Iosif -To load

by Dahlen, K. J.

  Sergi searched her body looking for any signs of life. Only when he saw her chest rise and fall did he know she lived. He turned and went back to the living room.

  Yuri, Roman, NIkoli, Misha and Kosta all looked at him with a question in their eyes.

  “She’ll live I hope.” Running his fingers through his hair he turned to Nikoli and Yuri, “Who is this snake she spoke of?”

  “We think the man’s name is Walter Frank,.” Yuri told him. “He’s well known for the tattoo on his left wrist of an open mouth snake, ready to strike.” He paused then added, “He is also Jaden’s father. He is the man who stole your cousin off the streets and brought her to this country. He taught her to be a whore and he pimped her out to his clients. Then we think she witnessed him killing one of his clients, a Senator and he told her she would go to jail for the murder if she didn’t keep her mouth shut. That happened just before she took off on him.”

  Sergi looked fit to kill at this story. His fists were clenched at his sides.

  “The reason she took off was because she was carrying the man’s baby and he would have made her get rid of the child,” Nikoli took up the story. “He found them four years later and well, I guess we all know what happened then.”

  “You should also know that Franks is married to Helene Vogalan,” Yuri told the other man.

  Sergi tossed his hands in the air. “Why doesn’t that surprise me a bit? She is every bit the monster as he is.” He looked over at both men, “The question is what are you going to do about stopping him? For him to live another day seems a waste of time to me.”

  “We’ve been discussing that.” Yuri glanced over at Nikoli then back to Sergi. “We would like to bring down his entire empire. Take everything the man owns and burn it to the ground. Put him, Helene and everyone on his payroll in prison for the rest of their lives.”

  “I want his blood.” Sergi growled lowly. “I want him to suffer as Annika has suffered, as Jaden still suffers.”

  Yuri nodded as his eyes held pure rage. “So do I and da, we usually do away with this kind of scum, but I think this way is better. Death is permanent. To grant him a swift death would be a mercy he doesn’t deserve. I think a few years in prison would give the man a taste of the hell Annika went through. We could arrange his time there to be nothing more than a living hell, he would be the one pimped out. He would be someone’s bitch. He will almost welcome death but never quite see it. We will make sure of this.”

  Sergi smiled for the first time since he’d arrived. “Yuri… you always were a beast, just like me.”

  Then men in the room snickered a little.

  “I agree. Set your plan in motion.” Sergi looked over at Roman. “And this Billy Jo bastard? What do you know of him?”

  Roman shrugged. “With Jaden’s help we were able to name the men he runs with and we got them at Sazon’s gym. They don’t know much about his reasons for hating Jaden but they do know he spoke to Franks about Jaden already. They even bragged how Billy Jo thought to blackmail Franks about letting word out that Jaden is his daughter and that he tried to kill her eighteen years ago when he murdered Jaden’s mother. In this country, there is no limitations on murder. Franks could still go to jail if Billy Jo’s charges could be confirmed. We don’t think Walter Franks will allow Billy Jo to blackmail him or tell anyone what he knows. We have someone watching him even as we speak.”

  “Good, I want that young man to feel the burn of my rage. What he has done to Jaden is inexcusable.” Sergi told them as he looked enraged again. “Bring him in before Franks has him killed. I want this bastard to know why he’s dying.”

  Roman nodded and turned to Kosta who moved away to make the call.

  Sergi turned to Yuri. “Did you really accept Iosif as one of your own?”

  “I did.” Yuri nodded.

  “Da, this is good.” He nodded. “Iosif will be happy here as long as he has her in his life.” He looked over at Nikoli. “How close are you to finding all the players on Franks’ payroll?”

  “We’ve only gotten started but we can move along a bit faster if you like.”

  “Oh, I like that very much,” Sergi assured them. “I don’t want that child to live one more day in fear. She has endured too much pain already. She deserves some happiness in her life and I plan to give that to her.” He rubbed his hands together. “Now did you say something about having custody of the men Billy Jo runs with? I think I’d like to talk to them in person. If you please?”

  The men in the room knew what this meant. This man was the deadliest of them all. No one ever crossed him that he hadn’t squashed like a bug under his Russian boots.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Jaden wakened slowly. Her head hurt, her throat hurt and even her eyes hurt. She didn’t remember what happened or why she was sleeping at all. The last thing she remembered was listening to her boyfriend argue with his father. She cracked her eyes open and the room was dark so she couldn’t really see much.

  She could feel another body nearby and she knew it was Iosif. She reached out and touched his hand.

  He came alive at her touch. “Honey, are you back with me?”

  Jaden brushed her hand over his chest. “Yeah, I guess I am. What happened?”

  “You remembered a part of your past.”

  Jaden closed her eyes. She remembered it, all of it.

  She tried to turn away from him but Iosif wouldn’t let her. He gathered her into his arms and held her. “Please don’t shut me out,” he whispered softly. “I need you. I need to be part of you as you a part of me and my life. I can’t undo your past but I can be there for your future.”

  Jaden looked up at him through her tears. “How can you still want me?” she asked. “I’m tainted. The man who fathered me murdered my mother and almost murdered me.”

  “But we already knew that, didn’t we? And I never stopped wanting you because of that. You didn’t do that, he did. What happened that day was on him not on you.”

  “But your family will never accept me,” she wailed softly.

  “Timor Maxim is no longer my family,” he insisted.

  She cried a little harder at his words. “Nooo. He will always be your father, no matter what happens he’ll always be the man who gave you life. You can’t turn your back on him. Don’t you understand? I never had that. You do. You cannot turn away from family.”

  “No I probably can’t,” Iosif admitted. “But I no longer have to live and breathe for him. I will however, live and breathe for you. That is if you’ll let me.”

  Jaden sobbed into his chest. “Yes. I would gladly live and breathe for you too.”

  Iosif nuzzled her neck. “Can I keep you?” he whispered.

  “You want to keep me even with all my baggage?” she was surprised by his questions and just blurted out her own question.

  Iosif nodded. “Even with all your baggage, I want you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because before we met, I didn’t feel much of anything and with you I feel everything. I’m beginning to see the world through your eyes and I love that.”

  “Part of that baggage is still out there and he’s hunting me. He thinks he has to finish what he started eighteen years ago. What happens if he gets that chance?”

  “Mylash, you got me to stand between you and whatever else is out there.” He swore. “Not only that but you have the Bratva as well. Walter Franks thinks he tough? Huh, he ain’t seen nothing yet. We’re old school tough. The Bratva has been in business a very long time and those who come up against us wish they’d never been born when we get through with them.”

  “That scares me just a little bit, you know,” she finally admitted after a few minutes.

  “Baby…” He laid his forehead on hers and looked her in the eyes. “It should scare you but know this, we will always protect you. You belong to me and now Sergi and Misha. The Bratva protects their own. Your life, your mother’s life should have been so different. You never should have known wh
at it feels like to be alone or hungry, or terrified. Your mother never should have been working in a strip club or witness to a murder. Sergi may be older but I think he’s going to shine as he metes out justice, Bratva style.”

  “And Billy Jo? What’s going to happen to him?”

  “He will never hurt you again,” Iosif promised her without telling her anything. “You or anyone else.”

  “Good, as much as I wish I could feel sorry for him I can’t really say that. He made a game of taunting me, letting me think I was safe when he was watching me all these years. I don’t know what his problem was but when he couldn’t take it anymore, he would find me and make me pay for some imaginary crime against him. I never did anything to him but every time he hit me he would taunt me, telling me I deserved what he was doing to me.”

  Iosif frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I know.” Jaden shrugged. “He never did say why or whatever I did to him, only that I deserved what he was doing. That I didn’t deserve to breathe. He looked at me with such hate in his heart I thought he would end up killing me one day.”

  Iosif frowned. He had a hunch he didn’t like. He got up and urged her to her feet. Leading her out to the living room he found Barshan sitting there watching TV. “Can you get someone from security up here?”

  Barshan nodded and called downstairs.

  Moments later Stephanous joined them. Iosif, Barshan and Stephanous spoke quietly for a moment then Stephanous disappeared again.

  “What’s going on?” Jaden asked him at last.

  “You said something that didn’t make any sense at first. Then I thought about it and I got an idea. I asked Stephanous to check it out.”

  “What are you thinking?” She felt puzzled and lost as to what he was thinking.

  “I want to wait and see if I’m right before I tell you.” He sat her down and told her to relax. “I will make you some of our coffee, okay?”

  She smiled at him. “Oh, I would love that!”

  He chuckled and went to the kitchen.

  An hour later, Roman and Yuri joined them. Iosif went to the living room and told them about his idea.

  They all paused but then they nodded at his theory.

  Then Stephanous came back and shared what he found with them.

  Iosif came to her and told her they were ready to confront Billy Jo and his crew. He took Jaden’s hand and tipped her face up to his. “We found the connection we were looking for and we think we know the reason Billy Jo wouldn’t stop coming after you. But I think you need to see his face when we confront him with this evidence.”

  “Ok,” Jaden whispered as she trembled. “I can try, I guess. It will be scary to see him, but I will try?”

  She fretted silently all the way over to the Gym where they were holding Billy Jo and his friends. It wasn’t until they were walking down the steps that she settled down. She watched Isoif walking in front of her and just decided she had to trust him. To trust in him, if they were going to be together she had to trust him with her very life.

  By the time she got to the bottom step, she felt confident in Iosif’s ability to keep her safe.

  Then he opened a door at the end of a short hall.

  The scent of blood stung her nose but she walked into the room unafraid.

  There were five men tied to chairs in front of her. Billy Jo, Jack, Larry and Jason were the ones she knew. She didn’t know the fifth man.

  All five men were in various degrees of being beaten. They were covered in blood and broken skin. Bruises and swelling skin could be seen everywhere.

  Billy Jo looked at her with a black eye and a swollen jaw. She saw several bruises on his chest and ribs. Blood streaked down his face and dripped on the floor around his feet. His bare feet even looked black and blue and she could see several marks where he’d been beaten on his bare skin.

  But she had no sympathy for him. She hoped each and ever strike had hurt. She remembered thinking she hoped he ended her pain and when she passed out, she was almost sorry when she woke up still alive the next morning. Years and years of this. She had just taken it. She could never fight as it got her more beatings. It all rushed up inside her and she could barely contain it.

  “What the fuck are you doing here bitch?” he managed to slur. He spit out a mouthful of blood and spit. “Is this your doing? Huh? I see you made some new friends. Friends who think they can protect you, but they would be wrong.”

  “Shut up you fuckin little fool.” Growled the unknown man.

  Billy Jo laughed at him until he cried. Gasping for breath he glared at the other man, “You got no say here Victor. You were gonna kill me same as they are. You think they’ll let you live? They’re gonna kill you too.”

  “I know this,” the man named Victor told him. “But at least I’m going to go out like a man not a sniveling little boy.”

  “Fuck you man!” Billy Jo growled as he tried to glare at Victor. “And fuck your fucking boss man. The great, untouchable bastard, Walter Franks.”

  Victor glared back but didn’t say anything.

  Sergi, Misha, Nikoli and Yuri were standing against the far wall of the small room watching and listening to the exchange. As one, they turned to Iosif and without a word.

  The with a nod from Sergi, Iosif stepped forward and confronted Billy Jo. “Was it hard to confront the man you knew as Walter Franks without spitting in his face?”

  Billy Jo paled and licked his lips. “What the fuck are you talking about man?”

  “That man just can’t keep his cock in his own pants, can he?” Iosif stated with a cruel grin.

  Jaden started and swung her head around to stare at him. ‘What are you saying?” she asked.

  Iosif ignored her question and went on to taunt Billy Jo, “So when did you find out the truth? When did you find out that Walter Franks was your real father as well as Jaden’s?”

  No one said a word for the longest time then Billy Jo sneered at him. “When I was seventeen the man I called my father was in an accident. He needed blood and I thought I could give him mine. But my blood didn’t match his or my mothers. I didn’t understand why and I confronted my mom. That’s when she told me she’d had an affair with a married man back before I was born. She never told me his name but she did tell me the affair didn’t last very long. She begged me to understand that it simply happened and that her husband forgave her even when he found out the baby they both thought was his turned up not to be.” He scoffed. “I got mad and I wouldn’t let her alone, I needed to know the name of the bastard she slept with and finally she told me his name. Walter fucking Franks. Then she told me she never told him she had his bastard, me.” He turned to look at Jaden. “Then I saw her birthmark and I knew she was my half-sister. I knew then that if Franks ever found about her he would never believe I was his son too. He would have given her everything and I would be left with nothing. I wasn’t gonna let that happen. I was going to get everything he had to pass along.”

  Victor snorted. “That was never gonna happen you stupid shit.”

  “You don’t know that!” Billy Jo screamed desperately. “He was my father first. I’m his oldest child.”

  “And Walter never would have acknowledged you as his son.” Victor sneered. “Helene would have killed him if she ever knew about you or Jaden.”

  “Yes, I believe she would have,” Sergi admitted.” Her kind is ruthless.” He walked forward and glared at Billy Jo. “You have no idea what a true bitch that woman really is. As his wife, whatever he had was hers and she doesn’t share with anyone.”

  “But he doesn’t know I’m his son,” Billy Jo insisted. “I hadn’t told him yet.”

  Jaden stepped forward. “Do you think just because your blood is the same as his he would have cared for you? Do you know what he did to me when he found me and my mother? He murdered her because she witnessed him kill another man in his strip club then he tried to kill me. He saw the birthmark on my wrist and that didn’t stop him f
rom trying to kill me. I was three years old and he tried his hardest to strangle me. Then he walked away as if I were nothing but garbage. I didn’t know who he was until yesterday. My own father tried to kill me.”

  “And had he known you lived, he would have found a way to kill you at some point over the years,” Victor assured her.

  “But why?” Jaden cried out.

  “Because you were a sign that he wasn’t faithful to his wife,” Victor explained. “Not that she has any great love for him but if she couldn’t have his children, no other woman would either. Her family wouldn’t be made fools of and neither would she. She told him that when she found out she couldn’t have children. Not that she ever wanted them but she would be damned if she would let him have them either.”

  “Now that sounds like the Helene Vogalan I know and hate.” Sergi nodded.

  “If Walter hadn’t killed you she would have, had she known about either of you,” Victor assured them in a cold voice. “She was not someone anybody made a fool of.”

  “Why are you telling us all of this?” Jaden asked Victor.

  Victor shrugged. “I’m a dead man either way. They won’t let me go and even if they do, Walter will kill me. He’ll think I told them enough to bring down his empire.” He paused and looked at Sergi. “I assume that’s your agenda here?”

  Sergi gave him a single nod.

  “I thought so.” Victor sighed. “And I’ll bet the reason is something Walter did a lifetime ago.”

  “Yes,” Sergi told him. “That little girl he took from Moscow was my cousin. Jaden is my family as well. I was all for killing the man quickly but my colleagues talked me out of it. We wanted to give the man a lifetime of pain he showed my cousin.”

  “That would do it.” Victor nodded. “Walter can’t stand not being in charge. He thinks he’s untouchable. He thinks his money can by his way out of trouble no matter what he does.”

  Yuri shook his head. “He no longer has any money to buy his way out of this.”