VEN

by K. Webster

  “And she thinks if we get rid of Yegor, we can be together.”

  “Get rid of?” I demand for clarification. I cross my arms over my chest and step closer to him.

  “Kill him.”

  Oh God.

  “What about Rus? Ven? You think they’ll just roll over and allow his murder to go unpunished? It’s not in their nature, Vas,” I say in exasperation. “It will never stand.”

  He waltzes over to the door and closes it despite it being only us in the entire building. He places his hand on my back and leads me to a chair in the corner of the room. I sit and watch as he drags another chair over so he’s sitting opposite me. “We’re going to make it look like natural causes. A heart attack.”

  “Oh my God,” I breathe, leaning back in the chair. They’re serious about this.

  “Diana, he’s the reason you have to enter The Games. He’s the one in Yuri’s ear telling him it can’t be me. He needs to pay.”

  “I want in,” I tell him.

  His brow furls, and he shakes his head.

  “You wanted to go in The Games?”

  I shake my head and lean forward. “No, not The Games. In on killing Yegor,” I clarify.

  His eyes spring wide. “What? No. Why?”

  I laugh, the sound ugly and bitter. “Because I didn’t fall down the stairs, Vas.”

  His eyes widen, and he jumps to his feet. “What the fuck do you mean?”

  I follow suit, placing a hand over my stomach. “The baby. It wasn’t Ven’s. Yegor knew.”

  “Motherfucker!” he bellows, picking up the chair and throwing it across the room. It slams into the wall and clatters to the concrete floor, echoing loudly.

  “So what’s the plan?”

  “I have no fucking plan,” he growls. “Just real bad thoughts right now. I want to kill him with my bare hands.” His glare is furious. The playful man I know has left the building.

  “We have to plan this, Vas. Make it so it can’t come back on us or Vika.”

  He snorts, his brows furling. “She’s not easily controlled.

  “What about Rus? Does she think he will let her walk away from him?” I ask.

  His jaw ticks as he thinks it over. “She wants to do him too,” he finally says.

  “Vas! They won’t believe they both suddenly had a heart attack! Yegor is older, but Rus?” I scoff.

  “She said an overdose for him,” he replies. “A month after Yegor is out the way.”

  My thoughts drift to Ven, and my heart constricts. He’s already lost so much. This is too cruel.

  “Not Rus,” I state, shaking my head vehemently. “Let her divorce him. What will he do without his father holding his hand?”

  Vas exhales hard. “She thinks I’m going to marry her.”

  “Are you?” I ask, already knowing it’s not love for him. She was a nice lay, easy and a way of feeding his ego being the wife of a Vetrov.

  “She’s not the one.” His eyes gleam with ferocity. With love? “There’s someone else, and Vika is not her.”

  I don’t push him on it, but my thoughts race with who it could be that’s caught my wild brother’s affection.

  “You have to tell her, Vas,” I say softly. “Tell Vika, Rus is not on the table. Convince her, please.”

  I know it’s not fair to ask him to do that. To convince her would mean using her affection for him to our advantage and leading her on, but I can’t let Ven lose everyone. He will need Rus, even if the little bastard is a horrid creature. It’s his brother.

  “Okay,” he concedes. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t do anything to Rus.”

  “Thank you.” Sighing, I walk over to him and throw my arms around his waist. He stiffens at the contact, but then wraps his arms around me and squeezes.

  “Now, let’s train.” His hot breath tickles the top of my head.

  Yes, let’s train.

  I think back to how I uselessly defended myself with a knife at the kitchen table when Yegor unleashed his monster. I know how to use guns and use them well, but guns won’t always be available to me, especially in the V Games.

  “Show me how to use a knife,” I tell him. “I want to know how to cut a man from his chin to his balls, and I want to know how to do it before they even have a chance to strike.”

  Vas’s grin is evil. “That I can do.”

  Five months later…

  “Offer him more,” I bark down the line.

  “It’s not worth more.”

  “I don’t care,” I snap. “Make it happen. That’s an order.”

  Buying the liquor business from Vlad through a shell company has been my main focus since spreading my wings and flying solo for a while. He’s not interested in it anyway, but Diana started something good there. Taking and owning something she adored so much gives me satisfaction. I’ll bring new people in to run the company and then distribute my cousins’ new brand from it rather than starting from the ground up.

  It makes sense. It’s just business.

  “You’re back?” Zahkar questions as he steps behind the bar and pours us both a drink.

  “Yes,” I grunt. “I was looking at a property.” A house that used to belong to the Baskin’s went to auction years ago. Some businessman bought it to rent out, but I want it. Another knife to stick in when we find Alfred.

  “Another property? You’ll own all of Russia soon.” He quirks a brow in amusement.

  “Hardly. Just the parts of it that benefit me.” I grin, knocking back the fire in the glass he’s placed in front of me.

  “Where’s Rodion?” It’s odd for one to be where the other is not. They’re two halves of a whole. Always.

  “He’s bringing the car around. We have an appointment with an associate about training a new fighter.”

  Speaking of fighters…

  “Did Rus retrieve Hiss?” I ask, tapping the shot glass for him to refill.

  “Actually, your father collected him. He wanted to see him in action. He has plans for him, apparently.”

  I grunt and stand from the stool. “He’s always got an agenda.”

  “He’s a Vetrov,” he says, his lips pulling up into a smirk.

  “I’ll be back soon. I want to see this new fighter of yours,” I tell him, and with that, I leave him to collect my shit.

  Time to go home.

  “Time to go,” I bark from the doorway of Kira’s cell.

  The room stinks of sex. For months, we’ve kept her in this place. My cousins and I have trained her in a way that will teach everyone what happens when you betray the Vetrov name. Kira, once the daughter of a potentially powerful family, is now broken down into a whore. A seductress. A sexy plaything. For men to use and abuse. She’s also going to make us a lot of money. Once the other families discover who she is, the bidding on her for her torture and death will go through the roof. She’ll be used as a tool of distraction, and then Hiss will get the kill for the Vetrov name.

  Her piece of shit father hasn’t surfaced, but hopefully, when he learns of his wife and daughter’s fate, he will slink out of hiding and we’ll get him too. Open him up groin to gullet and put all his insides on display like a fucking trophy.

  Kira rises from the bed and bites on her plump lip, which will soon be painted blood red—the same red that will no doubt be spilled from her creamy flesh. Perhaps I’ll tell Hiss to claim her as a bounty for me to keep around for my own sick pleasures.

  Diana flashes through my mind.

  Perhaps not.

  It’s been months, goddammit, yet the woman occupies my thoughts more than not. There’s no cure for heartache. Hell, I’ve tried drinking her away and lighting my mind on fire with cocktails of drugs. But she’s always there in the recesses of my thoughts, lingering, like an entity living under my fucking skin.

  “Where are we going?” Kira has the audacity to ask, dragging my attention back to her.

  She’s pretty. Not Diana pretty, but she has an appeal about her. A little skinny for my tastes,
but a lot of men like that type. Sharp edges and tiny tits.

  “Ven?” she asks.

  I ignore her as I snap my fingers for her to hurry up. If only she knew what waits for her, she wouldn’t be so calm. She’d be trying to run away. And poor girl, it’s going to be rough on her. Brutal and bloody as hell.

  Everyone knows what Alfred fucking did. The price on her head will be high because of his wrongs. I imagine the players will eliminate the big threats first, maybe use her tight holes a bit, and then Hiss will cut her throat in front of the First Families viewing window on the edge of the arena reserved for the elite. The depraved, including myself, will enjoy watching the retaliation against the Baskin family.

  V is for motherfucking vengeance.

  Too bad we couldn’t have Alfred join us for our viewing party.

  “Where are we going?” Kira repeats for the millionth goddamn time, her brown eyes almost black, her pupils dilated from whatever shit Rodion and Zahkar gave her.

  “To give your mommy a visit,” I say with a vicious grin, finally giving her a clue.

  She blinks rapidly, as if trying to clear her head. “My mom?”

  “Yep. Now dress.” I toss some clothes at her and stand nearby with my arms crossed over my chest.

  My father located her mother a couple weeks after we took Kira and has kept her for himself. I haven’t been back to that house since shit went bad with Diana. I couldn’t stand to see her ghost everywhere I looked. She did me wrong, so fucking wrong, and despite it all, I can’t rid myself of this ache I have for her.

  Kira’s movements are sluggish and clumsy as she walks toward me. She’ll probably grow more clearheaded as we travel back for The Games, so I’ll need to make sure I keep something other than my cock in her to maintain her high.

  Alfred Baskin didn’t give our families a chance before he tried to bring us all down in one fell swoop. I sure as fuck am not going to give their family a chance.

  No, Kira is going to die in that arena.

  I wait to see if I feel anything for her. Any inkling of the man I used to be, back when we were all kids.

  I feel nothing.

  Lingering memories of her have not been shoved to the dark corners of my mind, but pushed out the back door and locked out indefinitely.

  “What’s going to happen to me? Are your cousins coming?” Kira asks, worry causing her head to clear some.

  “You’re going to see your mother at my family’s estate. I’m sure we’ll see my cousins around.” I offer her my hand. Like when she was a kid and I was a teenager. Before her father betrayed us.

  She takes it.

  That trust will keep her alive all of thirty seconds in The Games.

  And, still, I feel nothing.

  The scenery haunts me. Every part of this place holds memories of what could have been. What I was foolish enough to wish for. I’m too sober for this shit. Being back home fills me with a sense of dread. I may have been in my own little world for the past few months training Kira how to behave like a good little slut, buying up property, and trying to acquire the liquor company, but coming home is a cold dose of reality.

  She’s not here.

  Diana.

  The traitorous bitch.

  Filled my fucking soul with hope and love, only to spit in my face and tell me I’d been used like a pawn. She’d been playing like the queen she is, and I was just a move to her.

  The queen ran back to her family, according to Ruslan, but he hasn’t updated me on her wellbeing since because I warned him not to. I don’t want to fucking know anything she’s doing. Fuck her.

  She may be a queen to some, but not me.

  I’m a motherfucking king. I don’t give a rat’s ass what she does with her “kingdom.” I have my own to deal with. Kira knows this, and bows often at my feet. They’ll all know this in due time.

  One day soon, I’ll own all their castles.

  Including hers.

  “Where are we going?” Kira asks. As we get out of the car, her heel catches on the icy ground and she falls, scraping up her legs.

  “Christ, woman,” I growl, pulling her to her feet. I guide her around the house to the building where the viewing rooms are held. Father has been blowing up my phone asking where I am. He doesn’t like to be kept waiting.

  “Where are we going?” Over and over again, she asks the same damn questions.

  “To prepare you. You’re to be viewed along with some others. Then, you may see your mother.”

  Blindly, she follows me. Too drugged out, too fucking naïve.

  Love makes you do stupid things. I’m leading her straight into hell.

  I nod in greeting to the men standing outside on guard. Vasiliev men are here, which means Yuri or Vlad must be inside. Pushing through the door, I see the viewing house has improved. Before I had Diana lead the efforts of caring for the mules, this place was a showroom with glass cages for men to see the prize and make their claims. But now, the women inside prance around the room, clinging to First Family men like high class call girls. Diana may have been a conniving bitch, but she was right when she insisted the women should be looked after with more care. They’re merchandise, after all.

  We’ll make ten times more money on these women now.

  They’re as beautiful as they can get, behaving like real women, and thanks to the drugs they’ve been fed, are all wearing the same “fuck me” expressions.

  “Nonna,” I call out to a woman wearing a slinky black dress—the woman Diana put in charge. She’s done a good job of upholding Diana’s rules, even long after Diana is no longer here. She turns, looks me over, and her nostrils flare when she takes in the bleeding knees of little Kira beside me.

  “What is this?” Nonna asks as she approaches and waves at Kira in disgust.

  “Your special project. I need her looking presentable—and quickly.”

  Nonna narrows her eyes at Kira, but nods. Kira reluctantly follows after Nonna as she heads to one of the dressing rooms.

  “And Nonna?” I call out after her. “Find her the highest heels and the tightest skirt. I can’t have this little kitten getting too far away.”

  “Can we go back to the car?” Kira asks as she clutches my coat.

  She’s high as fuck.

  Whatever Nonna gave her is not the same shit my cousins give her. By the way she clings to me and keeps rubbing at my cock through my slacks, she’s probably tripping on straight ecstasy.

  “And do what?” I tease, my palm finding her ass over her the dress she’s now wearing. She moans when I squeeze her. “Hmmm, kitty kitty?”

  “We could fuck,” she breathes against my ear, nipping at my lobe.

  I chuckle. “You’re more of a three dicks at once kind of girl. I couldn’t satisfy you alone,” I mock as I guide her toward the viewing room where my father waits.

  “Please,” she begs. Her voice quakes, fear finding its way into her words.

  I haven’t told her what she is to expect.

  I need her pretty and pliable and ready.

  Shoving her against the wall, I grip her neck and bring my lips to her ear. She moans with need.

  “We can fuck later if you’re good,” I tell her. “Plus, I thought you wanted to see your mother.”

  Her body goes rigid in my grip, her dark eyes sharpening. “She’s here?”

  “Yes, and if you’d stop rubbing on me like a cat in heat, I’d take you to her,” I chide.

  My father’s boisterous laugh draws my attention as I enter, tugging Kira in with me. The room is full of powerful men all waiting to see the prize I brought with me. Yuri’s eyes snap straight to me from his position on a dark leather couch. I scan the room for my father, finding him lounging back on his own seat. Kneeling in front of him is a dirty naked woman who holds the rapt attention of Leonid Volkov. She has my father’s cock out and is sucking him off like her life depends on it. Maybe it does. Knowing my father, it most certainly does.

  “Father,” I greet a
s I approach.

  His green eyes glitter with satisfaction when he sees Kira on my arm. “Ahhh, the little Baskin whore. She’s skinny,” he growls, a wolfish grin on his face. “Easier to break.”

  Rapturous laughter hums out into the room. Yuri moves to his feet, his movements swift for a man of his age. His presence is like a beast manifesting in front of your eyes. His large frame crowds around Kira. “So, you really do have sweet Kira Baskin.”

  “In the flesh.” I grin triumphantly.

  “Hmmm,” he muses, licking the pad of his thumb and smearing his saliva down one of her cheeks, then the other, creating pretend tears. “In the flesh, for now.”

  The woman on my father’s cock tries to lift her head, but he grips a handful of her hair and shoves her down farther, making her gag and spittle all over him.

  “Where’s your daddy, angel?” Father mocks as he regards Kira.

  She digs her nails into me through my coat. “I don’t know.”

  “Do you need a daddy?” He grins at her and licks his lips. “Or perhaps you just need a mommy.” With that, he releases the woman’s hair and kicks her away. She falls on her ass and jerks her attention our way.

  “Kirrra?” she cries out, sounding off, drunk maybe, reaching her dirty hands toward us.

  “Momma?” Kira stares down at her, but makes no move to go to her.

  Good girl.

  I lean my head down and murmur in Kira’s ear. “See how good you were treated compared to your mother? We gave you more orgasms than you could count. We bathed you and dressed you and let you wear makeup. Don’t forget that, kitty kitty.”

  She makes a mewling sound that has me grinning.

  Her mother rises to her feet, her saggy tits jiggling, and rushes to Kira. They hug, but Kira is stiff. Her mother stinks to all hell. Welts and bruises decorate her skin, and when she turns her face to me, I notice she’s missing all her teeth.

  “Run, baby,” her mom mouths. “Run while you still can.”

  Father rises from his chair, tucks away his cock, and whistles for two of his men. “Take the Baskin whores to a cage until they’re ready for the arena tomorrow. The price on her head,” he says, motioning at Kira, “is about to be decided.”