by T. L Smith
“You think Patrick will kill him, don’t you?” Kazier asks me.
“I do.”
I understand, no matter what, I have this thing that rings in the back of my mind telling me to protect her, but I keep choosing to ignore it even though everything in me wants to defy him. Even the boys standing here have felt this feeling of protection before. I think it has a lot to do with her small frame and large sassy mouth. Patrick has loved her forever, they are brother and sister, so their bond to protect one another would be stronger than ours.
“Fuck, if he does, he’s next in charge. And if he listens to her, you think we will get off scot-free?” Kazier asks as he looks back to the van. We are waiting on pick up.
“She’s going to do exactly what she said she will do. That’s why she isn’t scared, revenge is eating at her right now.”
“I’d want to kill you all too if you did that to me,” Anton chimes in.
Kazier shakes his head. “We don’t know what they plan, but we have to do what we’re ordered to do. So she’s going.”
Two black cars drive toward us, Kazier takes a step forward as they come to a stop. He turns back to me when he sees who gets out of the car. “Grab her,” he says nodding his head toward the car.
I walk toward the van, her head is dropped and her hands are tied. She doesn’t say a word when I grab her hands. She doesn’t resist me when I pull her from the van—I at least expected a fight but I get nothing in return. I turn to look at the man walking toward us, he’s old, dress in all black, with gray hair and sunglasses covering his face. He watches me as I pull her along. I don’t think he knows who it is, or who her family are. Men like him don’t care who, they want what they can afford. And obviously, he can afford her. I wonder if he knows she’s not a virgin anymore. A part of me is glad she isn’t. She gave that gift to me and now I’m selling her. What a fucked-up world we live in—her own father selling her because she told him no. His eyes roam her body, Freya’s dressed in shorts and shirt and she has sneakers on her feet. I can tell he likes what he’s looking at when his lips quirk up.
“Remove the bag,” he asks.
I pull the hood from her head. She blinks a few times as her eyes adjust to the light, she then looks at me and turns her head to stare at the man who’s now bought her. He smiles at her, but she looks down.
“Very good,” he says as his men walk over to me. One takes the bag from my hand, the other grabs her tied hands. She doesn’t look back as she’s pulled away. I watch silently as they push her to the car, opening the door they shove her inside. The men nod their heads to us and they don’t say another word as they drive away, leaving us standing here watching them.
Anton is the first to speak, “We’re fucked. That was low even for us,” he grumbles shaking his head as he walks back to our car. Maybe he’s right, maybe there’s a special spot for us in hell.
“That’s the work, that’s the job,” Kazier says walking back as well.
Death is the only one standing next to me as I watch the space where the car just left. He makes a funny sound from his throat, so I turn to him raising my eyebrows.
“If that was Pollie, you’d have to kill me, because no one’s taking the woman from me. I wouldn’t care if it cost me my life,” he says as he walks to the car.
He’s right. Kazier wouldn’t let anyone take Elina either. He’s proven that. And am I just some henchman? Or the better question yet… do I care?
I climb into the back of the van and listen as they talk along the way. I’m too lost in my own thoughts. It was wrong what we did, so fucking wrong. And I usually don’t care about what’s wrong, it’s never been an issue for me. The things I’ve done for my family put most criminals to shame.
I don’t pay attention to them when we drive, I’m too lost in my head, wondering what I should be doing. Because I have no fucking idea. We come to a stop and I see the girls’ cars at the front of Kazier’s house. This will be interesting.
Anton opens the back door and blocks it from me getting out, he looks behind me and I hear the doors close and footsteps walking away.
“Do you want to go after her?” he asks me.
I drop my head, do I? She wouldn’t want me near her anyway, I wouldn’t want me near me after what I’ve just done.
“Viktor, do you want to go fucking after her? Last chance, because I won’t ask again.”
I look out the window behind me, they’re all gone. It’s just us now. “Why?” I ask him because Anton cares for no one.
“Because despite everything, I can see you actually care for her. If Kazier can have the she-devil, why can’t you have the little devil?” he asks. It’s true, his choice of wife is way worse, and I didn’t even have a choice. It was forced upon me.
Our names are called and Anton walks off. I wonder if I could do it, go against everything I know. I’m not one-hundred percent sure I can.
“Where the fuck is she?” Elina’s voice screams at me as I walk in the door. I turn to see Kazier not paying attention. He’s smirking at his angry wife yelling at me. Her hands are balled up into fists at her side. Her eyebrows scrunched as she watches me waiting for an answer.
I shrug my shoulders and before I can stop her, she kicks me between the legs, making me drop to the floor.
“You find her you piece of shit, or the next one will be me shoving my fist up your ass.”
I groan out in pain. Fuck. That hurts like a bitch. Kazier walks over taps me on the shoulder while I’m on the floor cupping my cock and balls, and hands me a bag of frozen vegetables.
“It was your husband, you crazy cunt,” I say to her once I get my voice back.
Still crouched down she walks over to me, this time I catch her leg before she can kick me in the face with her high heels.
Kazier grabs her and pulls her backward.
“You… don’t you touch me. You find her right now,” she says to him.
He shakes his head. “It doesn’t work like that. I have no more strings to pull, I’ve pulled them all.”
“Tell me who you sold her to? I’ll go get her and give her a gun to fuck you all up.”
“I’m coming too,” Pollie says sitting on the couch with her baby. Death’s face goes from neutral to downright scary. His hard eyes look up and reach Kazier. He shakes his head at him, telling him no, he can’t stop them unless he locks them up.
“I’ll come, I miss the little devil,” Anton says shrugging his shoulders. “Pollie you should stay,” he says, and Death looks back to her. She goes to shake her head no, but Death leans in and whispers something in her ear.
“You aren’t fucking going anywhere… any of you.” Kazier points at all of us.
Elina spins around from looking at Anton to stare at Kazier. “I’ll fucking go where I want, thank you very much.”
He walks around and grabs her hand, pulling her away to the bedroom, the door bangs shut then yelling is heard. I turn to see Pollie rocking her baby in her arms with Death leaning down whispering in her ear. I learned that they named the baby Dmitry, after Death. Two unlikely people so in love, it kind of gives you hope for the future.
Unless you’re me, then you’re fucked.
Chapter 14
Freya
No one stopped me, no one saved me. I sit in a car with a man who won’t stop looking at my body like it’s his. He may think it’s his, but it isn’t, it’s mine. Not even the man who created me has any say in my life anymore. Why would I give it freely to some stranger? His hand comes to my thigh and I jump, I don’t want it there, I want it gone. I try to move it away by moving my leg, but his hand grips it hard, squeezing and I can feel that his hands are about to leave imprints on me.
“Sir,” a voice comes through the intercom. We have been driving now for what seems like ages, stuck in this seat with seedy eyes glued to me, when in reality it’s probably no more than one hour. “Sir,” the man’s voice comes again. He huffs as he lets go of my leg and drops the divider between them and us. “We
have company.”
I try to look, but I can’t see anything. He didn’t put the divider down low enough, and I’m too short to see out.
“Don’t stop until we pass our gates,” he orders looking to me. “Who are you?” he asks. I shrug my shoulders. “The ones in charge personally delivered you. They never do that. So who are you?” I ignore him and look out the window. His hand comes back down to my thigh and he squeezes it hard, this time I can feel that he’s bruising me straight away.
“Keep your hands off me,” I growl at him. He looks appalled that I would speak to him like that, then his hand comes down, hard across my face. I taste my own blood when he raises it again going in for a second hit. Just before it hits me the car is jolted, our bodies fly from the seat and into the divider that’s half down. I feel my head hurt as it crashes into the barrier then I feel the blood drip down from my nose. The man next to me sits up and pulls a gun from his holster, placing it to my temple as he pulls me up from the ground by the roots of my hair.
“You little bitch, what if I kill you before they can reach you?” he asks me spitting in my face. I spit back at him making him angrier. He slaps me again, blood drips heavier now. I look down to my shorts to see that they’re not as white as they once were, now they’re stained in red. My head drops backward, I feel dizzy like my head is spinning in circles. I feel the slap again, then a scream rips from my mouth because something sharp and cold just cut at my neck.
“Not so cocky now, are you?” His breath stinks as he breathes all over me. The knife digs in deeper and I’m locked in position now too afraid to move. I close my eyes waiting for what he has planned, knowing men like him, they don’t buy property just to kill it. No, they lock you up and fuck you up until you aren’t even a shell of the person you once were.
I’m so still, so locked in position, it takes me a moment to realize the knife has gone and his smell has also gone. I manage to open my eyes and what stands before me feels like a fresh breath of air, even if it’s in the fire, even if he is the most dangerous man I’ve ever met. I feel safe.
Grekh stands in front of me. He doesn’t smile, his face doesn’t even move, he just looks me over then reaches his hand in toward me. I take it and he pulls me out. Grekh is one of my brother’s closest friends, associates. I was always afraid of him growing up, though. He doesn’t talk, well, I’ve never heard him speak. He’s taught me a lot, though. He taught me how to fight at a young age. I would sneak in to watch him and Patrick train, they would show me a few moves and I learned fast. I had respect for Grekh, he always reminded me of one of those people you would see in the movies, that moves so fast using backflips and all those tricky maneuvers he could do. I once saw him disarm a man, then the man tried to run, he unloaded his clip and in one quick movement it went backward, straight under the man’s foot sending him straight to his face. Then he reloaded his gun with that exact same clip and shot him in the head. He was scarily fast, it even scared my brother. That’s why they are joined at the hip, one doesn’t go anywhere without the other. I didn’t think he would come to America though, he hardly leaves the country we were raised in.
“Grekh, thank you,” I say leaning up and wrapping my arms around him. He stands stock still, not returning my actions. But he doesn’t push me off either. In some ways he reminds me of Death, except Death may be a bit more friendly, and that’s saying something. When I pull away he starts walking, and I realize it’s just him by himself. No one else is here to take on both cars. I look over at the car to see bullet holes through the windshield, then to the car I was in. They’re all dead, even the man that purchased me.
“I need your phone, Grekh.” He doesn’t question me as he hands it to me and climbs into his black sports car. I call my brother and he answers straight away.
“He got you I see.”
I think Grekh speaks to Patrick sometimes. I’ve seen them close before and speak in what appears like whispers, but I don’t really know because I’ve never actually heard him.
He starts up the car and speeds so fast I cling to the phone and struggle with my belt. Patrick never advises anyone he has Grekh, he’s like a hidden weapon. I know it’s not a way to look at someone, but they would do anything for each other.
“Yes, I’m in the car with Grekh now.”
“Ask him if the first job was done.”
I turn to him dressed in all black, his eyes fixated on the road, his jaw covered in scars.
“Patrick wants to know if the first job was done?”
He looks to me and I stare at the road. Fuck! He nods his head slowly then turns back.
“Yes,” I say rushing the word out, my heart just jumped out and then flew back in when he took his eyes off the road.
“Good, you’re free to wreak havoc baby sister. Put me on speaker.”
I smile because I’ve never heard those words referred to me before.
“Sin,” Patrick’s voice comes through—Sin is English for Grekh. “Take Freya where she wants to go, help her, then come straight back. We have to sort the rest out.” He hangs up after he finishes talking. Grekh hands me a gun, places it in my lap as I tell him where to go. I check it and load it. We sit quietly as he concentrates on driving, and I wonder how much further I can get after tonight. Can I get to them all?
I watch the mansion come into view and point to it. He pulls over out the front. I look down at my bloody clothes, possible bloody face as well, then a black jacket lands on my lap. I smile up at him as I pull it over my head. He doesn’t wait for me as he gets out, comes around and opens my door, helping me out.
Taking the first steps up the stairs, my hand is sore when I knock on the door. Catara, Kazier’s evil bitch step-mom opens the door wide. She looks me up and down in a disapproving manner before her eyes turn to the man behind me.
“Can we come in? We need to discuss something with you and Bartollo.” She turns her head and yells for him, Grekh shuts the door behind him. We stand in the doorway waiting for Kazier’s father to enter. The gun is in the jacket, my hand is on it waiting. I hear his footsteps come closer, he shakes his head when he sees me. Then his eyes go wide as he sees Grekh.
“What’s the meaning of this, Freya,” he says looking over my shoulder. He won’t get a response from Grekh because that’s just not going to happen.
“Your son is a bad man, Bartollo, did you know that?” His eyes squint as he looks at me. “He did something today that’s not acceptable. Even if he had orders from higher up, he could have refused, you know?”
“What are you on about, Freya?” He reaches for his phone, dials a number and places it to his ear. I hear Kazier’s voice then listen as his father tells him I’m here. His eyes go wide after a moment of pause, he looks to me now, not the man behind me. I pull the gun from my pocket and shoot Catara straight in the head. She didn’t even see it coming. Bartollo drops his phone, it clinks when it hits the ground, then I move the gun to his head firing one more time, watching as his eyes read shock and stay that way as he drops to the floor. I bend down with my sore body, adrenaline wearing off now, and pick up his phone.
“Kazier… never thought I would hear that voice again.” I can hear his heavy breathing coming through.
“What have you done, Freya,” he speaks.
“I warned you… you didn’t listen, Kazier.”
“Freya, it’s Elina. Are you okay? I just heard what they fucking did. Do you need me to come to you?”
I shake my head—who would have thought she’d care if I lived or died.
“No.”
“I kicked him in the balls, you know… Viktor.” She laughs.
Pulling the phone away from my ear, I feel wetness dripping down my breasts. When I place my hand to my neck I notice that I’m still bleeding, and the top of the jacket is soaked. I start to feel lightheaded and the phone drops from my hand, and just before my face plants to the floor, hands wrap around me lifting me up.
Chapter 15
Vikt
or
Elina says her name a few times, then pulls the phone away from her ear to look at it. She looks up at me, then to Kazier. His face is a mask of anger because of whatever Freya had said to him on the phone and it has him fuming.
“Guns… now. Let’s go.” He walks to the door, leaving his phone in Elina’s hand and doesn’t wait for us as we catch up with him.
“What’s going on?” Anton asks.
I have a feeling I know what she’s done. So, I don’t bother asking. He speeds through the city streets and it doesn’t take long until he pulls up to his family home. He runs up the stairs to the open door. Pausing he doesn’t move. He lowers his weapon as he looks down to the ground. We follow him up and we see what has him shocked. It has us all shocked. Two bodies lay in the doorway—one Kazier’s father and the other his step-mother. Both with bullet holes in their heads.
“She did warn you,” I tell him.
He spins on me, his forearm slamming into my neck as he pushes me backward to the wall.
“You think she’ll live after what she has done?” he asks me holding me in place.
“I do, because she’s my wife. And your wife is still living and she’s the fucking enemy.”
His lips curl down in anger. His other hand raises and I can see he wants to hurt me for that comment, but instead his fist lands and goes straight through the drywall behind me. He removes his forearm from my neck and takes a step back. He looks down to his father, not caring about his step-mother, and shakes his head as he turns to walk out the door.
“You’re cleaning her mess up. You better hope this is her last mess, Viktor. I’m only not killing her because you’re right, but there’s only so much I can take.” We watch him as he gets in his car and leaves, Anton and I are left standing there looking at two bodies.
“Call Death,” Anton says.
I shake my head. “He’s at Kazier’s with Pollie and their baby. You think he’s going to come and clean this mess up?” Anton smiles.
“I fucking think he will.”
