“No, we don’t. We haven’t warranted the treatment that you have. You have done far worse things. We have never come close to those same horrors.” Reed speaks up, leaning against the wall.
“Oh, but you have.” Shit, this bastard is far worse than I originally thought. Sick and twisted beyond repair. We’ve dealt with some fucked up individuals, but Max takes the cake.
“No, we haven’t. We know everything.” I grumble out at him, showing us that he can’t keep playing games. He doesn’t know that we actually don’t know everything, but I’ll bluff if I have to.
“You idiots think you know everything, when you have no idea.” Max seethes out, spitting blood as he talks.
Reed slams his fist on the inside of the storage unit, roaring at him. “I know everything that I need to know. You are a rat, a rodent that was infiltrating our club for years. One that pretended to be a brother, when in reality you were fucking with us the entire time. You killed Trick’s sister and nephews in cold blood. You framed Kyle for a murder you committed, a body that you planted in that hotel room. You beat Michelle and raped her at Butch and Bellamy’s wedding. Shall I continue?”
Max smirks, crimson red covering his teeth. “You don’t have it all. You haven’t figured it out yet, have you?”
Dmitri stands up a little straighter, cracking his knuckles. There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to get a confession from him. “Why don’t you elaborate. You don’t have a choice, and you know it.”
Turning his head to Dmitri, the chain around his neck rattles against the inside of the container. “Oh, why such a great idea!” The way Max laughs reminds me of the way the Joker from Batman does. “Remember when Tegan went to the woods?”
He says the name Tegan and I see I’m the only one who doesn’t know who that is. Dmitri, Kyle and Reed all stare at him. “You attacked our sister?” Kyle spits out, practically foaming at the mouth.
Whoa. Did he just say sister? Wasn’t Jenna the one who went into the woods? I look from those three and Max, trying to put the pieces together. “Oh, Enzo didn’t know about Jenna not being Jenna? Oops. I guess I let that slip out.”
Dmitri is quick to bring back his leg and kick Max on the side of the head. We all hear a pop, and Max spits out yet another tooth. “Jenna was hiding a little something from everyone, a small little fact. She’s actually Tegan Hill, the daughter of Will Michaels old VP, but . . . he isn’t really her father, now is he boys?”
“Shut your fucking mouth before I cut out your tongue.” Kyle threatens, and I can’t tell who will break before the other – Dmitri or Kyle. The two of them look just as furious as the other. None of this is making any sense.
“Jenna is your sister?” I ask the two of them, flabbergasted. If she is, how did none of us know?
“She’s our half-sister.” Reed corrects me, “Our father fucked her mother while she was married. It’s a long story.”
“Not that long, you didn’t bring up her rape baby though. What a shame.”
Kyle charges over to Max, grabs him by the neck and shoves him against the walls. “Shut your fucking mouth, vermin. It’s no ones’ business.”
Max laughs, a laugh that continues to roll through him until it turns into a scream. I can’t figure out why he’s screaming until I see Kyle has inserted a knife directly below his collarbone.
“You’ve committed atrocities against our club in ways far worse than we could ever imagine. You’ll pay for everything you’ve done, for years. I won’t kill you, Max. I will own your life every night and every day. My enemies will know what happens to anyone who crosses me, that I won’t show them mercy and give them death. I will imprison them for the rest of their miserable lives, causing them to suffer in ways their darkest nightmares couldn’t even muster up.” Reed looks to Dmitri and myself. “I want us to go back home. It’s time that his suffering continues. Kyle, you might as well stab him on the other side as well. Dmitri and Enzo are going to hook him up in the truck for his ride back. And Enzo, make sure you hit every pothole that you can.” The thought of the way the metal will move in his body causes me to smile. We’re finally getting our retribution.
This is only the beginning of the end.
34
Some days I am more wolf than woman and I am still learning to not apologize for my wild.
-Unknown
Ksenia
I constantly keep looking down at my phone, eagerly waiting for some sort of news from Enzo. It’s been days and we’ve heard absolutely nothing. If you ask me, it means something has gone terribly wrong.
Dmitri texted Jenna yesterday and told her they were handling the situation whatever that means. I wish we had more information, but none of us do. We all just have to sit tight and deal with the situation we’re currently in. Somehow Katya isn’t even phased. I assume it’s because she has her own business to run . . . and considering she’s still somewhat of a business partner with her ex-husband . . . I’ve been nervous ever since I told her about Larisa.
“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” She finally asks, peering up from her phone. She’s sitting down in the office, behind a desk, looking like some sort of fashionable school professor. She wears an all-white blouse under a pencil skirt. Her eyes are framed with thick black eyeliner, accented with a purple flare on her eyelids. Her hair is in endless curls, split between black and silver as it fans over her shoulders and runs down her back.
I know she’d never betray me in such a way, that she would respect the fact I need her to keep this secret until the right time, but I will still continue to worry. “When is the last time you spoke to him?”
“Slash? A couple of days ago.” She spits it out, eyes trained on her phone as she taps away.
“No, I’m talking about Sergei.” As soon as I say his name, she drops her phone. Anger is laced through those eyes of hers. I know they still speak, because, they have to. She runs a business with him. Or at least, that’s my understanding.
“Why are you asking me about Sergei?” She snarls out the question and I’m sure she’s confused. Although, I am as well. I don’t understand the relationship that those two still have.
“Have you said anything to him in regard to Larisa?” I need an answer, but even more importantly, I need to know that my sister honored my wishes.
“Of course, I didn’t. I would never!” She scoots her chair back a bit, staring at me in disbelief. “Shut the door.”
I get up out of my own chair and shut the door to the study. “I am sorry if I offended you, but I do not understand the relationship you still have with him.”
Katya runs her long acrylic, stiletto style nails through her hair. I can tell she’s angry by the way she glares. “I will make it simple for you. I do not have a relationship with Sergei outside of the business. I only speak to him regarding a business matter . . . and if you’re curious, I am angry. I am angry that he did what he did to you. I’m furious that it happened under my roof, when I tried so hard to prevent anything like that from happening to you.”
“It was not your fault.” I state, knowing that no matter what she will always believe it was. She didn’t force him to do anything to me. She had no part in it, so she mustn’t feel any form of guilt.
“I will never tell him that I know about Larisa because you asked me not to say a thing. But that doesn’t mean I like it. I want to take a letter opener to his throat and slit it open. I want him to suffer a miserable, horrid death because it is what he truly deserves.” When she finishes, her expression contorts into something else. She almost looks sad as she says it.
“Why do you look like that?”
“You will never understand, Ksenia.” She shakes her head, looking out of the window. “No one ever understands how I feel or what I think.”
I know that I’m asking too much of her, but I will ask this question. “Why don’t you try to explain it?”
She chuckles, closing her eyes, finally redirecting her attention back to me.
“Because you won’t understand. We had suffered for so long, and when Egor had arranged for his cousin to purchase me . . . I did everything to ensure you were with me – to protect you. My life with Sergei was never easy. You know that. But . . . I loved him in some way because he was like me, Ksenia. We are not born of innocent blood. Our mother was a monster and that same blood runs through our veins. More so mine than anyone else in our family. I’m a monster, who was married to another monster. I felt accepted in a way that no one will ever understand because they are not like me. I am not a good person, sister.”
I take in a deep breath as she speaks, understanding what she’s saying more than she knows. “You are not entirely evil, Katya. We both went through hell, and that shaped us as women. It made us stronger. It made us adapt to our surroundings, but don’t ever compare yourself to her. You are nothing like our vile mother.”
“I am more bad than good, and I accept it. Slasher accepts it.”
“None of us are innocent.” I argue, allowing my inner emotions to peep through. “I think you believe that you experienced all the bad, and made decisions based on the bad things that happened. You weren’t the only one who made bad decisions, Katya. You have no idea on what I did. The things that I had to live with.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you remember right before Sergei took us, the auction we were at? The cages?” Katya nods and I continue. “There was a girl who looked a lot like me, but had shorter hair. You had been taken off by the guards for . . . services to ensure our safety.” I might have been young, but I knew what my sister was doing, fucking them. “You had left and one of the other guards had come up and told me I was purchased, and knew the reputation of the man. Because of what you did for them . . . he gave me notice so I could do something before I was grabbed. He gave me a pair of scissors and I cut my hair to match the other girls. Katya . . . I cut my hair so that he would take her instead of me. I was her death sentence. So, please, do not act like you are the only one who has done bad things because you have no idea.”
For the first time in my entire life, my sister looks at me in a different way. I think that finally she believes I’m not as innocent as everyone assumes. She can see the same darkness that is in her, flows through me. “This is what I mean. We have both done bad things. I just . . . needed to know that you wouldn’t say anything to him.”
“I never would. My niece’s life is more important than my ex-husbands. I may have loved him once, Ksenia, but I do not love Sergei anymore. Slasher is the man I love. While I can admit that I loved Sergei for a long time, that doesn’t mean he will get any special treatment. He is not my family. You are.” My sister’s words warm my heart and cause me to breathe a little easier.
Katya’s phone starts vibrating against the floor violently. I watch as she reaches down and grabs it. “It’s Mariana,” She says to me as she answers. “Hello.” She pauses in-between every few words, they mutter back and forth to one another.
Her expression shifts into one of shock, telling me that something has happened. “Are you sure?” She asks, pulling the phone away from her face, she stares at her phone before putting it back to her ear. “Actually, I’m getting messages from his men confirming it. Thank you for calling and telling me the news, sister, but now I must handle everything.”
Katya slams the phone down on the desk, looking up at me in disbelief. “We can search for your daughter now. Sergei has just been killed.”
“What? How?” I ask, wanting to know how his demise came to him.
Closing her eyes, “Ksenia, I have very little detail right now. All I know is that he was trying to go after Caprice. She was hiding out in Ireland like we all thought. I believe Liam Mackenzie killed him, given the information I do have. Now I need to call Desmond Mackenzie and figure out how to arrange for his body to get back to Russia.”
I raise my eyebrows, confused at what she’s doing. “You’re going to help bury him?”
“He was always a monster, but he was the monster I knew for so long. Even though my child is dead, he is still the father and I will never treat Sergei the way he has treated others. I will die knowing that I showed respect to a man who couldn’t fathom giving the same courtesy to others. I . . . I need to handle this, and I need to call Natasha and let her know. Mariana offered to tell her, but it is my place.”
“What do you mean it is your place?”
She sighs, “Sergei never processed our divorce. He made it seem like he did, but he didn’t. I am still Natasha’s step-mother, and now I need to figure out all of this . . . including what happens with the business.”
“Ah, I will leave you be then.” I mutter, walking towards the door, I open it and close it behind me after I walk through. I could be mad at Katya, but this isn’t personal. This is strictly business for her, and allowing my emotions to get mixed into it will only hurt her. If anything, I see that my sister was far better than Sergei ever was.
35
Madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push.
-Unknown
Enzo
It’s hard to believe that all of this is said and done. Or at least, it almost is. I’m not really sure if Max is still alive or not. He’s in the back of this freezer truck ‘til we get back into Gainsville. It’s only a couple hour ride so it won’t be too long.
Thankfully, we were close enough to where this would work – in theory. Reed had looked it up on the internet before he decided to toss the fucker back in here. He found that it takes a little over six hours for someone to freeze to death at the average temperature that a freezer maintains. Since our drive is maybe three with traffic, we should be good to go. I know for a fact that the cold will clot his wounds and make it to where he can’t bleed out. But, we were sure to make sure that we gave him flesh wounds and nothing that would kill him. We aren’t the only ones who deserve retribution for the acts that Max has committed. Our women deserve it as well. More specifically, Michelle. Out of every woman, she deserves to take his life.
Everything happened so quickly that I don’t think any of us called our women. Instead, we stayed in the moment throughout this entire process. Dmitri spoke to Jenna yesterday I think, so I’m sure she passed around the message that we’re all alive and well.
I pull out my cell from my pocket and click on Ksenia’s name, putting it on speaker while I drive.
“It’s about time you called. How are you?” She starts out all tough, but her tone shifts to worried near the end.
“I’m fine, sweetie. More importantly, how are you and Kane?”
“We’re fine. Very hungry, but more worried about you. What happened?” I think about telling her I’ll explain when I get back, but knowing her, she’ll just get angry.
“Everything didn’t go according to plan. It was a little harder to get him and we didn’t anticipate that. Gianni almost gave the order for the Arcane to kill him, but we wanted him alive so there was a bit of drama. I’m driving an old meat truck back to Gainesville now. Max should still be alive, and he’s in the back.”
“In the freezer?” She laughs, and man, is her laugh refreshing. The last few days have been solely focused around bringing hell to the one person who caused it for so long. It’s nice to remember that life isn’t full of retribution or vengeance. That there are bigger, better and more important parts of it. “Oh, that will keep him alive by lowering his body temperature.” She says it so matter of fact. I want to ask her how she even knows that, but she was living with Katya and Sergei at one time. “You’re keeping him alive so you can make him suffer even more.”
“You got it, babe.”
“Sergei is dead.” I know that I haven’t misheard what she’s saying, but I don’t really know what to think. Part of me thinks I have lost my fucking mind.
“When?”
“A couple of hours ago. Mariana called Katya. She doesn’t have all the details, but it looks like it was the Irish mob.”
“A
h. Either way, at least he’s out of our hair now. You know what this means, don’t you?”
“We can find Larisa sooner?” She mutters it lowly, tone full of hope. I wish I could wrap my arms around her and tell her yes, but for now I’ll just have to accept we’re talking over the phone.
“Yes, sweetheart. This will be over soon and we can find her. Gianni’s digger already gave us a couple leads. Now I can follow them and find Larisa.”
“You mean we can find her.” She tries to correct me, but she’s mistaken.
I cough, making sure my tone is strict. “No, I meant what I said. I’m going to find her. We have no idea what sort of danger is on the path I’m going down and I will not have you being harmed. You can’t argue with me on the matter. You know it will be a dangerous path. Before you tell me you’re coming and that’s that, I will be bringing Gianni and Salvatore with me. I’ll have two of the best shots in the world alongside me.”
“I don’t like this. She’s my daughter.”
“And everyone who comes into her life will be a stranger to her. She will be overwhelmed when I get her. Trust me, Ksenia. I know you do, so just trust me that this is the right thing to do. Regardless, she will be with her family soon. I’ve even done a couple things to prep for her arrival.”
“What do you mean?” I can tell she’s trying to dig for information, and I was hoping to keep it a surprise, but it’s too late now.
“I made a call after we left to come home. We’re getting a house built behind the clubhouse on the hill. It’ll be ready in about four months. I figure we can stay at the Russian Manor until then, but you told me how you wanted to go back to the club and we will. We just have to wait a little bit longer until the house is ready.”
“Are you serious?” The tears are evident in her voice. She’s choking up as we speak.
Retribution: Skulls Renegade MC Book #10 Page 14
