr. Lin? Interested? I can offer you a price you won’t be able to refuse.”

John and Nate immediately stopped arguing and turned toward him at the same time.

Nate spoke first.

“Can you give me a hundred million dollars?”

Santino froze.

“Give me a hundred million and I’ll actually do it. I don’t know your sister. I’ve got no personal attachment to her.”

Santino remained speechless.

“The most I can offer is ten million,” he finally said, lowering his head.

“Then why the hell are you acting like a big shot? Get out.”

Nate waved him away dismissively.

Santino left John’s house with his head hanging like a beaten dog.

Three bodyguards were waiting outside, one of them a woman. She immediately began signing rapidly to Santino.

He understood her perfectly.

Are you all right? Do you want me to go inside and kill them?

Santino shook his head.

He patted the mute woman on the shoulder, then stood outside John’s front door and glanced back inside.

The two men were still talking.

Suddenly, Santino’s gaze hardened.

Without saying a word, he walked over to the trunk of his car.

The trunk opened, the lid sliding upward.

Inside was an ARWEN 37 grenade launcher fitted with a scope.

Silently, Santino loaded grenades into the launcher one after another. Then he walked around to the front of the car, raised the weapon toward John’s house, and pulled the trigger.

The grenade shot from the barrel.

It barely traveled any distance before a throwing knife came spinning out of nowhere and struck it, sending it straight back the way it had come.

The grenade bounced across the ground several times before rolling underneath the car.

BOOM!

The vehicle behind Santino was blown onto its side.

Santino and the rest of his bodyguards were knocked to the ground by the blast.

Elena emerged from the bushes behind them and promptly shot the other two bodyguards.

The only one left was the mute woman.

She scrambled to her feet and immediately stepped in front of Santino, shielding him with her body as she drew her pistol.

Before she could even chamber a round, a throwing knife buried itself straight through her hand.

The pistol fell.

And discharged.

The bullet struck Santino in the knee.

He collapsed on the spot, clutching his leg and screaming in agony.

Elena stood about ten feet away, pistol trained on the two of them.

“Don’t move!”

The mute woman stared at the barrel of Elena’s gun, slowly raised both hands above her head, and stopped moving.

Nate emerged from the house alongside John, casually spinning a throwing knife between his fingers.

“Good thing you never got that window fixed, John. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known where to throw the damn thing from.”

Nate looked down at Santino.

“Why’d you have to do that? Isn’t it better to stay alive, Mr. Santino?”

Then he glanced at John.

“John, I gave him his chance. There isn’t going to be another one.”

John said nothing.

He simply nodded.

“Mr. Lin, I have a great deal of money. We can negotiate...”

Santino never finished the sentence.

A throwing knife curved past the mute woman and buried itself in the center of Santino’s forehead.

The light slowly faded from his eyes.

Santino D’Antonio, one of the most detestable villains in the entire John Wick world, lost both his dignity and his life that night.

The mute woman stared at Santino’s corpse.

A flash of grief crossed her eyes.

She slowly pulled the throwing knife from her wounded hand, then gripped it in a reverse hold and faced Nate, John, and Elena with wary eyes.

Even after all that, she was still prepared to fight.

“Gotta respect the courage. And the loyalty. Shame you picked the wrong man to follow.”

Nate drew his pistol and aimed it at her.

When he’d watched the movie, he had thought her death was something of a waste. But given the situation now, if she still intended to fight, he couldn’t exactly let her go.

Hearing him, the mute woman looked at Nate and began signing.

Nate stared blankly at her.

“John, translate.”

“She says Santino treated her well, but now that he’s dead, her contract is over.”

“A Marker?” Nate asked.

The mute woman nodded repeatedly.

Then she tossed the throwing knife aside and started signing again.

Nate looked at John.

“What’s she saying now?”

John’s expression nearly cracked.

After a short pause, he answered.

“She says... she’s also a fan of mine. She wants to know if she can join us.”

The mute woman’s eyes were filled with such obvious anticipation that no one could possibly miss it.

She nodded furiously.

The moment Elena heard that, she lowered her pistol.

Nate could no longer sense any hostility from the woman either.

Quite the opposite.

So he smiled and extended his left hand toward her.

“Welcome to the Baba Yaga Fan Club!”

He had literally just come up with the name.

John covered his face.

He couldn’t bear to watch.

“What’s your name?” Nate asked.

Back when he’d watched the movies in his previous life, he genuinely hadn’t known what she was called.

The mute woman firmly shook his hand, then started signing again.

“John?”

“She says her name is Ares.”