“Hey, Lex here.”
“Oh God, baby, where’ve you been? I’ve been lookin’ all over for ya. What happened to ya, babe?”
“Got stuck at that guy’s house.”
“You mean the one with the big fat check?”
“Yeah, I’ll explain it later. Listen, I need you to hook me up, and I’m not talking drugs here. I’m talking AK’s.”
“Oh … fuck, girl, what you been up to?”
“Nothing. I just need to set something straight,” I say.
He laughs. “All right, I dig that. What ya need?”
“Anything you have. I’ll need a lot of it.”
“That’s what I’m talking about!” He laughs some more as if he’s relishing the fact that I’m about to spill some blood.
“Can you bring it to the diner?”
“Whoa, you serious, girl? Damn, you really are a violent bitch, aren’t you?” Coming from him, that’s not an insult, it’s a compliment. “Sure, wherever ya need. Just make sure you got the dough.”
“Of course,” I say, which is actually a lie, but I know Deangelo won’t hold it against me. Worst-case scenario, I’ll work free for a couple of months. If that’s all, I’ll gladly take it.
“All right, be there in ten.” He hangs up the phone, just as my cab arrives.
I get in and look out the window the entire trip. The cab driver drops me off at the diner, and I give him the fifty-dollars. Ten minutes later, Deangelo arrives, and I go outside to meet him.
“Yo girl, so happy to see you in one piece,” he says, grabbing my hand.
“Yeah, me too.” I try not to think about it, as I’m not safe yet and could be in pieces in about an hour from now.
“C’mon, let’s do this somewhere a bit more quiet.” He drives the car away from the diner, and I follow him into an obscure alley. The car only narrowly fits; just enough for him to step out and scrape the side of his door against the wall, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
He walks to the back and opens the trunk. “Check this out.”
It’s loaded with all kinds of guns, more than I’ve ever seen before. My eyes sparkle at the sight.
“Like it?”
“Love it,” I say. “That one.” I point at a smaller gun that seems more manageable, hoping it still packs quite a punch.
“Ooh … you have a great eye,” he muses, taking it out. “I call it the mosquito. Small but effective. Know how to use these?”
I shake my head. “Show me,” I say.
“This ain’t something you can learn in a day or two.”
“Just gimme the basics.”
“All right.” He holds it up in a shooting motion, luckily away from me. “Take the safety off. Put your finger on the trigger. Don’t close your eyes when you shoot. Aim for something easy to hit, like their leg or stomach. You don’t have to be a sharpshooter to hit ‘em where it hurts.”
“Gotcha,” I say. “I’ll take it.” I rummage in my pocket and take out whatever money I have left, which isn’t much, but it’ll have to do. “Look, this is all I have, but I’ll pay it back, I swear. I’ll work for you for free.”
He looks at me suspiciously. I try to grab the gun, but he holds it back, frowning.
“Tell me why.”
I sigh out loud. “I’m gonna kill people. Why else?”
“Who?”
I mull it over, biting my lip. If I tell him, he’s going to meddle, and I can’t have that, but if I don’t tell him, he’ll never give the gun to me.
“You want it? Spill,” he says.
“Fine.” I cross my arms. “Some asshole’s got my sister and he’s not letting her go until I surrender, which I’m not fucking doing.”
“Fuck …” He shakes his head. “I knew something wasn’t right.”
“They came to talk to you too, didn’t they?”
“Yeah, but how do you know?”
“Ah … long story. Anyway, they’re mobsters, Deangelo. Bad guys. Don’t engage with them.”
“Then why are you tryna shoot them?” His voice changes in pitch often.
“Because I’m gonna save Alisha. End of story.” I hold up my hand. “Now, give me the gun.”
“No. Are you tryna get yourself killed? No. I’m not gonna let my favorite girl throw herself into some mafia boss’s hands.”
I appreciate the sentiment, but this isn’t about him.
“Thanks. It means a lot to me that you say that, but I’m not gonna let you stop me. I’m going. With or without a gun. Your choice.”
He cocks his head, sighing. “Alexis … c’mon.”
I keep my foot down and my eyes on him.
“Fine, I’ll go with you,” he says.
“No,” I say. “Can’t have you there too.”
“I can help ya,” he says.
“No.” I place a hand on his shoulder. “I want you to be safe.”
“I can’t let you go in there by yourself,” he says.
“I can handle it. I’m a big girl,” I say, winking.
“I can’t say anything to change your mind, can I?”
“Nope,” I say, shrugging.
“Thought so.” He hands me the gun slowly. When I try to give him the cash, he pushes it back into my hand. “Keep it. I don’t need anything in return.”
There’s a pause, and this time, a genuine smile appears on my face. “Thanks,” I say. “I mean it.”
“Aw, don’t mention it.” He scratches the back of his head. “Just make sure you come back alive, okay?”
“I will,” I say, as I turn around and start walking.
“Oh, and Alexis?”
I glance at him over my shoulder.
The smile that adorns his face gives me power. “Give ‘em hell.”
***
Thirty minutes later
I approach our building with caution, keeping the gun tucked in my pocket but armed and ready. I keep Deangelo’s lessons in the back of my head as I stalk up the stairs. When I see one of the men, I panic and hide behind a wall. He was definitely carrying a gun. Then again, I am too, so what the fuck am I afraid of? Death? Nah. I’m just afraid of losing my freedom, and no way in hell am I gonna lose it to these sons of bitches.
So I take a deep breath, turn the corner, and shoot at him. The first bullet ricochets off the wall, and I flinch from the recoil. But I can’t stop; I have to continue, so I fire again and again. One of the bullets hits him right in the fucking knees.
He screams, dropping to the floor; his gun still pointed at me. He shoots, and the bullet narrowly misses me. I immediately shoot again, this time hitting him in the head. Two holes, blood everywhere, and a man dying right in front of my eyes. Again. It doesn’t faze me anymore.
I run up the stairs, past the body, and into the next hallway where another one stands in front of the elevator. I lift the gun and shoot three times, one hitting him in the chest and the other two embedding in the wall. He drops to the floor before he has a chance to shoot back.
I go into the elevator and press the button to our floor. When the doors close, I look at my reflection in the metal. My eyes glimmer with a certain determination I’ve never seen before. I feel calm. Confident. Like I could fight the world and still win. I don’t recognize myself anymore, but that’s okay. I could definitely get used to the new me.
When the elevator pings, I take a deep breath and hold up my gun, ready to face my enemy. The doors slide open, and two people are right in front of me, but their backs are facing me. They don’t hear me because of the ruckus up ahead.
Without hesitation, I shoot them in the back of the head. I don’t regret killing any of them. They knew what they were getting into the moment they tried to use my sister against me.
They’d better not lay a hand on her … or else someone’s gonna feel the pain before I send them straight to hell.
No one is standing between my front door and me, so I put my face against the door and listen.
“What’s that fucking
noise?” I hear a guy yell.
“Why don’t you go out and fucking look?” Alisha’s voice resonates in my head. Fuck me, am I glad she’s still alive.
“Shut up, you little cunt!”
That’s it. No one talks to my sister like that.
I burst in, aiming my gun in front of me, and see just one guy guarding my sister. “Hands in the air, motherfucker.”
He turns around in shock but still reaches for his holster, so I shoot him in the leg.
He drops to the floor. “Fuck!” he cries, rolling around on the floor.
His gun is a few inches away from him, so I kick it to the far end of the room. Then I look at Alisha, who’s tied up in the only chair we have. “You okay?”
She nods. “You’re safe,” she says. “But what the fuck, Lex, you could’ve died!”
“I didn’t, so shut up and tell me what’s going on.”
“Get me out of these ropes,” she says, bouncing up and down while tied up.
“One sec, gotta make sure this guy’s not trying anything.” I reach under my mattress and find my trusted cuffs. Always come in handy when trying to fuck a kinky client … or to make sure a fucking crook doesn’t escape.
I put one around his wrist as he wriggles around on the floor and then one around the bedpost, making sure he’s not going anywhere. “Stay still and shut the fuck up,” I growl at him.
Then I grab a knife from the kitchen counter and free my sister from her binds.
“Jesus, that feels much better,” she groans, rubbing her wrists.
“Did they hurt you?” I look at the guy crying on the floor. “Because if they did, I swear to God, I’m gonna fuck him up.”
“No, but why the fuck did you come here? You know it’s a trap!”
“I shot all of them. Where’s the trap?” I say.
The man handcuffed to the bed begins to laugh.
“Too late,” he grumbles.
“What you talking about?” I say, stomping toward him. “What did you say?”
“You’re already too late …”
The smile on his face pisses me off so much that I kick him in the balls as hard as I can. “What was that?”
He cringes. “Cell … phone.” His eyes point toward his pocket.
I bend over, keeping an eye on him at all times while I fish the phone from his pocket.
I step back before I read the text that’s on the screen.
It’s from Vladim. Kill them.
“Too late? Bullshit. We’re both alive, so you failed.”
“No … you don’t get it. I was supposed to send a status update every minute. If I don’t, he’ll know you’re here.”
My eyes widen. It was all a trap. I just didn’t realize what kind of trap.
“You fell right for it. His men are already on their way.”
“No, fuck that.” I reach for his collar and pull him up, almost choking him in the process. “How long do we have?”
“Five minutes, tops,” he spurts.
I shove him back into his corner. “We’ll be outta here before they get here.” I nod at Alisha.
“Doesn’t matter … you can’t leave.”
“Watch us,” I growl. “C’mon Alisha.”
But then he says something that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “They’re already at his house.”
I glance over my shoulder. “What did you say?”
The awful smile on his face twists my stomach into knots. “You didn’t even know, did you?” He laughs out loud. “Fuck, Vladim is smart. He fucking has you … He fucking has you.”
“Get to the fucking point or I swear to God, I’ll shoot your balls off!” I yell, pointing my gun at him again.
He shakes his head. “Viktor … Remember him? Either you stay … or he dies.”
Chapter 25
Viktor
“Why didn’t you go with her?” Winston asks, but I turn my head away from him.
“Leave me alone,” I say softly.
“You know she’s in way over her head.”
“Just leave me,” I growl.
“No, you’re making a mistake,” he says. “You should go after her.”
“I can’t!” I look at him over my shoulder. “I can’t because I promised her I wouldn’t.”
“Why? You know she’s in danger,” he pleads.
“Because it’s what she wanted. She needed to do this alone.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does …” I mumble.
It takes him a while, but then he says, “Oh … because she wants you to be safe. And you wouldn’t be if you came along.”
“I agreed … so I could give her what she wanted.”
“But you let her go. You may never see her again.”
“So be it.” I turn away again, sighing as I sit in my lounge chair and stare into the void of the crackling fire in front of me. “At least, I know what it feels like to be happy now.”
“Nonsense.”
“Dammit, Stan!” I grip the armrests tight. “Can’t you see this is the most difficult fucking thing I’ve ever done? For the first time in my entire life, I didn’t choose me, I chose her. I chose her happiness over mine. For once, I wasn’t selfish, and I did it for her.” I groan as tears well up in my eyes.
“I see.”
I know he knows what it could mean. That I might not see her again. That she could die.
But at least I know she wouldn’t hate me anymore … and that she saw her sister at least one final time. Because I took that from her, and now, I gave it back.
“Please … just leave me alone.”
“Right, but if she’s there, you know Vladim will eventually come here too. It’ll never be enough for him.”
“I know,” I say. “I don’t care.”
He sighs out loud. “Do you really—”
“Leave!” I yell. “Just get out.” With a grimace, I look up at him and see the genuine sorrow on his face. He has to know I’m only saying this so he won’t get caught in the crossfire. He just has to.
“You’re my friend, Stan, the only one I’ve got.”
He nods, stepping back. “I understand, Viktor. So are you … so are you.”
I smile at him, but it’s a wistful, painful smile. And as he walks away, my chest fucking hurts because my body wants to howl.
Before he closes the door, he says, “Don’t die.”
I nod, and then he’s gone.
Just like that, I’m truly alone.
But at least I know he’ll be safe … Far, far away from me.
Minutes, hours pass. I don’t know how much time, but I don’t care.
I’ve lost the will to give a damn.
If I don’t have her, can’t have her, then I don’t see the point anymore.
It’s for the best anyway. I knew it was hopeless the moment I realized I was in love with her. She’s beautiful, a free spirit—a girl with feistiness and a will to survive against all odds. And I’m the monster that caused her misery. She could never love someone like me.
After a while, I hear banging on the door.
I don’t get up.
Not even when they burst through my door.
“Viktor!” Vladim yells. “I’ve got you now. Show yourself.”
I don’t respond. I don’t care if he’s here. If he’s going to kill me.
“C’mon then, show me what kind of man you are,” Vladim spits, walking into my room.
I hear more footsteps than his, and they keep getting closer.
“Go get him,” I hear Vladim murmur.
Not long after, a man stands in front of me, his gun aimed at my head. His eyes briefly search my eyes, a horrified look on his face as he sees the scars that mark me. Does he realize it could happen to him at any moment? Does he know he’s in danger just by being close to Vladim?
Probably not. Or maybe he’s too scared to do something about it.
Vladim flicks his fingers, and the man pushes th
e gun into my forehead. “Get up!”
I look up at him, telling him with my eyes that I don’t give a damn if he shoots me right now.
Honestly, it’ll be the swiftest, gentlest death ever. I’d fucking welcome it.
“Get your ass up,” the guy says, and he grabs my collar and pulls me up.
I let him drag me to the middle of the room where he smacks me on the back of the head with the gun. I falter, in pain, dropping to the floor on my hands and knees. When my head lifts, Vladim stands in the doorway, watching me.
“Viktor, Viktor, Viktor …” he murmurs. “You had to go and do that. You just had to take her in. You thought you could get away with it too, didn’t you? Didn’t think I’d go after her sister? Wrong. And now, I have her right where I want her,” he says, balling his fist, and then pointing at me. “You should’ve learned from your mistakes. If you’d given her to me as I told you to, maybe I would’ve been nicer. But I won’t be so patient with you anymore. I’m done dealing with you.”
He flicks his fingers again, and the man grabs my collar, choking me as he throws me backward across the floor, all the way to the window where I bang my head against the wall.
I don’t give a fuck.
I just want it to end quickly.
“You’re not gonna say anything?” Vladim says. “Not gonna explain? Apologize?” He walks closer, holding out his hands as if he’s some kind of merciful god. “You know there’s no way out, so you had better start telling me why you did it.”
I look away, hoping the man will just shoot me.
But Vladim pushes the man aside and stands in front of me, looking down at me from above. “Look at you. Lying on the floor like a fucking dead maggot. You used to be one of my best men. The strongest, even. Now, you’re nothing. Disgusting.” He spits on the floor. “Defend yourself. Don’t just fucking lie there.”
I shrug.
“What’s wrong with you?” He kicks me. “You should be begging me!”
I’m done begging. Done with him. Done with everything. I was done a long time ago. I’ve lived my miserable life.
He goes to his knees and cocks his head, gazing at me with a puzzled look on his face. “What the fuck did you do, boy? Lost your tongue?” He shakes his head but then stops, and his eyes start to shimmer. Then he begins to laugh. Maniacally. “Fuck me, are you kidding? It’s the girl. It’s the fucking girl!”
Viktor Page 20
