Fury: (Bratva Fury)

by Alexi Ferreira

  “This isn’t you. Think about what you are doing,” I plead, but I know he won’t listen. He is furious with me because of what he thinks I have done, and the only thing that will change his mind is him knowing the truth, but what will happen to Paige if that happens?

  “No, Haley, this is me, and now you will face my wrath.” He turns and leaves, not once looking back at me standing here still naked. I bend down, picking up the T-shirt and slipping it back on. It looks like I will have to get used to being dressed like this, because I doubt he will be getting any of my clothes.

  I’m going to need to try to find a phone. I won’t run from him because I don’t take Vlad for someone who gives up easily. I need to contact Paige and give her some kind of an excuse, because otherwise, she will go to the police and tell them that I have been kidnapped, and then all hell will break loose if they come here looking for me.

  I don’t know how long he will keep me here for, but I need to try to contact my work before I’m out of a job, and then Paige and I will definitely be in trouble. I want to hate him for what he is doing, but I know he is hurting because of what he thinks I have done to him. How can I possibly hate someone who has a reason to be angry?

  I’m sure he must have a phone, laptop, or tablet lying around somewhere. I will wait for him to go out, and then I will look for something that will help me let Paige know that I’m okay and that she mustn’t do anything. I look around and frown when I realize that my uniform is nowhere to be seen. Is it possible he took my uniform away?

  I can’t even try to call someone if all I have on is a T-shirt. “Oh, Haley, what have you gotten yourself into?” I whisper. Taking a deep breath, I make my way out of the room and towards the sitting room. I can hear Vlad’s voice; he’s talking in Russian, and at first, I stop, as I don’t want to go in if there is someone with him, but after a while of just hearing his voice, I gather he’s on his phone. Approaching quietly, I walk into the sitting room. Vlad is by the window, his back towards me as he looks out at the bustling city below.

  I look at his impressive body encased in a dark-blue suit today, and wonder if I will ever again touch him, caress him, like I used to do when he came over. He loved it when I stroked my fingers lightly across his back and neck. There were times when he would fall asleep after a bout of lovemaking, I would caress him, knowing he would relax.

  I don’t know what he is saying, but whatever it is has him angry by the way he is snapping at whoever is on the line. I wonder for the hundredth time if he is someone important in the mafia, as I don’t think everyone who belongs to them would have an apartment and car like he does, or if this is all derived from his fights. I would ask, but I know he won’t tell me, as he will think that I’m fishing for information. Suddenly, he snaps around, says something into the phone, and then disconnects the call.

  “I’m going out. Don’t try to leave, because you will be stopped,” he threatens as he makes his way towards the main door and then leaves, not giving me a chance to say anything else. Well, I might as well make the best of it and try to find myself a way to communicate with Paige. I know there is nothing here, as Vlad lives very sparsely. There is just one leather couch and a bar of sorts. Walking towards the kitchen, I look around; I would love to cook in this kitchen, but I doubt he will eat anything I make, as he might think that I am trying to poison him.

  Opening the fridge, I groan. There is hardly anything in here. A carton of milk and one of orange juice, a tub of butter, and a covered dish that looks like cottage pie, but as I don’t know how long it has been in the fridge, I leave it. I close the fridge and make my way through the cupboards. To my despair, they’re nearly as empty as the fridge.

  Is he planning on starving me too? The one thing I do find is a loaf of bread. Slipping two slices into the toaster, I make myself a cup of coffee to go with it. At least I won’t run out of coffee. There is enough coffee in the cupboard for a couple months.

  After my toast and coffee, I stroll around the apartment, as I didn’t see it yesterday. Walking through the sitting room that doesn’t have much to see, I walk down the corridor and past the room in which I slept last night. There is a bathroom to my right-hand side, and I look around but don’t really investigate, as what I am looking for won’t be in a bathroom.

  The next door is closed. Taking a deep breath, I turn the handle. Opening the door back, I see that Vlad has his own in-house gym. I guess for the fights he needs to keep fit, and what better way than being able to exercise at home if he wants to? I shake my head when I look at the equipment that fills the room. Most of the equipment in this room is most probably more expensive than all my furniture at home.

  Well, at least if I get bored I can always come and exercise; that is, if he doesn’t mind, but to be truthful, I doubt I will be in here often, as exercising has never been one of my favourite things to do, and luckily, I have never really needed it. Closing the door, I turn and make my way to the last door at the end of the corridor.

  Opening the door, I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this. The only thing in the room is a double bed and nothing more. Why didn’t Vlad put me in this room? Instead, he put me in what is clearly his room, with the king-size bed, the beautiful side tables with the black bedside lamps. For someone who wants to make me pay for what he thinks is my crime, he is keeping me in comfort.

  My heart has been feeling like it was being wrenched from my body, but this show of tenderness on his side has me feeling a little better. I doubt he even realizes that he did it, but the fact that he did means that he isn’t as bad as he is trying to portray.

  VLAD 5

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Alexei asks from behind me. I was so distracted with my own thoughts that I didn’t even hear him come in. Turning, I see him standing in the doorway to the changing rooms. Since leaving the apartment this morning, I came straight here. Usually the exertion of the fight has every thought leaving me except the perseverance of the fight, but not today.

  All I could think about was Haley and the way she reacted to me earlier. How can she react like that and then try to get me arrested? I don’t know what it is about her, but ever since meeting her, she has had my full attention. Touching her earlier and not being able to finish what I started is torturing me more than what it might be doing to her.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t try that crap with me. I know there is something that has you revved up, and don’t tell me it’s the fight,” Alexei states as he walks in and comes to stand before me. I can tell by his stance that he isn’t going to give up until he knows what it is.

  “Fine, but not here,” I say as I look behind him as one of our men walks into the changing room. When he sees us, he stops, but I incline my head for him to continue. Alexei looks over his shoulder and then back at me.

  “I want you to come find me when you’re finished with your training,” Alexei says as he turns around to leave. When he gets to the door, he stops again and looks back. “How is your training going? Are you ready?” Alexei always worries about me. If it were up to him, I wouldn’t fight, but even though he is my brother and the Bratva Fury boss, he would never try to prevent me from fighting. I started fighting when I was a teenager. Ever since then, I found that all the pent-up anger I had would dissipate when I fought.

  Fighting has been my coping mechanism ever since I can remember, but now when I need it, it seems to have deserted me. “I will be,” I answer, and Alexei raises a brow in query, but I only shrug in reply. All the other fights I have been ready at least three months in advance. Now we are one month out, and I am still trying to get my mindset right.

  “Later,” Alexei says again before he finally leaves. Turning, I slam the door of my locker closed, relieved at hearing it as it reverberates. Closing my eyes, I take in a deep breath to try to calm my thoughts before expelling. Time to get out there again.

  I make my way towards the ring where my opponent is already waiting for me. An
drei, who was training earlier, is standing on the outside of the ring, talking to the guy I’m training with. When he sees me, he steps away and comes towards me. “I saw Alexei. Is everything okay?”

  “Da, he just needs me to go talk to him later.” I step around Andrei, making my way to the ring. Before stepping in, I turn back to him. “Are you going to hang around?” He nods. When I am done here, I want him to go keep an eye on Paige until I decide how to proceed with Haley. I had one of our guys yesterday go tell Paige that Haley was staying with me for a few days, but that she forgot her phone and couldn’t text.

  He brought back Haley’s phone with a promise to Paige that she would text her. As Haley said, if Paige doesn’t hear from her soon, she might go to the cops, and that is the last thing we need right now. In my thirty-two years that I have managed to keep away from women’s wiles, my motto was enjoy them and leave. That is, until I met Haley. From the minute I saw her, I wanted her, and not only her body but her company too. From the beginning, she worried about me and what the fighting would do to my brain. Never has any other woman cared if I was sore from the fight or not. As long as I pleasured them, they were happy to ignore the rest. Now when I think back, I wonder if she was worried or if it was just a show?

  How could I be so wrong? How could—

  The punch to my jaw has me snapping back to the present. Shit, I need to keep my mind in the fight. Instinctively, I send a right hook flying, which has him flying back against the ropes. I see him shaking his head in disorientation as I move forward, but before I can punch him again, he lifts his arms in surrender. “Are you okay?” I ask.

  “Da, just a little lightheaded.” He gasps as he pulls his head guard off and then makes his way off the ring.

  “I can train with you.” I look over at Anatoly. He is one of our youngest, and most of the time, we have him in the building, guarding the parking or the entrance to the building, but there is something about this kid that just doesn’t seem right.

  “You’re not ready for that type of training, kid,” Andrei says as he goes to stand beside him and takes the head guard out of his hands and places it on his own head. I see the murderous look on his face when Andrei makes his way onto the ring. There is definitely something wrong with this kid. He snaps around and leaves the gym, not even going to the changing rooms.

  “Try not to knock me out, okay?” Andrei says as he advances towards me, lifting his arms in preparation. We start circling before he throws a punch, and then I advance and punch him back. “You want to tell me what has you nearly getting yourself knocked off your feet by a rooky?” Andrei has known me too long not to know that I don’t get distracted when in the ring.

  “I need you to help me with something,” I say as I throw a punch and hear him grunt. “I need you to keep an eye on someone for me.” He throws a punch, but I swerve, missing it.

  “Who?”

  “There is someone I have been seeing.” I haven’t told Andrei before about Haley, as I wanted Haley to be safe from the Bratva, and if push comes to shove, I know that Andrei would have to tell Alexei.

  “I know.” At Andrei’s reply, I stop, which earns me a punch in the stomach. Shit. Blocking the next punch, I throw one of my own. How does he know that I was seeing someone? I have always been extra careful.

  “How do you know?”

  “Come on, I’m supposed to have your back. How am I supposed to do that if I don’t know where you are?” he says as he steps back. I throw another punch. “I followed you after you went missing for the second time.”

  “How long have you known?” Here I thought no one knew.

  “About six months,” he mutters as he blocks a high kick. So much for thinking it was a secret. I should have known better. Andrei is way too committed to not have wondered why I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.

  “Is it her you want me to keep an eye on?” he asks.

  “No, Haley is in my apartment upstairs, but there are complications. I want you to keep an eye on her sister.” He suddenly stops and drops his arms as he looks at me.

  “For how long? Who’s going to have your back while I do this?”

  “I’m going to be training for most of the time.” I know he won’t like this task, as his first priority has always been to make sure that I am not killed, but this is for the Bratva, and if I tell him he must do it, he will. I am still his boss even though I never pull rank on Andrei. “And you are the only one I can trust with this.” I’m going to tell Alexei about Haley tonight, but I need to make sure that Paige is appeased about her sister first. When I get back upstairs, I will get Haley to send her a message. I have her phone in my safe at home. I will let her use it, but under my supervision.

  When I speak to Alexei, I want this situation to be resolved. It’s bad enough that we are in this situation because of me. I won’t leave it unresolved for any longer. Alexei might want to speak to Haley, and I don’t know how I feel about that yet, but what I do know is that Haley betrayed me and Alexei is my brother. My loyalty lies with him.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I want Paige to believe that Haley is here on her own free will. Make sure she keeps out of trouble until I decide what I’m going to do.”

  “You want me to stay in the house with her?”

  “No, just make sure she’s fine.” I don’t think Haley would appreciate anyone she doesn’t know in the house, or a man living under the same roof as her sister. Even though Haley has a small place and with minimal stuff inside, I liked going there and it felt comfortable. I would never have taken Haley for a liar; she was always so caring and seemingly honest with me.

  It is disappointing to know that she is just like everyone else. With the life that I lead, I see a bit of everything, and after meeting Haley, I was hoping that I had found myself a piece of heaven like Alexei has with Jade, but I was wrong. Haley has turned out to be manipulative and two-faced. I have always considered myself a good judge of character, but I was way wrong with her.

  “How long do I have to be there for?” Now that is something I don’t know. I want to make Haley pay for what she did, for manipulating and betraying me, but I find that I’m the one being tortured too. Something will have to change on the way that I am dealing with her.

  “I don’t know yet.” I know this answer won’t please him, but he will have to just hang in there until I have decided on what to do. We continue the rest of the training in silence. When we step down from the ring, Andrei walks towards the changing room, and I walk out of the gym and towards the apartment. Instead of showering in the changing rooms, I want to get this business of Haley contacting Paige out of the way.

  As I reach the lifts, Anatoly approaches. I wonder where he has been, as there isn’t much more on this floor except the gym, and he had left earlier, unless he went back. “Aren’t you on duty today, kid?” I ask, and he frowns.

  “No, it’s my day off,” he replies. “You know, I could have trained with you. I’m not a kid like everyone thinks.”

  I tense. “How many fights have you been in?” I ask, and see his confusion at my question.

  “I train all the time, and I have been in fights before,” he mutters sarcastically, which immediately has my back up.

  “I mean, how many fights in the ring have you had? You do realize I am training for a fight, and the people I train with need to have experience. I don’t have time to be teaching anyone.” He tenses but doesn’t reply, which is good because I am not in the mood for smart mouths today. The lift stops on the third floor, where he steps out without another word.

  When the lift doors close, I shake my head in annoyance. Stepping out on the top floor, I head towards my apartment. I can hear music coming from inside as I open the door. I don’t spend enough time in the apartment to have a TV or a sound system; therefore, the only place the music can be coming from is the Alexa next to the bed in my bedroom. Haley most probably tried to phone out using the Alexa, but that setting has been dis
abled because of our protection.

  Dimitri has tweaked it to make sure that no one can hack into it and listen to our conversations, so we don’t use them for that. I head towards the painting on the wall by the couch and pull it off so that I can get to the safe hidden behind it. Opening the safe, I take out Haley’s phone that I placed in there last night.

  I hear Haley walking down the corridor towards the sitting room. I place the painting back on the wall and am just stepping back when she turns into the sitting room and stops in surprise. “I didn’t hear you.”

  Instead of answering, I turn to her and hold up her phone. I see her face brighten with happiness at seeing her phone. She steps towards me, but I lift my other hand to stop her.

  “Not so fast,” I say, which has her frowning, but she stops and waits for me to continue. “I want you to send your sister a text and convince her that you are fine and that you don’t know yet when you will be back home.”

  She starts to shake her head before she answers. “No, I can’t leave her alone for that long.”

  “You will,” I state, and she tenses.

  “What if I don’t?” she asks defiantly, crossing her arms, which immediately focuses my attention on the way the T-shirt pulls over her breasts. I snap my eyes back to her face and scowl; did she do that on purpose? I won’t be distracted from my goal.

  “Don’t push me. You won’t like the consequences.”

  “Really? Why? Are you going to kill me?” she says angrily.

  “When I’m done with you, you will wish I had,” I say, furious at her baiting. I approach her and hold out the phone to her. “Are you going to contact your sister, or must I deal with her another way?” I see her shocked face, and then her eyes fill with tears. I don’t kill innocent people, but she doesn’t know that, and I’m not about to tell her differently either.

  She snatches the phone out of my hand and then turns to leave, but I grab her upper arm before she can. “Where do you think you are going? Do you really think that I would leave you with the phone alone?” I hear her huff in anger before she turns back to me.