Kaznachei’s Pain

by Mason, V. F.

  Who was he?

  Then I pushed back the gasp threatening to slip past my lips when I saw a snake tattoo entwined with the blade and blood. The exact same tattoo Vasya Konstantinov had, and based on my knowledge, it was only given to family members.

  Shaking my head from this, I decided to answer his question and look into his identity later. “Your men attacked me, or should I say, tried to kill me at FBI headquarters. And told me it’s a message to him. Him being Yuri Radionov.” The minute his name left my mouth, the energy in the room shifted. I had to blink twice.

  From bored and lazy, it transformed into dangerous and angry, as the man’s hand fisted while the other guys glanced at him worriedly. “Lev?” He ignored the man who spoke to him, but at least I finally had the name.

  Lev Kuzmin.

  Since he still stayed silent, I opened the folder and showed him the picture of the man who attacked me. “He was part of your brotherhood, apparently kicked out for not protecting your brother’s wife.” His cheek twitched at the mention of his brother, and it confused me even more. Just what the hell was going on with these people inside their families? “But we both know the punishment is death. And ironically, you, or should I say the Kuzmin Bratva, arrived here two days ago right before the attack. Then you send one more man to kill me, but that failed too.” His face was still as hard as granite, and he just listened to me as I listed all their doings. “Very brave and stupid to try to kill an agent on US soil, don’t you think?” Closing the file, I placed my hands on it, and asked, “What do you want from Yuri Radionov?”

  He stopped playing with his knife and, in one swift move, dug it into the table, right between my fingers, but I didn’t even flinch. Then, wrapping his hand around it, he leaned closer and spoke in his low yet threatening voice. “When I want to kill someone, agent, I do that without an audience and quietly. So if I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” He leaned back, pulling out the knife. “My people have nothing to do with these events. We have alibis. You can check them.”

  “I didn’t expect any other answer.”

  “You know, Melissa.” My hackles rose on the back of my neck—I hadn’t introduced myself to him and yet he knew me. He smirked at the surprise that must have shown on my face. “I’m aware of an agent who mingles with the mafia.” Right, they probably kept close tabs on their enemies. “You are either brave or stupid coming here and questioning me on my territory.”

  The arrogance of these Russians was astonishing. “We are not in Moscow, Lev.”

  “Rules are the same.” He spoke nonchalantly and then pressed the knife against my throat. My breath caught, and I didn’t move, because even the slightest movement could result in a cut that could cause me to bleed to death. “Just one light nick and this is over. Next time, be very care—” Before he could finish his sentence, the door slammed against the wall loudly and heavy footsteps and the safety being released on guns echoed in the place. I couldn’t turn back to see who showed up, but the situation had just gotten shittier for me.

  In seconds, men ran in through the backdoor holding guns and pointing them behind me, leaving Lev and me right in the middle of the action.

  Just freaking peachy.

  “Let her go, Lev.” At hearing Yuri’s voice, I closed my eyes and relief rushed through me, allowing me to breathe freely. I could chastise myself for it later, but right in that moment, knowing he was there and not someone else was everything.

  Instead of listening, Lev pressed the blade even harder. “Well, well, well. Isn’t that the Kaznachei of the Bratva?” Then he must have looked behind Yuri, as he shifted slightly on his seat. “And his guard dogs, Gleb and Vitya. Dobro pojalovat.” Although he welcomed them, nothing but hatred laced his voice.

  “Otpusti eye,” Yuri responded in Russian for him to let me go, but Lev just continued to talk, completely ignoring the guns. “Snachalo ty mne otvetish na vapors I tolko esli ty skajesh mne pravdu, ona budet jit.” I rapidly tried to understand what they said but couldn’t, as Lev’s speech was too fast. Yuri had to answer something and only then Lev would let go.

  A beat passed and then Yuri spoke, once again in freaking Russian. “Horosho.”

  Lev twisted the blade slightly, and I winced, detesting the scrape but staying silent. “Ona osobenaya?” I felt the tension multiply at his question and some men even coughed, but Yuri kept his mouth shut.

  Osobenaya? Gah, why couldn’t I remember one freaking word! Try as I might, I couldn’t find the translation for it in my brain.

  Lev clearly didn’t appreciate that, as he barked, “Otvet mne!” What kind of things did he ask him that he demanded a reply?

  Finally, Yuri’s firm voice told him, “Da, ona osobenaya.” Lev froze as an unfamiliar emotion flashed through his eyes, but he quickly covered it up with hatred.

  He snatched the blade back, resting his back against the chair. I finally spun around, holding my neck, and my eyes widened at the picture greeting me.

  Yuri stood there along with Gleb and Vitya holding guns in their hands while four of their other men, byki, soldiers in the brotherhood, stood along with them ready to fight. He summoned all these men on my account?

  I clearly underestimated the common sense of the Kuzmin Bratva if he was ready to kill me like it was no freaking big deal. This situation made me look like a green recruit who blundered on her first case!

  “You are insane,” I addressed Lev, and he shrugged.

  “I’ll take it as a compliment.” Then he shifted his attention to Yuri. “I had nothing to do with the attack. So in the future, keep your woman away from my business.” He then looked at me. “No offense.”

  “I’m not his woman,” I hissed, and rubbed my sensitive skin, hating that it only intensified the previous pain.

  “Aleksei did this,” Vitya said, drilling his stare into Lev, and the guy nodded.

  “Most probably. He doesn’t kick people out. He either punishes them or kills them.” But then all humor left him as he seethed at Yuri, “What did you expect anyway? It was the anniversary of her death.”

  Her?

  “Lev—” Gleb started.

  But Lev continued to talk, more like throwing mental blows at Yuri with the harshness of his words. “Every day, I wake up in a world where she no longer exists. Because of you.” He hit his chest with a fist. “It hurts here every single day, because my sister is dead.”

  “I mourn her the same,” came the reply, and my heart stopped as goose bumps broke over my skin, and not the good kind.

  Suddenly, all his detached demeanor, no connection during lovemaking, and abnormal behavior made sense, if one looked at it through the prism of grief.

  He lost a woman he loved.

  I blocked away the heaviness settling in my chest and snapped back to the conversation, if the thing could be called that.

  “You have no right to mourn her.” Lev stood up. The chair scraped against the floor and then fell with a loud thud. “If it weren’t for you, she’d be alive. Your love killed her, Yuri.”

  “And not a day goes by without me knowing it.”

  Both men faced off with each other as their men passed glances between the two, waiting either for war or for them to finish their talk. In the meantime, all I could concentrate on were their words.

  He loved a Kuzmin before, and the men from that family couldn’t forgive him for her loss. Was that why they attacked me? They thought I was special to him?

  Too bad for them, because right in that moment I understood with clarity that I’d never be special to a man like him.

  Because his heart forever belonged to someone else.

  Yuri

  “Gleb, get Melissa out of here.” Vitya caught my stare and reluctantly nodded, clicking his fingers at a byki who followed his command and retreated outside while Gleb stood and waited for Melissa.

  I prayed she wouldn’t fight me on this, as fury already coursed through my blood and could be unleashed any minute. Surprisingly and sus
piciously, she rose, tugged on her slightly too-big suit, and said to Lev before walking off with Gleb, “I hope we never meet again.”

  “Likewise,” he replied. She passed by me, practically squeezing herself not to touch me, and then the door shut firmly behind them.

  After holding my stare for a second, Lev motioned with two fingers and his men lowered their guns, and with one last glance my way, they disappeared behind the bar, leaving us alone.

  “This is a message for you and Aleksei. Make sure it reaches him.” His brows rose as he awaited my words. “Don’t ever touch her again or threaten her life. Otherwise, both of you will be dead and every single man who you send after her.”

  “See, that’s the difference between our pain, Kaznachei.” Lev lit up a new cigar, for a moment allowing the deep sorrow to show on his face, bringing up the exhausted and dead man inside.

  I should know, considering he used to be our best friend.

  “I cannot find another sister. But you found yourself a woman.”

  “No one can replace Savannah.” I ignored the pang in my heart as Melissa’s weird expression came to mind and how much I wanted to soothe her after that. “You have a problem with me, then all of you face me like the men you are. Do not bring a woman into this. I mean it, Lev. I will declare war.”

  He smirked, taking a long pull and then puffing smoke into the air as his bitter laughter echoed off the walls. “I don’t give a fuck about it and you know it. Besides, Dominic is the pakhan last time I checked,” he taunted me, but I straightened, giving him a harsh stare while coldness filled my voice.

  “He is. And he’ll be on my side.” Although I hoped it wouldn’t get to that, because the only way Dominic would agree to it was if I claimed Melissa as mine.

  Otherwise, it wouldn’t be Bratva business. And I had no business claiming a woman when I had nothing to offer one.

  Lev laughed bitterly. “Right. Because he is so loyal. I wonder where his loyalty was when Vasya kicked me out of the brotherhood and dragged me to Kuzmin’s house.” Silence fell over us. I didn’t know what I could possibly say to justify what happened to him back then. Even if he didn’t believe us, we did our best to change Vasya’s mind. We begged him to keep Lev in the brotherhood, but the pakhan had lost his mind, kicked him to the curb, and then told the byki to take him half-dead to the Kuzmin mansion.

  That was the day we lost our friend. But while what happened to him sucked, he had no right to play with me or Melissa and he better fucking know it.

  Done with this fucked-up situation, I spun around and was about to leave, when his words stopped me. “You can lie to yourself all you want. The truth was your answer to my question.”

  Without turning back, I commented on his sarcasm one last time. “Dosvidaniya, Lev. She is off-limits.” After saying that, I exited the place, breathing in the fresh air while fisting my hands so much I could almost break my fingers with my thumbs.

  Then rage I could barely hold inside came crashing back at me, sweeping me in a wave of fury that needed to destroy something.

  Or someone.

  I darted to Melissa, who stood with Gleb and Vitya as they leaned on the hood of a car. I grabbed her elbow, dragging her with me while she tugged her arm, trying to get free. She stumbled, because she couldn’t keep up with my quick pace. “You’re hurting me, Yuri.”

  “Tough.” She gasped at this and pulled again, but I only tightened my hold on her. Once we reached her car, I threw her forward, and she had a second to catch herself before I ordered, “Get in the car.”

  She breathed heavily, anger shining in her eyes. “You are not the boss of me.”

  “Clearly,” I hissed, stepping closer to her, and she craned her neck to meet my gaze. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gotten yourself into this mess. What were you thinking, confronting him like that?”

  She moved some strands of hair behind her ear and crossed her arms, still giving me a stubborn look. I wondered if her teeth hurt, as she was clenching her jaw so hard. “He is a dangerous man with no moral code. He lives only by his rules, and the only reason you are alive is because I showed up.” Grabbing her shoulders, I shook her, but she slapped my hand away, fire blazing in her eyes as she pointed at me.

  “Do not touch me like that anymore, Yuri. That’s enough. I’m not a damsel in distress, and the only reason he pressed that knife to me was because he knew you’d show up.” I didn’t give her the satisfaction of reading the truth on my face, because I’d guessed as much. All this was carefully staged for me to fall into his trap as Lev thought punishing me was his daily amusement.

  And I allowed it through the years since I owed him one, but he went too far when he threatened Melissa’s life.

  He could fuck with me, but never with her.

  Never.

  “He might act like a dick, but a man who grieves the loss of his sister wouldn’t kill women.” She tugged on her suit, adjusting it after my hold. “At least not without a reason,” she concluded, running her fingers through her hair and exhaling heavily.

  Someone cleared their throat beside us, and we looked simultaneously to see Vitya and Gleb watching us with fascination and dread at the same time.

  “Hate to interrupt, but we gotta go or these guys”—Gleb pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at Lev’s men patrolling outside—“will get restless, and it’s just too beautiful a day to start it with a kill.” He batted his eyelashes at me, and Vitya smirked, nodding in acknowledgment. “He is right. We need to leave.”

  “I will go with her.”

  “You won’t—”

  My raised hand shut her up, as I barked, “Not even a word or we’ll continue this conversation here. Get in the car and drive us to your apartment.” Then I faced the guys. “This is not over. If Aleksei plans something, we need to be ready.”

  Vitya rubbed his chin, sighing. “Have to agree. He won’t give up until she is at least in the hospital. Do you want to inform Dom?”

  I shook my head. “He already has enough with the new information. I will contact him in the morning, but leave two people around her place and tell Anton to monitor the Kuzmin Bratva’s whereabouts. It’s not over; I feel it.”

  “Okay. See you tonight?”

  Right, we had the opening of the club in the city, the one I should have overseen.

  I dismissed the idea though, because my mind was all over the place and too concerned with the stubborn brown-eyed woman who practically gave me the finger with her stare. “Start without me. I need… time.”

  They shared a look but didn’t say anything else and, with a last wave to Melissa, went to their cars and we did the same.

  Settling inside, I snapped the seatbelt as she turned on the radio loudly and Nirvana filled the car.

  Fucking great.

  “In case you didn’t get the hint, I have no desire to hear your voice.”

  She could be angry and stubborn all she wanted. I didn’t give a flying fuck.

  Better stubborn than dead.

  A man with no name

  Gazing at the bright blue sky through the spacious window in my penthouse, I pondered how much I despised New York and all the gang members present here.

  They thought they ruled the fucking world and could dictate to everyone, but little did they know what hit was awaiting them.

  Don, Dominic, Jaxon, Gael, Vito.

  So many possibilities, one better than the other.

  My laptop chimed with a notification, and I leaned on the table to click it open.

  The freshly delivered email contained a video attachment, and I clicked on it, as the video of Yuri and his woman arguing outside Lev’s place came into view.

  I couldn’t help but break into a smile at his agitated tone, worry etching his face, his harshness toward her that probably brought pain.

  And guilt surrounding him from what happened all those years ago.

  Ah, truly watching him suffer was and always would be my greatest pleasure.


  Picking up the knife from the table, I walked slowly to where my two men held a man who had nothing but fear in his eyes. His clothes were plastered to his skin from all the sweat his body produced. He mumbled something behind the tape covering his lips. “You told me your team was the best. Yet both your men failed me.”

  He mumbled again, not that I cared one way or the other.

  Instead, I took his wallet from one of the men and flipped it open to the picture of his family and he froze, barely breathing as I admired one particular person. “Your wife is beautiful. Bet she’s amazing in the sack.” He pulled at the ropes securing his wrists behind him, but he was powerless against the hold the guards had on him. “And two little girls that sellers would love to play with. Do they like toys?” Before he could reply, I stabbed him in the heart and, while he still breathed, whispered, “Your family will miss you in all their desperation.” I kicked him in the chest and he fell down as my men stood stoically, not showing any kind of reaction.

  They knew a display of emotion would mean their death.

  “Bring his family here. I want the girls first. Let the wife go insane with worry.” They nodded, and I waved them off as euphoria rushed through me, anticipating my midnight guests.

  Life could be bliss.

  But it wouldn’t be until Yuri suffered the greatest pain.

  Snagging the dart from the table, I threw it at the wall with Melissa’s picture on it and laughed, the victory of it bringing me great happiness.

  Only a little time till my plan would come to fruition.

  Melissa

  My leather shoes slapped loudly on the stairs as I rushed up to my condo, hoping the brooding man would get the hint and stay downstairs, but the prickling of my neck and heavy footsteps behind me told me I could only dream about it.

  Shaking my head in disbelief, I dug the key into the lock and quickly opened the door. Before I could push it wide, the tanned hand did it for me and then motioned for me to enter. “Well, thank you. It’s so nice to be invited into my own apartment.”