Page 6

Mikhail

“Canaan called me,” Enzo said, stepping into my private lounge.

I stared at the bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 1945 in front of me, thinking of all the processes it had to undergo before becoming the expensive, well-sought-out drink it has become.

It started as a sweet grape. Then, it was fermented, aged, and sealed to become what is highly sought-after and seen as a symbol of wealth. Granted, it had lost its sweetness in the process, but it came out stronger, better, and more valuable. If it had stayed a grape, it would’ve been sold in the market like any other grape, sweet but without value. I liked to liken my rise to power to that of the wine. It took long periods of fermentation and even longer years of aging for me to get where I was.

I was put through fire and iron under the watchful eyes of my grandfather while he forged me to become the perfect successor and nothing like my father. And when he died, I had to prove to the Bratva that I was worthy of the power that rested on me, that they could put their trust in me, and I would crush their enemies. I spent years crafting the perfect reputation for myself, making sure the sound of my name sent shivers down the spine of men.

It was a long, daring journey, but I pulled through. And just like wine, I became stronger, better, more valuable, and definitely lost every atom of sweetness. Yet some people still felt the need to test the extent of my ruthlessness. Good for them. I was always in the mood to show them how bad it can get.

“What are you going to do to him?” he questioned, carefully observing me.

“I’ll know when I see him,” I replied, my eyes not leaving the bottle in front of me.

I could feel my blood like hot lava coursing through me, setting every part of me aflame.

“I’ll question him. He didn’t pull this off on his own. He had help, not just on the outside but on the inside,” Enzo said, settling into the sofa across from me.

My vision was clouded with red, and I honestly didn’t give a shit whatever he said. I just needed to get my hands on the rat. Shortly, my men dragged in a scrawny-looking man, tossing him at my feet.

“That’ll be all.” I dismissed them, my attention on the man who suddenly got on his knees.

“I swear I didn’t know it was you, man. They didn’t give me details. If I’d known it was you, I wouldn’t have taken the offer, I swear!” he rambled off as I stalked towards him.

“What is your name?”

“Adam,” he replied, his eyes frantically searching mine.

With every step I took forward, he crawled back on his knees until his back hit the wall.

“And who didn’t give you details, Adam?”

“I don’t know, they didn’t tell—”

I slammed my fist into his face, loving the feeling of his nose crunching beneath my hand. His screams of anguish were like beautiful crescendo notes on a keyboard. I’ve missed this feeling. The downside of having everyone scared of you and out of your way is you miss out on all the fun. Not today, though. If someone had the guts to try planting a bomb in my hotel, then I must’ve become a bit soft.

“Here’s what we’re going to do. For every lie you tell, I break a part of you, and when I’m done breaking you, I’ll keep you alive till I find who sent you. Then I’ll send the both of you to hell. But if you tell me now, I’ll make sure your death is swift and painless.”

“I told you!” He cried, clutching his bloody nose. “I don’t know them. They delivered the package to my front door with instructions on what to do and a burner phone to authorize a transaction if I accepted the job!”

“And where is this burner?” Enzo asked, casually leaning on the wall behind me.

Sometimes, I wondered if there were stories of his childhood he never told me. His parents were both award-winning scholars, and he had no tie to crime, but he never flinched whenever I tortured someone. He sat in the corner and watched with a bored expression, butting in to ask a few questions were necessary, and if the blood got on him, he simply pulled out a handkerchief and wiped it off. The first time he saw me covered in someone’s blood, he asked no questions. He simply observed the scene in front of him and drafted a plan to find the accomplices and bring them in. Ever since then, he’s become my accomplice.

“I don’t know, man. I threw it away when it went dead.” Adam continued to cry, gripping his nose. “I swear if I knew who they were, I would’ve told you. Why would I want to protect them?”

I observed him closely as he cried. Something about him was off. He looked scrawny from a distance, but a closer look at him revealed lean, toned muscles. His cries also seemed a bit exaggerated. He was lying. Fury shot through me, and I pulled him by the collar, slamming him into the wall.

“Listen here, you piece of shit,” I seethed, “If there’s something I hate more than rats, it’s lying rats. So, I’m going to ask one more time, and if you lie to me, I’ll start with your family. I’ll have you watch as I disembowel them in front of you, one after the other, until you’re the only thing left of your sorry lineage. Then, I’d feed you their remains until you burst from digesting them.”

“Good thing I already killed everyone before me and got a vasectomy.” The pleading look on his face melted away, giving room to cold eyes and a sinister smile.

Perfect.

Something I learned about torturing people from my grandfather was that until they revealed their true selves to you, you were barely started, and this one right here had someone precious to him, or else he wouldn’t have risked his cover to tell me he has no family.

“We’ll see about that, Adam,” I smiled, holding his eyes. I could see his newfound confidence falter. He knew he should’ve kept his mouth shut.

“You know it doesn’t matter what you do to me. He’ll come for you. He’ll find you, and he’ll destroy you piece by piece, and when you kill me, several others will rise in my place. It’s over Ivanov.” He spat.

This wasn’t the first time I had heard those words, nor was it the second. If I got a dollar every time I’ve been threatened with those words, the Swiss bank would have nothing on me.

“You’ll end up just like your pathetic father with nothing to your name, and you’ll be forgotten faster than I can snap my f—”

I whirled around so fast I almost lost my footing, delivering a second blow to his face. The sound of his bones bone crunching and agonizing screams filled the air as I continued to pound his face with my hands.

Blood covered my shirt and face, and I was certain by the time I was done, my knuckles would be badly burst, but I wasn’t stopping. My father being a failed Don was a shame I carried like a chip on my shoulder, and I hated to be reminded of it. A failed Don was an embarrassment to all who were related to him, and it was one of the reasons I had to fight so hard to cement my place in the Bratva, and this bastard dared to bring it up.

“Mikhail, we still have to get information about the burner from him.” Enzo reminded me carefully, but I couldn’t care less about his burner. Every bit of me was shaking with rage, and the only thing that would calm me was taking the last breath from this rat. I needed to be the last face he saw on his way to the other side, so I’d haunt him even in hell.

When his face was sufficiently battered, and his breaths came out in shallow pants, I forced his eyes open, wrapping my hands around his neck, squeezing tightly. I stared deep into his soul till I saw the life leave his eyes. A soft gasp interrupted my moment, and I turned to see Arielle staring wide-eyed at me, her face contorted with horror.

Shit!

In my rage, I had totally forgotten I instructed the security to give her a free pass when she arrived. Fuck! I must look like the devil covered in another man’s blood with my hands wrapped around his neck.

“Arielle,” I started, getting off Adam’s limp body on the floor. I had no idea what I was going to say to her. I only knew I didn’t like the way she was looking at me, and I didn’t want this to be the last image of me in her head. She merely shook her head, taking a few steps back, and bolted from the door. She looked at me like I was a monster.

“Should I get the men to stop her?” Enzo’s voice called from behind me.

I had totally forgotten he was in the room with me.

“No. Let her go.” Anything I do now would be against me, and having the guards hold her against her will would only scare her more.

“And who is she?” He asked, not moving from his spot on the wall.

“Arielle.” That was the only answer I could give.

Sensing my unwillingness to talk about her, he redirected his attention to the body on the floor. “What do we do with him?”

“Find his address, gather everything information about him, and see if you can find the burner he spoke about,” I ordered, making my way to the bathroom.

“And Enzo,” I paused midway. “If he has any surviving family, old, young, infant, dying, close, or distant, I want them dead. I want anything that shares DNA with him wiped off this earth.