by Erin Trejo
“You know, yet you brought her here. Do you know who she is? Where she came from? She is pale as the white snow with red hair. I assume she’s Irish,” Vera adds as I take a bite of my food.
“She’s ill, is she not?”
“She is. The doctor has her sedated as well,” she informs me. I nod my head and take another bite before looking up at her. She isn’t much older than me in age, but her soul is far older than any of us could imagine.
“I will tend to her until she is well and then she is free to go,” I tell her with a smile. Vera smiles and nods her head, happy with that option.
“You were always a good boy, Alexei. No matter what they told you,” she says softly. I was never good. I killed when I was nine. It was the only way to stay alive. When you are thrown into the pits of Hell, you fight or die. I know what those girls must be feeling because I too was close to death once. I could reach out and grab the devil’s hand in mine, but at the end of the day, I lived to fight another day.
“I like that you saw that in me, Vera. I only wish things were different. I will not allow those women to be used and hurt the way I was.” She smiles bigger, a tear rolling down her cheek.
“I know you won’t. You did the right thing. I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing with the girl.”
“I’m doing just as I told you I was.” She nods her head and turns to leave my office when Dmitry comes in. He walks over and drops into the chair across from my desk, eyeing me.
“What do you want?” I ask eating more of my dinner.
“The other girl,” he begins when I cut him off.
“I’ve already discussed this with Vera. She will stay until she’s well then she is free to go,” I inform him.
“Why take her to begin with?”
“She looked familiar to me at the time. I can’t place from where, but I could swear to it that I’ve seen her before.” Dmitry laughs, tilting his head back.
“You fucked her in the past?” I smirk and shake my head.
“Not that I recall. No, it’s from somewhere else.” Dmitry shrugs and grabs the bottle on my desk, pouring himself a glass. I watch as he swallows it in one go before setting the empty glass back down.
“The basement is prepped and ready. Once I have word that Jimmy has been taken, I will personally bring him here,” he tells me. I nod my head, setting the fork back on my plate.
“He has used the last of my patience. I didn’t want to believe Jimmy to be a rat. I never saw him as that type of man, but we must make him an example to anyone that dares to mess with us.”
“I agree. Where would you like him left?” I sit back and ponder that for a second before the idea hits me.
“Central Park. What a lovely way for the normal people of this city to wake up,” I laugh.
“You are one sick man.”
“Says the killer,” I tease.
“Yes, well. I am what I was made,” he reminds me.
“Aren’t we both?”
Chapter 4
Clara
My body aches, but when I try to move my arms, I can’t. Blinking my eyes open, I glance down to see that I’m in a hospital-style bed, my arms restrained. Panic bursts inside of me as I take in my surroundings. This isn’t a hospital. What are they pumping into me? I begin to thrash against the restraints, but I can’t get free.
“You should calm down before you pull the IV free,” a woman’s voice sounds next to me. I glance over and find a beautiful, dark-haired woman watching me. She smiles sweetly before moving toward me.
“Are you in pain?” she asks, checking the IV lines that lead to my arm. I follow her gaze with my own watching everything she’s doing.
“The doctor said your fever was very high. It seems to be coming down now. You should still rest,” she says sweetly. I watch her move around the room doing random things. The door opens and a man steps in. I haven’t seen this man before either. He looks from me to her before she smiles brightly.
“When did you get in?” She asks moving toward him. He pulls her into a hug and my mind goes wild. How do they not care that I’m lying here? Are they going to get me well and then kill me for their own sick reasons? Sell me to someone else? Nothing makes sense.
“Just now. How is she?” He nods toward me. Why does he care how I am? Oh, God. Is he going to buy me next? Just like the other man did?
“She’s awake. That is always a good sign,” the woman tells him.
“Has she said anything?”
“No.” And I won’t either. After what Timur threatened to do to me and what he’s already done, I refuse to open my mouth for anyone.
“Too bad. What about Alina?” I watch the woman’s smile fade slowly as she rests a hand on his arm.
“She was worse. She’s still sedated. She has broken ribs, Lev. There was a lot of damage. The doctor said she may need surgery but not until she is stable and the fever subsides.” His eyes turn glassy as he looks past her and right at me. Is that hate? What have I done to earn that from a man I don’t even know?
“Why was she hurt worse?” he asks keeping his eyes on me. I don’t answer him and rage simmers in his dark eyes. He brushes past the woman coming to stop in front of me. “Why are you awake and not her?” He roars louder. I take him in, his dark hair and dark eyes. His tan skin and the way he holds himself tells me he’s a man of authority. When I don’t answer him, he reaches down and wraps his hand around my throat. My heart nearly beats out of my chest, fear racing through my veins.
“Answer me! Why was she treated worse than you?” he roars, cutting off the air to my lungs. I try to move my hands to claw at his, but I can’t. I gasp for air trying to suck in a much-needed breath but fail.
“Stop that, Lev! Leave her alone!” the woman yells rushing to my side. She tries to move him but it’s as though he’s made of stone. His hands keep squeezing as my head begins to pound.
“Alexei!” the woman screams loudly. My vision begins to blur and like so many times before, over the past few months, I welcome the darkness that is slowly making its way in. Just as I feel myself losing consciousness, the man is ripped away from me. Another tall figure slams his fist into his face. Words are flying through the air in what I think is Russian, but I can’t be sure. I blink rapidly, sucking in a lungful of air. The woman is at my side, shushing me and rubbing my arm. The two men are still fighting, arguing. Tears fall down my cheeks as I try to rationalize what’s happening to me right now. What’s happening in this room.
“Everything will be alright. He didn’t mean that.” The woman coddles me. I don’t need this, I don’t want it. I turn my head to look up at her and the sincerity in her eyes nearly breaks me. I swallow hard and watch her as she rubs my shoulder.
“He’s just upset. He didn’t mean to take it out on you,” she tells me again. I watch her before turning my head and looking toward the men. They both stand there, running their hands through their hair, looking at a loss for words.
“She is off limits to you. What the hell were you thinking?” The taller man roars.
“I just lost it! I wanted to know why she’s awake and not Alina. Why was Alina beaten worse?”
“Is that really what is concerning you? As if that girl hasn’t been through enough?” The tall man asks.
“It isn’t fair, Alexei!”
“Neither is life, but this is what we get. You can’t just come into my home and harm her. What kind of man are you, Lev?” The man I now know as Alexei roars louder. It makes me wonder why he even cares what the man does. It also scares me that he might be planning something else for me and needs me well. At first, I thought the same with Timur, but over time I found that he didn’t care what happened to me after all. He was the main source of my torture and pain. Lev runs his hand down his face before the woman steps away from me and heads toward them. Resting a hand on Lev’s shoulder, she looks up at Alexei.
“He overreacted. Let us all calm down. She doesn’t need the extra stress a
s she tries to recover,” she tells them looking between the two of them. Alexei nods his head before looking at me. I see Lev and the woman leave the room quietly, but not him. No, he moves toward me, his eyes never leaving mine. I sink back against the bed, trying to curl into myself and shrink into the bedding, but it does no good. He raises his hand and I flinch but he doesn’t stop. He slowly lowers his hand to my throat, his fingers grazing over my skin. I watch him with wide eyes as he looks me over.
“He had no right to touch you that way. I’ll make sure it never happens again.” I swallow hard, my throat pressing against his fingertips as I do. His dark gaze slowly travels up to meet mine and my lips part. He’s tall, tanned, and beautiful. He’s a monster, that much I can see, but that doesn’t make him any less gorgeous. Tattoos cover his neck, snaking out under his button-up shirt. The top three buttons are undone showing even more color beneath it. He pulls his hand away from me when I see the tattoos on his wrists and hands as well. It makes me wonder what the ones under his shirt look like.
“You’re awake now. I will let the doctor know. Is there anything you need?” Why is he being so nice to me? Why is he asking me that? Of course, I don’t answer him, and I won’t. No other man will get to hear me speak. Men have ruined me from the day I was born, and I will not let them have that part of me. When I don’t answer annoyance dances across Alexei’s features. He reaches in and grabs my face roughly between his fingers.
“When I speak to you, you will answer,” he growls. My face hurts where it’s pinched in his grasp. I swallow the sob that threatens to fall from my lips. He cocks his head to the side and stares at me, his eyes burning with the intensity of an inferno. He leans in closely, his breath dancing against my skin.
“If you think they’ve broken you, I will shatter you.”
Chapter 5
Alexei
I light another cigarette as I lean against the outside wall of the house. There are far too many things racing through my head right now.
“I’m sorry for the way I reacted, Alexei. She didn’t seem to be as bad off as Alina.” I glance over at my cousin and nod once.
“She might not be physically, but I fear mentally she may be,” I add. Lev moves to stand next to me, his eyes lingering on the flowers in the front lawn.
“I assume Alina will be as well. My отец doesn’t seem to be as concerned as I am. I fear I’m missing something vital here,” he says catching my attention. I shift and look toward him, gauging him.
“What do you mean he isn’t as concerned?”
“He just doesn’t seem to worry over her condition. Something else is weighing on him at the moment. Something I’m not privileged to know.” Those words set my nerves on edge. Why wouldn’t he be worried about his daughter’s well-being? Why wouldn’t he want to find out what happened to her and seek revenge? None of this sits well with me.
“I am a Vor. I am privileged to know these things and I think the time is coming for me to have a chat with my дядя soon.” Lev’s eyes widen slightly but I don’t back down. If something is going on and he isn’t concerned, I want to know what it is.
“I agree. Although I don’t know how far you will get with him. He’s been off more than usual lately and it’s becoming quite concerning.”
“I will see what I can do. I have a meeting with the Irish within the week but after that, I will be sure to speak to him,” I add. Lev nods his head before looking up at the sky.
“Do you ever get tired of this life, Alexei?” I blow smoke through my nose and shrug.
“I don’t know any different. This is what I was born to do. If that was ever taken from me, I would be nothing. I would have nothing,” I admit to him. He nods his head and holds his hand out for my cigarette which I pass to him. I watch him as he takes a long slow pull before he passes it back.
“I find myself wondering what life would be like if we weren’t in so deep.” His admission fuels something inside of me because Lev wasn’t raised the same way I was. It pisses me off that he thinks this world is so bad that he might want to leave it, but it also makes me smile. He wants more in his life than killing and being dragged through the mud.
“What are you thinking? Children?” He nods his head and I smile.
“I’d like to think one day that I will be a father,” he says softly. Slapping my hand on his shoulder, I reply, “You would make a great father one day.”
“As would you,” he says back. I chuckle and shake my head, bringing my cigarette back to my lips.
“That isn’t an option. I can barely stand being around people as it is, let alone a child,” I remind him.
“Your past doesn’t define you, Alexei.”
“Ah, but it does when you went through what I did. Are you staying? Should I have Vera get a room ready?” A change of subject is nice. I don’t want to talk about what happened to me as a child. I don’t want to relive that part of my life if I don’t need to. I do though, every single day of my life. The scars that litter my body are proof of what I’ve been through, only no one sees them but me.
“I think I will go home. Is Alina okay to stay? She’s safer here than home,” he says.
“Of course, she is. She is more than welcome to stay until she’s well and we figure things out.” Lev nods and slaps a hand on my shoulder before walking away. I watch him climb into his car and pull out of the drive before I flick my cigarette to the ground and head back inside. When I step in, I look around at everything I have. I was never poor. In fact, quite the opposite. You wouldn’t have known that when I was a child though. I was sent away to a training camp of sorts that my father deemed I needed. There, I was groomed and trained to be exactly what I am today.
“You have a visitor in the basement,” Dmitry says. I smirk and slide my jacket down my arms tossing it over the banister before rolling the sleeves of my shirt up.
“I was wondering when that package would arrive,” I say as I walk past him and toward the door.
“It was a fun time playing cat and mouse with him,” Dmitry says with a chuckle. We walk down the stairs and I stop when I see him sitting in the chair.
“You made mistakes. Vory v zakone is not happy with mistakes such as you have made. When we take our vows, we do so seriously. Anything to do with the government is unacceptable. You chose to work closely with a Chief of Police, yes?” I ask the man in the middle of the room. His friend isn’t far behind. Dmitry will find him next and he too will meet the same fate.
“You don’t understand. I was forced!” he pleads. It makes no difference to me.
“I don’t believe that to be the case, do you Dmitry?” He chuckles and shakes his head moving toward the table to grab the rope. The man in the chair, a nameless man as that’s the way I like to keep it, squirms in his seat.
“I didn’t know!” he screams louder. Dmitry walks to me, handing me the rope. I run it through my fingers a few times before tossing it up and over the rafters. I had the basement designed with this very thing in mind. Call it a sickness but since I was young, I’ve always been intrigued with ropes, and what you can accomplish with them. Grabbing the ends, I work it into a noose. The man wails like a child which only serves to piss me off further. If you didn’t want to end up here, why do things against the Vory?
“Your crying just shows me how weak you truly are. You were never worthy of being a part of this syndicate as far as I’m concerned,” I tell him as I finish up. I motion to Dmitry, so he can remove the bindings and bring me the traitor. He does so and leads him toward me all while he fights to get free. I smirk as Dmitry shoves him closer, holding him in place. I wrap the noose around his neck and lean in closely to whisper.
“There is nothing more beautiful than death.” I move back as he screams some more, and I motion for Dmitry to continue. He hoists him to his feet on the chair as I tug to tighten the rope.
“Once a traitor, always a traitor. In death, you will be nothing,” I say before kicking the chair out from under h
im. I wanted blood. The thought of seeing it coating my hands excites me, but I have other pressing issues I need to attend to. This traitor deserved to die quickly, and as I watch the life slowly leaving his body, it doesn’t bother me. His whole body shakes for a few seconds before it slowly comes to a stop. He swings slowly from the rafter as Dmitry smiles. If I thought I was fucked up, Dmitry is the devil himself.
“You can play with the next one,” I tell him grabbing his attention. He nods his head and walks toward the body.
“I’ll dispose of this. Have you figured out where the girl is from yet?”
“Not yet. She was awake as of earlier,” I tell him when I hear Vera screaming.
“Alexei!” I spin quickly, rushing into the hallway to find Vera running toward me. The pure look of panic crosses her face.
“What is it? Vera, calm down,” I tell her pulling her shaking body into me. She peers up at me with wide eyes.
“The girl. She has Filip’s gun!” I quickly shove her to the side and rush up the stairs. My heart is beating wilding in my chest as I climb the next set. I reach her room and find her standing with the gun in her hand and tears leaking down her face.
“What is this?” I ask looking at her and only her. Her small frame can’t be more than five foot two. Her red hair is longer than I noticed when we took her, hanging down to her waist. When she looks up at me, her big blue eyes are wild and unhinged.
“What is this?” I ask her, but I receive no response.
Chapter 6
Clara
He’s faster than me. He’s larger than me and I’m pissed that I took so long to pull the trigger. I should have done it as soon as I had it in my hand but that woman, Vera, she looked so sad at the thought. I wanted her to leave the room so that it would be so much easier on me but when she did, it took no time for Alexei to come in. I’m pressed against the wall, one of his hands holding mine with the gun above my head, his body keeping me in place. I fight to move but I’m so weak. His breath dances over my face and my heart beats erratically in my chest. The smell of mint and liquor mix as I breathe him in.
