by Vi Carter
“Are you sure this is it?” Nicolai asks while pulling up across from a restaurant.
I check the message that Nev sent me. “Yeah.”
Nicolai turns off the ignition. “So, how do you want to do this?”
From here, I can see the place is full of diners.
“Should we wait until it closes?” Nicolai asks while staring at the restaurant. I didn’t have the patience to sit here and wait.
“I’m feeling hungry,” I say and get out of his car.
Nicolai curses. I’m crossing the road when he catches up with me. “Lucca, keep your head.”
“I only want to talk to him.”
Nicolai reaches the front door before me, and I’m waiting for him to open it, but instead, he keeps his hand on the handle.
“There are citizens in here.”
I didn’t give a fuck about citizens, but I did care about witnesses.
“Like I said, Nicolai, I’m hungry.” I slap him on the shoulder. “Stop being so serious.” He drops his hand from the door, and I open it. The heat and smell of food hits me the moment I step in.
A young blonde-haired girl stands behind a podium. “Do you have a reservation?”
I smile at her as I glance around the space. It’s easy to spot The Torpedo, who’s dining with a man who has tattoos on his neck, just like the homeless man described.
I move past the podium. “Excuse me, sir.”
I ignore the blonde’s protests that follow me. The Torpedo looks up and continues to chew his food. “It’s fine.”
The chatter behind me stops as the blonde goes back to her station. I pull a chair from a nearby table and drag it over to the Torpedo’s table. He cuts into his food like this isn’t bothering him. Nicolai joins us.
“Who the fuck are you?” The guy with the tats asks.
The Torpedo continues to chew before looking up. He beckons someone over with two fingers. “Shut it down.”
The Torpedo’s gaze lands on me. “That’s wise,” I say.
“We only want to talk,” Nicolai adds.
“Are you deaf? I asked who you are?” Tat guy yaps on.
“Who I am doesn’t matter,” I tell him.
He glances at the Torpedo before he starts to laugh. “Who’s this fucking clown?” He asks while still laughing.
Everyone is leaving, just not quick enough to my liking.
The Torpedo continues to eat. He chews loud, his mouth half-open as he glances from me to Nicolai and back to his plate.
The blonde waitress arrives at our table and places a napkin in front of me that holds a knife and a fork. She does the same to Nicolai. “Would you like a menu?”
“They aren’t staying.” The Torpedo dismisses her with a wave of his fork. Laughter beside him has me wanting to reach across the table and cut off the laughter, but I keep still.
“Talk.” The Torpedo barks, and the laughter stops as he glares at me. “Don’t get shy on me now, Lucca.”
I grin at him. The restaurant is nearly empty. “I want the girls.”
He grins back at me. The top row of his teeth are encased in gold. “I want three girls to suck my dick at once. That doesn’t mean it will happen.”
I unroll the napkin, and the cutlery rattles to the table. I pick up the knife before setting it back down and address the Torpedo. “I don’t like repeating myself.”
The Torpedo lets his knife clang to his plate, but he still holds his fork. “Then don’t.”
“If you just tell us where they are, we will leave.” Nicolai has decided to take a diplomatic stance on this. I had no intentions of leaving the Torpedo or his friend alive.
The Torpedo shakes his head. “I want you both out of my restaurant now.”
The tattoo guy sits forward. “You heard him.” He repeats and rises. He’s a big guy, but that doesn’t mean much.
Neither Nicolai nor I move. I ignore him.
“Igor isn’t working alone,” I say.
The tattoo guy stands up.
“Sit down, Bykd.” The Torpedo’s fist lands heavily on the table, rattling the glasses.
Bykd does as the Torpedo instructs, but he doesn’t take his beady eyes off me, and I grin at him. “That’s a good boy.”
“What makes you think I have these girls?” He asks.
“Word spreads fast that you were at an auction,” Nicolai says.
“Then I no longer have them.” The Torpedo smiles wide, showing off his golden teeth. I’m already imagining pulling them out one by one.
“Your boy here, Bykd, was seen driving away from a warehouse downtown with the girls.”
The Torpedo glances at Bykd before his gaze trails back to me. “Like I said, I don’t know about any girls.”
I pick up the fork and place it beside the knife on the opposite side of me. Bykd is watching me.
“Igor works for a Brigadier. So enjoy getting your balls stuffed down your throat when he finds out you fucking stole from him.”
Nicolai exhales loudly as the Torpedo rises abruptly, knocking the chair out from behind him. I don’t move.
“You come into my restaurant and threaten me?”
I pick up the napkin and refold it. “I’m not threatening you. I’m just giving you the facts and trying to help you out here.”
“We don’t give a shit about any Brigadier.” Bykd pipes up, and it shows he’s just a runner for the Torpedo. He has no idea who he’s messing with.
The Torpedo still clutches the fork in his large hand. He strikes quickly, embedding the fork into Bykd’s neck. I have no qualms with him killing the runner; he would have had to die, anyway. The Torpedo pulls the fork out before plunging it into Bykd’s neck again. He takes all his anger out on Bykd.
I glance at Nicolai and shrug, wondering how long this would take.
“He’s dead.” Nicolai snaps, and the Torpedo pulls out the fork as Bykd's dead body hits the floor. The Torpedo is still clinging to the fork. He smiles again as he picks up his overturned chair and sets it right before he sits down with blood splatter all over his white vest. He drops the fork onto the plate and starts to wipe his bloody hands on a napkin.
“Lucca is telling the truth. Igor works for a Brigadier.” Nicolai confirms.
The Torpedo drops the napkin and fixes his black suit jacket. “So Igor stole from a Brigadier?” He runs his tongue along his golden teeth.
“You stole from a Brigadier,” I say. He moves. He’s fast as he grips the fork and strikes out. I’m faster. I jump back, knocking my seat to the ground. The fork that would have embedded in my neck strikes air. Nicolai is quick as he moves too, his arm coming down on the Torpedo’s wrist. I hear the bone crack as the fork clangs on the floor. I don’t let the moment pass but lean in and grip the Torpedo’s head, pushing it into the table.
“Tell me where the girls are.”
“They’ve been sold.” His words are growled as he tries to force his head back up, and I slam it back down on the table. A nearby glass of liquid topples.
“What about Evie?” Had she been sold? My hand presses heavier on his face.
“No.” His roar is accompanied by the force of his body as he tries to get up again.
He screams in pain as Nicolai hits his broken wrist.
“Igor is keeping her.”
My gaze clashes with Nicolai.
Over my dead body.
Nicolai shakes his head. “Lucca, killing Igor isn’t an option.”
The Torpedo tries to get up again, and I allow his head to rise before slamming it back down.
“I’m not going to kill Igor. The Brigadier will.” I grin at Nicolai.
“How do you find out who he is?”
“I can find out.” The Torpedo offers up, and both Nicolai and I start to laugh.
A man in his position would offer up anything to live. That wasn’t going to happen. “I’ll tell you where the girls are.”
My laughter stops. “You said they were sold.”
“Yes, we
have buyers, but they haven’t been transferred yet.”
“Why’s that?”
The Torpedo falls silent. Nicolai picks up a knife and pulls up the Torpedo’s damaged hand.
“I’ll tell you.” He’s trying to pull his hand back, but Nicolai doesn’t allow him.
The Torpedo's words are filled with pain as he tries to force them out. “I had instructions to find seven bodies and bring them to the warehouse where the girls are being held. Once the girls are gone, I’ll place the bodies in the warehouse and burn it. That was the job. Then I had to leave an anonymous tip with you so that you would find the warehouse and all the girls’ bodies. Case closed.”
That’s why Igor wasn’t selling the girls himself. No one would look to the Torpedo.
I remove my gun from the band of my trousers. “The address.”
He tries to shake his head. “If I do, you’ll kill me.”
“The address.” I cock the gun and press it to his temple.
It’s a good incentive as he recites the address off.
“If they aren’t there, I’ll come back,” I warn him.
He tries to look at me, and I see hope in his eyes. “I swear.”
He isn’t lying. I pull the trigger, and Nicolai curses as he moves away from the blood-splattered table.
He’s ready to say something.
I put the gun back in the holder. “He had to die. You knew that.”
My words cut off whatever Nicolai was going to say.
“What a mess.” Nicolai moves toward the back rooms. We need to destroy any footage. We had plenty of cops paid off, but that didn’t mean we needed to be sloppy.
Nicolai returns and gives me a nod.
All I needed to do was find out who the Brigadier is, and he would end Igor’s life, so I wouldn’t have to.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
EVIE
Hope mixed with fear swells and dies in my stomach. I’m still in the room, still pacing, still waiting. Time moves, but it’s slow and painful. Each time I open the door, Pavel is there. He doesn’t tell me to go back in, but I slam the door before returning to my pacing. I can’t fight the surge of hope that I know is dangerous.
I stop pacing as the door opens. My heart rate climbs to a frightening height before it drops as Pavel fills the doorway.
“You can leave the room, Evie.” Is that pity I hear in his voice?
“Is Lucca back?” I ask as tears brim my eyes.
“Not yet. It could be a while.”
“I’ll wait here.” I place my hands behind my back.
His gaze shifts to the hallway before he turns to me and nods. As he reaches for the door handle, I let my hands hang at my side.
“Don’t close the door.” Right now, I didn’t want to be alone.
His lip tugs up ever so slightly, and he releases the handle before turning his back on me.
It seems like I have been waiting for an eternity before lights hit the window, and I race to it. A car pulls up at the door, and the passenger door opens. Lucca steps out, and I don’t know how he knows I’m looking, but his dark gaze clashes with mine. My skin prickles before it tightens and stretches, and I take a step away from the window.
My hand automatically goes to my heart, trying to calm the heavy beat that rattles my ribs.
“He’s back,” I say out loud. Pavel doesn’t answer, but I see the slight nod of his head. The front door closes, and I’m waiting for the sound of Lucca’s shoes on the stairs.
My patience dries up as I wait, and I’m moving toward the door. I’m ready to tell Pavel to move when a shadow falls across the floor and Lucca waves Pavel off. I’m face to face with Lucca. My gaze is making a note of the dots of blood on his neck and the cuffs of his shirt.
He doesn’t move or speak.
“Did you find them?”
“I know where they are. Tomorrow I will get them.”
Tomorrow, why not now? “They are all alive?” I ask instead.
Lucca exhales and enters the room. “Yes.”
I bite my lip to stop the tremble caused by emotions that overwhelm me.
Lucca’s image blurs, and I dip my head, trying to hold back the swell that’s ready to overtake me.
“Lucca.” His name is a whisper as I fight with myself to ask him another question. “Can I go with you tomorrow?”
He’s already shaking his head.
I step closer. “Just let me see them. Let me see they are okay.”
“No.” His answer is sharp as he removes his suit jacket.
“Lucca. I was going to leave them. I was trying to escape that life, and I was willing to leave them all behind.” The pain of what I was capable of doing twists my stomach painfully. “I need to make it right.”
“You did nothing wrong.” Lucca swings around and faces me. “You were right to leave. I just wish…”
The air stalls in my chest.
Lucca reaches out to me like he’s going to cup my face, but he stops himself, his hands falling to his sides. He towers over me. “I wish you had gotten away, Evie. Don’t ever regret trying to save yourself.” His voice has softened.
“Let me come with you. Let me see them…”
He’s shaking his head again.
I ball my hands into fists. “Why?”
“I won’t put you in harm’s way.” His words are quick and low; there is something deadly in them, and my stomach twists again.
Laughter bubbles hard and fast up my throat and pours out into the room. “Harm’s way?” I say through my laughter.
“I’ve been kidnapped, held captive for eight years, and now what will happen to me? Am I going to a brothel or maybe to my death?” I’m caving with pure pain. “What more harm can come to me?!”
What more can they take from me?
Lucca doesn’t answer, and I take another step towards him. “I’m a ghost. I have nothing else for them to take.” I gave the last piece to you.
“You can shout all you want. You aren’t coming with me.” His voice is calm, and I hate him for it. I hate everything about him. Powerful men are dangerous men, and I hate them.
I hate him.
My hand connects with his face, the sting on my palm is satisfying, and I reach out to hit him again, only I don’t get to. His hands grip my wrists as he drags me to his chest.
“Stop it, Evie.”
I try to pull away, but he doesn’t release me. Silver eyes bore into mine, warning me to stop. But it’s too late for that.
“Let me go.” I wasn’t sure if I was asking for him to release me right now or let me go home.
“If you can control your temper, I will release you.”
“We aren’t all as cool and collected as you.” I bite back, not backing down from him. I should think about what happened between us the last time, but I knew I had pushed him to do it. That fear rattles around in my head.
His nostrils flare, and he releases me quickly. He doesn’t step away, and the want to slap him is gone.
“Am I going back to Igor?” I keep my chin in the air.
“No.”
I didn’t expect that. “What’s going to happen to me?”
“I don’t know.” This time Lucca doesn’t meet my eyes.
“Just tell me. You’re getting off on keeping me in the dark.”
Lucca’s gaze swings back to me. He’s looking at me differently. His fingers reach out and cup my face, his touch is gentle, and it disarms something inside me. I don’t want his touch to have such power. I lean into his hand.
“I’m keeping you.” His words are low as he moves his head closer to mine. His gaze roams my face as his words sink in.
His thumb caresses my cheek. His touch reaches beyond the surface of my flesh, and my heart is like a sponge that soaks it up. My eyelids flutter closed as I allow his words to sink in.
“You are keeping me?” I open my eyes. I need to see the words on his lips that are close to mine.
My heart starts to pound with a m
ixture of emotions, and I can’t focus on one; there are too many.
“Yes.” Silver eyes speak as loudly as his words do.
So that meant no brothel. I wasn’t being sold. My heart didn’t sing or fly like all the butterflies I had set free. I had imagined this moment differently.
I knew why I wasn’t free. This wasn’t a choice.
Lucca licks his lips, and my focus zones in on the movement. “Do I have a choice?”
His lip tugs up slightly. “Would you rather go to Igor?”
My focus leaves his lips. His hand still cups my cheek. His thumb is still moving back and forth. I wasn’t sure if he was aware of what he was doing.
“No.” It’s a whisper.
“Good.” His word has him moving closer, and he claims my lips. My stomach twists with fear while my heart expands with a want for Lucca that I can’t explain. My mouth moves against his, and when his hand glides down to my neck and further until his hand grazes my breasts. I open my eyes to find him looking at me too. Our kisses slow until they halt completely.
“I can take care of you.” Lucca’s hands rest on my waist, his touch as heavy as chains that I’m not sure I want to break.
“I can take care of myself.”
He nods. “I know you can. But let me take care of you.”
Conflicting emotions raced through me. I’m drawn to Lucca, and being here with him is better than the alternative, but I can’t release the iron-clad grip I have on hope.
I know it’s a golden thread that a pair of scissors hovers over, but maybe, just maybe, I could see home again.
My eyelids flutter closed with the pain of not seeing my parents again.
“Will you let me, Evie?”
The question has me looking up at Lucca. If I said no, what would happen?
I nod, afraid my voice would betray me. Lucca smiles, and it lights up his silver eyes. My stomach tightens for a completely different reason this time. When his lips find mine, the kiss is soft and all-consuming, like a memory. I allow myself to get lost in this soft touch. That is new to me.
His long fingers flutter along my flesh, like an artist or a musician who is creating something amazing.
His touch gives me power, and I deepen the kiss. I taste the lust on his tongue, yet his movements are gentle. Even as he unbuttons my dress, he undoes one button at a time, slowly and carefully.
