Page 51

FIFTY

Vlad

V iktor isn’t crying, he’s angry and covered in blood. He fights back as I try to lift him into his dad’s arms through the dirty ass-basement window. I have to shake his shoulders to get him to calm the fuck down and focus. When he looks at me, I keep my voice low, so the other fuckers don’t hear.

“Go with your dad. You have to listen to a Vor, remember.”

He’s still pissed, but nods once and stops fucking fighting me, so I can push him through the small window. Dani whimpers as I lift her, but she’s strong, stopping any other sounds leaving.

I relax, knowing they’re safe, and my smile comes out at the fun I’m about to have. It dims when Vitali tries to climb down, and I grab his bad knee, watching him wince.

“Go with them, Inessa is alone, and he’s going to be busy.”

He’s a stubborn fuck and tries to push his weight down, and my voice is deadly.

“You’re injured.”

I might as well have called him inept with the tone, but I won’t be able to fucking focus if I’m watching out for him.

Finally moving back up, he disappears into the night as the sounds of Ana’s strip tease continues. For someone who looks the way she does, her idea worked, and she’s distracted the fuckers long enough. Humming in my head, I take easy steps and slip into the crowd of leather with only shorts and boots on. The narrow hallway is dim, allowing me to blend in, and it fucking stinks. Stale alcohol and ash, just like my childhood.

I don’t even have a gun, but the first scream cuts through the music with all the blood on my skin from the two dumb fucks they left to guard my nephew and whatever relation Dani is classed as since Vitali adopted her. Holding my arms wide, my lips move up, following the same trajectory.

“Your guest of honor is here, motherfuckers!”I helpfully announce.

Doing a quick scan while the drunk fucks try to find their guns and their balls, their suka leader is nowhere to be seen.

Thankfully Ana isn’t naked, so I don’t throw up, and she moves in sync with me, wrapping her arm around the neck of the fucker closest to her, who finds his weapon first. It’s easier to fight without my suit, and I miss the carnage. It reminds me of the early days when I was filled with nothing but anger and had no control.

Some people mediate to relax, but forcing my muscles to work and my fist to move is better than chanting or a breathing exercise. A jaw snapping is like a gong on the repetition, and it takes everything in me not to laugh at the dumb fuck crying. I don’t remember grabbing him, and I let go of his jaw. He crumbles to the ground, and I bring my foot up, squashing his skull like a pathetic ant. My laugh bursts out of me, and everything suddenly comes to a stop.

I don’t see blood or bodies, I see peace. Nothing. No memories, no requirements for reminders, nothing.

I blink again.

The fucker holding a broken bottle gulps around his terror, and I grow in size, feeding on it.Keeping their attention on me so Ana isn’t caught slipping away, I meet each of their eyes to find the least intoxicated. The others will sober up with what they witness, but I’m not a weak little bitch who needs an advantage. Even after the relay, I could do this shit easily.Some of the partygoers have fucked off. I can hear their bikes starting around the shouts.

The hallway behind me has four bodies lying in it. I turn, giving a cursory glance—unmoving bodies. I must have been focused. I do the same, going around the room, and there’s not a single face I recognize. Leno’s is noticeably absent.

The slimy fucker is like a fucking cockroach, always managing to escape death. Working through my mental list from most sober to least, the bones in my hand rattle from the force behind my fist as I grab the one closest to me. His cheek splits on impact. I can’t feel the sting in my side as another jumps in. It’s just one of many in a lifetime. When my punching bag tries to ram the broken bottle into my side, I laugh. It’s deep and makes him pause. I’m not afraid of death. I welcome it. Gunshots ring out from outside of the windows, getting the ones who I had queued with kill shots through their heads. Whoever is shooting, most likely Stasya, doesn’t even aim in my vicinity.

Bayu bayushki gets louder until it vibrates in my throat, and I look for the next fucker. There’s none left, the party is over before I could even enjoy it fully. I take their phones, making sure to step on their bodies as much as possible. The dumb fucks don’t all have passwords. I can’t use facial recognition with their features currently muddied, and even the way they save numbers is dumb as fuck. They have the audacity to call themselves criminals when sixteen-year-olds shoplifting are more fucking discreet.

Ringing their lazy leader, who’s always missing, he answers on the first ring. I cut him off before he can have a chance to get excited and my voice is dangerously playful.

“Can you be called a president with no members left in your chapter?”

He doesn’t say anything and ends the call. I must have hit a nerve, rendering his title as useless as the man.

Going through their bar, it’s all high-proof, meaning big flames. After the amount of fires I’ve dealt with due to the Albanians, I’ve developed an appreciation for the amount of destruction it can cause. Pouring each bottle over the lifeless fucks, their president calls to give a eulogy. It’s not a phone call but video, and I hold my thumb over the camera so I can’t be incriminated.

He’s an ugly cunt. If it was possible to kill with just a thought alone he’d be writhing in agony for thinking he could be in Inessa’s presence. Never mind putting his filthy tongue on her. The smug face buried within his beard has me alert.

“Can you be called a husband when I’ve got your wife?”

He bastardizes my taunt and pans the camera, showing my queen. She’s in her robe, and I focus on the knot. I tied it, she complained that she’d need to be cut out, but I know there’s nothing underneath that plush fabric.

There’s a covering over her eyes, and the bastard’s gagged her. But she’s my powerful queen, standing straight and refusing to bow even mentally when she’s at a disadvantage. Moving away from Inessa, there’s no sound, and my rage reaches a new level as one of the filthy cunts tries to undo the knot.

“I’ll enjoy removing your hands for thinking you can touch my wife.”

The movement just tightens the knot, and everything goes still in my mind. Not like when I’m expelling rage, it’s being refueled.

Their president, the fucker who licked my wife , turns as he walks further away from her. The small view I had is reduced further, and the edges of the phone in my hand creak as he fucking laughs.

“I’m sure you’re probably giving some threat. Well, looks like you’ve been defeated by technology because I muted you.”

His laugh gets louder and makes his hand shake. But I don’t give a fuck because I can see Inessa, and she moves her shoulders away from the cunt sniffing around her as they taunt her.

“Scream for help.”

Fuck me, I knew she was strong, but I never knew just how much until she spits in their direction as they remove the gag from her mouth. Even with her eyes covered, hands bound, she reaches her target and refuses to tilt her head. Her voice is a fucking whip lashing them, when we both know her aim is shit.

“You’ll be screaming when you untie my hands, you fucking peasant.”

At this moment, I know I’m going to do whatever the fuck they want without a fight. I have to protect that steel in her spine because there is no fucking chance I will allow anyone to melt it.

My hand follows my eyes, not wanting to lose sight of her as someone walks in. Leno’s treacherous fucking face is in front of me, but he’s still a coward and throws zip ties toward me, refusing to get any closer.Focusing on the ugly cunt, I agree without any hesitation.

“I’ll do it as soon as she’s returned home.”

They’re still on the property. I can see the stables behind the field. He ends the call, not agreeing, and more people enter the room. It’s not enough to restrain me, but Leno has his phone in hand, ready to give an order like he’s not a fucking snake. He’s a bottom feeder with no real power or strength.

I don’t mask my genuine loathing and allow him to see I’ll enjoy killing him. The phone in his hand starts ringing, giving him an excuse to look away. He doesn’t answer and throws the device at me. I catch it and answer easily to hear my queen.

“I’m home. When will you be back?”

The other one comes alive with another video call showing Inessa through a scope. She’s stood at the door in all her glory, and I lie easily.

“Go to sleep, I’ll be there when you wake up.”

Seeing her smile to herself in relief, I relax and end the call.

For the first time in my life, I raise my hands, and the power goes to Leno’s vermin-like brain as he remains fixed in place.

“Put them together behind your head and turn around.”

I do it slowly, watching the remnants of fear in his eyes as I ask, “Is this what gets your dick hard, you little chuski?”

He bristles at the insult, and I smile darkly as I turn, giving him my back and counting his steps. He’s not close enough for me to grab him, and I let my promise free.

“Lay a hand on my wife, and the same will be done to your daughter.”

My smile slips as there’s a sharp pain hitting my ribs, and I look down, seeing a furry dart end attached to me.

It’s not a sedative, it’s a hallucinogen, and more are sent into me. They fuck with my head, and I blink, trying to make the shapes go in the right place. Doing it again as I fall forward, I see Vanya.

She’s waiting for me.

Her smile is there, she’s smiling at me.

Again.

I beg her as my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth, and there’s a mumble in my ear as something sharp scratches against my nape.

Look after Inessa for me, solnyshkuh.