by K. J. Dahlen
“And are you going to do that?” Sergi asked, though he knew better.
Roman shrugged. “I am not. I grew up a long time ago. I don’t need a father anymore. I had one when we met Nikoli. I had brothers too in the four of you. My life may not have been perfect from his stand point but we did okay. We may share the same bloodline but as I told him, he’s a stranger to me.” He rubbed his face with one hand in frustration. “I need to find Stevie and make this right.” Taking off down the hall, he thought he heard something hit the floor. Roman frowned and when he reached the door to the room, it was suddenly opened from within. A man stood there with a surprised look on his face then he rushed forward knocking Roman to the side.
Roman called out.
Yuri and Nikoli came running. They tried to grab the man but he got away from them. A moment later, they all heard the door slam and running footsteps. They heard a banging sound and the pictures on the wall rattled.
Roman picked himself up and looked into the bedroom he was sharing with Stevie. His eyes got wide as he screamed out her name.
Moments later, Yuri, Nikoli and Sergi gathered at the door as Roman fell to his knees and gathered Stevie in his arms. They were both covered in blood, her blood. Blood from a stab wound to her belly.
Roman was screaming her name over and over.
Yuri grabbed his phone and called a doctor.
Nikoli and Misha rushed into the room and tried to lift her onto the bed but Roman wouldn’t let her go. He wouldn’t let them even get close to her. He cradled her in his arms and rocked her back and forth, half out of his mind. He thought she was dead and he couldn’t accept her loss.
Finally, the doctor showed up and he urged Roman to lay her on the floor. When he determined she was still alive, Roman surged to his feet. Hauling the doctor up, he glared at the man and snarled, “You better keep her alive. She’s carrying my baby. I want them both to live. Do you understand me?”
The doctor nodded his head. “I’ll do my very best.”
Then Roman turned around and glared at Yuri. “Where is the bastard who ran out of here?”
“Kosta has him out in the hall.”
“Let’s go say hello,” he spit out.
Stomping out of the suite, he saw the two of them. Kosta was standing over a prone body lying on the floor. Kosta’s fists were red with the other man’s blood. He looked up at Yuri and Roman and saw the blood on Roman’s clothing.
“What did he do?” Kosta asked.
“`Tchyo za ga`lima! He fucking stabbed Stevie.” Roman growled.
“Did he kill her?”
“That has yet to be determined. He’d better hope not,” Yuri stated. “Take him down the back stairs to the fun room for questioning. We’ll be down as soon as we know anything.”
Kosta grabbed the man by the back of his shirt and hauled him to the back elevator. Roman turned around and went back inside Yuri’s suite. He went straight to his bedroom where he found the doctor still working on Stevie. Roman moved to stand beside Raven at the top of the bed. Watching the doctor, he felt Raven put her arm around his waist. “He’s doing all he can to save her and the baby.”
Roman couldn’t speak. He nodded but couldn’t take his eyes off the woman who meant the world to him. His mind was in turmoil as he watched the blood dripping into a puddle on the floor beside the bed.
Raven moved away at some point and grabbed a towel to sop up the blood. No one said a word for hours while the doctor did what he could to save her life. Finally, four hours later, he pulled the covers up to her chest and got to his feet. Looking over at Roman and Sergi at the head of the bed he told them, “I’ve done what I could to stabilize her. Now we have to wait. She getting IV fluids to replace the blood she lost and I’ll be checking on her as much as I need to. I’ll get some more blood into her but at this point, all we can do is pray she’s strong enough to survive this attack.”
Roman stared down at the pale version of Stevie. The blood had been washed away for the most part and her eyes were closed. There were dark bruises under her eyes because the rest of her skin looked so pale, almost shallow. He could see the rising and falling of her breathing but it was by no means steady enough, instead she took small shallow breaths. He raised his head and glared at the doctor. “Will she survive?”
The doctor hesitated to give his answer. But he was swore to tell the truth and he knew better than to lie to these men. “I’m not sure. The knife he plunged into her did some damage. It might have nicked the main artery to her heart. All we can do is wait and see if her body can heal itself. I’ll keep an eye on her and move her to the hospital unit if I need to but right now, I’d rather not move her. If we move her around too much, her body might not take it so well. We’ve got the bleeding stopped for now. I’d rather not start it up again.”
“And the baby?” Roman had to ask.
“The baby is still with her, for now. The trauma could still take it but for now, it’s still nestled within her. The heart beat seems to be strong so there’s a good chance it will survive.”
Benny had snuck in at some point and he was sitting in the corner crying. “She’s strong. She has to pull through this. She just has too. She’s a fighter. Stevie’s always been a fighter,” he murmured through his tears.
Roman went over to him and squatted beside him. Grabbing the back of Benny’s neck, he pulled the boy toward him. Touching foreheads he whispered, “She’s gonna make it. She has to. We’re gonna get married and have a baby together. We will be a family.”
Benny wrapped his arms around Roman’s shoulders. “I hope so, god I hope so. I don’t want to lose her not now.”
“Me neither,” Roman whispered. Then he pulled away from the boy and got to his feet. Looking over at the bed where Stevie was laying he told Benny, “You stay with her for now. I have something that can’t wait but I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Did you catch the vermin that did this to her?” Benny wanted to know.
Roman nodded.
“Before you kill him, ask him why?” Was all Benny would say before he went over to the bed and sat down beside his sister. Reaching out, he held her hand and wouldn’t let it go. He wouldn’t look at anyone else in the room only Stevie.
Roman turned and left the room. He headed down in the elevator. His chest felt tight. His fists were in tight balls at his side. He never wanted to kill anyone this badly.“Zaebis!” Not even the man who had attacked him as a child.
Roman opened the door to the soundproof room in the basement of the hotel. None of the staff of the hotel was allowed down here. Most of Yuri’s employees didn’t know this floor even existed. Which at this point was probably a good thing.
When he walked into the room, he saw his brothers were already there. Along with Nikoli, Sergi and Misha. Yuri turned to him and asked, “How is she?”
“She’s still with us but the next few hours will tell the tale,” Roman told them.
“And the baby?” Misha asked.
“Hanging in there as well.” Roman acknowledged. He looked over at the man tied to the chair in the middle of the room. He had only the bruises that Kosta had given him when he was caught. The blood trickling down his face was dried in places but his eyes told another story. They blazed hatred at the group of men facing him.
“I’m glad you waited until I could join you to begin asking questions,” Roman said out loud.
The hitman sneered. “Yeah, we’ve just been staring at each other for a while now. They haven’t even asked me my name.”
Roman nodded. “We already know your name dumb fuck.” He scoffed. “Mr. John Jayson Hilliard, otherwise known as Jack Hail from small town Salem, New Jersey. You live there with your wife Sheila and two daughters Emily and Brook.” Shrugging he said, “They will never know what really happened to you. For them, you just never returned from a business trip. I’m sure they’ll wonder what happened for a long time before they finally give up on you and move on with their lives.”
Jack
’s mouth dropped open as he heard what Roman was saying. “How the fuck do you know all that?”
Roman gave him a cold smile. “We have our ways. Now we need to know some information.” He looked over at his brothers. “Did anyone take pictures before we get started?”
Yuri looked at Sazon and shrugged. “We forgot.”
“What the hell do you need pictures for?” Jack demanded.
“We have to have a way to identify your remains.” Roman shrugged. “It helps to have a photograph before the real damage begins. Zhopu porvu margala vikoliu.”
“Although, I don’t think we’ll need them in this case,” Yuri stated knowing that Roman just told the man in Russian what they were about to do to him. The man would soon find out. “The police will never find the pieces of what’s left of him after this interrogation.”
Roman nodded. “Well, that’s true enough.” Glancing over at Jack, he grinned. “Shall we begin?”
“You don’t scare me.” Jack sneered. “You guys are a big bunch of pussies.”
“Now that would be your final mistake,” Roman warned him. “Your first mistake was coming after my woman. Your second was staying here to try and finish the job.”
“If you’re going to kill me just get on with it,” Jack urged them. “This game is boring.”
“Oh, we’re going to kill you but we’re going to take our time in doing it,” Yuri informed him. “It seems karma wants more than just one bitch slap at you. Karma wants to even the score a bit before death comes for you,”
Jack narrowed his eyes. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Does the number twenty four mean anything to you?” Sazon asked.
Roman glared at him. “And you tried to make my woman twenty five. Now you will never live to see that number.”
Jack had wondered how they knew he was at 24 hits. No one knew this. No one! It didn’t matter now though. Going from face to face, he read the answer in their eyes. They had death in their eyes. His death and Jack knew there was no getting away from it this time.
It’d taken hours to get the information they needed to know. Jack finally understood what that man, Yuri meant when he said Karma wanted more than one bitch slap at him. He couldn’t speak out loud at this point. His tongue was somewhere on the floor by his feet. All he could do was scream inside his own head. He was weak from blood loss and broken bones, but most of all he was just plain tired.
The interrogation had been brutal and Jack finally understood revenge Russian style. He had however given up his contact person before they took his tongue. At that point, in the interrogation he knew nothing would save either one of them and Jack figured if he was going to die then his contact could as well.
Finally, a cold feeling of metal slid up against his temple. They were going to let him out of this nightmare the quick way now. The last thing he heard was a low voice saying, “Noka....”
Chapter Twelve
Yuri placed a call to Pappy and told him about Stevie at the same time. Pappy said he would take care of Nick Bennett on his end. He also said he would turn over the evidence to the special DA in charge of the case. That’s when Yuri found out about Eugene Harris. He wasn’t sure what it meant but according to the news, the trial would go on without Eugene Harris. The DA claimed he wasn’t the only man on trial. The entire city government was on trial.
When Yuri went to tell his brothers what was going on in Baton Rouge, he found them all in Stevie’s bedroom. Roman was sitting next to the bed holding her hand. “I got some news from Pappy.”
“Oh, what was that?” Mikal asked.
“Eugene Harris died of an apparent heart attack yesterday afternoon while his attorney, Nick Bennett was visiting.”
Sazon rolled his eyes. “Are they sure it was a heart attack? He’s the one who hired a hitman to take out the star witness after all.”
Stevie opened her eyes and whispered something but no one could hear her. Roman leaned forward and listened as she repeated her statement. He looked at her and asked, “Are you sure?”
Stevie nodded and winced as she tried to make herself more comfortable. The doctor had been back several times that afternoon and had given her more blood and another IV of fluids. She was still incredibly weak but was hanging in there. Her hands went to her belly and she was happy to know that her baby was still there. When the knife pierced her body, she prayed her baby would survive. Her first question had been was her baby still alive. She’d been so happy to hear that the baby was holding on.
Roman glanced at his brothers and told them what Stevie had said, “She said Eugen was deathly afraid of bees. He was very allergic to their stings or something like that and would spray every week to keep them away from the house and his office.”
Stevie nodded as she whispered, “He drove his wife crazy with all the fuss over bees. She often said she hoped a bee would sting him one day.” Her words were whispered but her voice was getting stronger. “She said it would take care of her problem if he did get stung. She wouldn’t have to put up with his whining anymore.”
Yuri nodded. “That would do it. I’ll pass along this information and make sure the medical examiner double checks for anything to do with bee and bee stings.”
“Did he say what Nick was doing now?” Barshan asked.
Yuri smiled. “No but they are keeping an eye on him. Silas got a hold of some damning information about old man Bennett and papered his hotel room twice with old photos and newspaper clippings from back at the time Seth Bennett died. The newspaper clippings were never reported and the story was squashed before it ever went into print but the information was still presented to the editor. Reports say old Nick was shaken up by finding it all over his room.”
Sazon thought for a moment then asked, “Do you think Nick had something to do with Eugene’s death?”
Yuri nodded. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he had. I never knew why he was there to begin with.”
Stevie frowned. “What were the newspaper clippings about?”
“Something about the fact that Seth Bennett might have had a child outside his marriage to Regina White Bennett.”
“You don’t think old Eugene was really a Bennett do you?” Stevie asked as her eyes widened.
No one said a word for a moment then Yuri began laughing out loud. “Hell that might be the answer. There’s no other reason he would be there. So Nick offed his own brother huh? That makes sense. It’s almost too perfect. Mommy would be so proud. He protected the family name from the scandal of a sex trial and all that bullshit.”
“She may think her family is safe again but the scandal is just about to rip her apart,” Roman added. “Maybe we should ask Pappy to find Seth’s autopsy report. Maybe good ole dad died the same way Eugene did and if we can connect the pair of them, the Bennett family won’t know what hit them.”
Yuri reached for his phone and dialed Pappy’s number. They had no idea what they were setting into motion but they hoped it came back to bite the Bennett’s right in the ass.
Baton Rouge
Pappy hung up the call and glanced over at Jackal. “We might have finally gotten a break.”
“How’s that?” Jackal asked.
“Yuri and his friends think Eugene was a Bennett and this asswipe, Nick didn’t like it. He died the same way Seth Bennett died fifteen years ago.”
Jackal thought about that for a moment then told him, “The newspaper clipping suggested something was going on behind the scenes back then. The reporter was ruined and the news was never printed.”
“I need to put a call into to Trudy. I need her to dig for Seth’s autopsy report. The one that was never furnished to the public.”
Jackal nodded. “That might be interesting.”
Silas and Matthias were waiting for Ricky to call about who the mystery man might be. He’d been watching Nick Bennett’s hotel room all day.
Ricky came into their little group and sat down next to Silas. “Well, I got the deets on mystery
man.”
“Who is he and what does he want with Nicky boy?” Matthias asked.
“His name is Karl Mead and he’s Lizzie Evans boyfriend. The reporter that got her life ruined when she tried to get the story out about old man Bennet. In fact, Karl is the only one of her friends that stood beside her when shit hit the fan fifteen years ago. The Bennett family ruined that poor girl and almost put her in jail on some trumped up charge of breaking and entering along with slander. Their attorney dropped the slander charge due to the fact that they would have had to prove Seth Bennett had no other children and they weren’t willing to do that at the time.”
Silas shook his head. “Boy that family has a lot to answer for.”
“Especially, if Nicky boy murdered Eugene,” Matthias suggested.
“Well if he did, he did it right in front of a guard,” Silas reminded them. “I’d still like to know how he did that.” He shrugged. “Maybe this Trudy can find out if Seth was allergic to anything that Nick isn’t.” Silas’ cell rang and he stepped aside to answer it. A few minutes later, he stepped back up to the group and he was shaking badly.
Matthias stared hard at him. “Bad news?”
Silas was shaken up as he nodded. “Bad and good.”
Then men stared at him.
Old George clenched his fists. “It ain’t Stevie is it?”
Silas nodded.
“NO! Dammit all… no.” His eyes filled with tears. “They got to her?”
Silas put his hand on his shoulder. “They tried. She got injured but is okay.”
George let out a huge breath. “Why didn’t ya say something? Give an old man a fucking heart attack!”
“What’s the good news?” Matthias interjected looking upset too.
“They got the hit man. He is no longer with us. Them Russians don’t take that shit very well and he ended up being…Let’s just say, very sorry before he expired.”
“Good!” George exclaimed. “That killer should pay for all he’s done!”
Silas lapsed into silence. Thinking about what this meant and what he should do next. “I need you guys as backup.”
