We arrived at the strip club in about ninety minutes thanks to Aleksei’s driving. Sometimes, I had to force myself not to kiss the ground when he drove. God damn maniac. My uncle drove for a bit in the off-road racing circuit. Unfortunately, he taught all my cousins how to drive like that no matter where they were. It was great when we needed to deliver something fast but being a passenger was asking to step beyond the pearly white gates.
The bouncer out front opened the door for us as we walked into the club. The music was loud, smoke hung from the ceiling like cloudy day, and the smell of booze had turned sour. I stayed out of these shitholes. I preferred the business side, our larger corporations than the seedy bars, clubs, diners, and other places that were dotted around our territory. Sure, I still managed them but I didn’t need to do that in person.
Walking through to the back house, I nodded to the ladies getting ready and snapped at Aleksei as he started to veer off in their direction.
“Work, Aleksie. Then play.”
He chuckled. “Yes, pakhan.”
Every time it grated on me, but after a thousand and one times of tell him to shut up, Aleksei never listened. I used to think he liked getting a rise out of me and so I stopped letting it show that it bothered me, or acknowledging it. Turns out, he still did it.
“Boss.” Laslo stepped forward and nodded to me. “You were faster than I expected. The Columbian’s behave?”
“No, but what else is new? How’s our gost’? [How’s our guest?]”
He opened up the door that lead down to the lower levels. Not all our properties had basements, but the ones that did were turned into jail cells. Some more equipped for torture than others. You never knew when one of the enemies decided to sneak into your territory and you needed to make them sing like a canary.
“Still out cold.”
My eyes had to adjust to the lighting. The orange tinted lights that hung on the walls were reminiscent of the ones you found dotting mines. They cast an eerie glow on the cement grey. This basement was particularly small. I knew we used this normally for those who didn’t pay. Not necessarily requiring the full repertoire of torture devices needed to extract information. There were only four cells in the whole place and two rooms. One that was set up for a few of our guys on break to sit, the other was an interrogation room.
“The last one…here…” Laslo pointed to the far cell and I could see a body curled up on the floor in the fetal position.
Going over to the cell, my eyes widened. “You didn’t say it was a fucking child! A girl at that! I told you not to fucking touch her!”
She was covered in blood. You could easily see parts of her face were bruised and swelling. Her shirt was torn and blood completely covered it to the point where I had no idea what the original color was. There was also remnants of pants on her legs, but they were so torn up that you could see her skin. It was probably white, but there were so many scratches and bruises that there was no way to tell the color anymore. The worst were her wrists and right ankle. They were bent in a weird way, signifying they were definitely broken. My anger spike to rage as I looked at Laslo. His hands flew up as he stepped back.
“We didn’t…boss…we didn’t touch her. She came in like that. Hobbling out of the alley. She passed out and Boris caught her before she hit the ground.”
I stared at the body. She didn’t look alive. She was pencil thin, easily a sign of malnutrition. This was what you saw in third world countries, not New York City. Hell, even the homeless looked better than she did. This was abuse or someone wanted to kill her.
“You said she asked for help?”
“Specifically she said ‘please help or please kill me’.” Laslo was looking at her, sadness in his eyes. “I’ve never seen anything like this. She’s just a rebenok.” [She’s just a child.]
Rubbing my chin, I started down at her. This was definitely a wrench in my night. I didn’t even know how to really handle this. I mean, obviously, I’d get nothing from her in this state. How she knew to use my mother’s name. How she ended up in that condition. Why was she asking for death. Who the hell was she. All these questions could only be answered by her and she was currently out cold.
Going into the cell, I crouched down just at her back. The shirt she had on was sticking to her and I knew there was some kind of open wound there as well. Putting two fingers to her neck, she had a pulse but it was weak. It surprised me, considering the state she was in, that she was still alive. Clicking my tongue against the roof of my mouth, I stood up and stepped away from her.
Pulling out my phone, I put it to my ear. “Kamilia.”
“Brat.” [Brother.]
“What are you doing right now?”
She sighed. “Apparently, packing up my supplies and coming over.”
I let out a chuckle. “You know me too well.”
“You only call when you need something. For once, I’d just like to talk to you like we used to.”
My older sister was between Juri and Kazmer. She was to be sold off but she found a better way by becoming one of the top doctors in the state. My father ended up still having her marry for the bratva but it wasn’t to run by a Vor’s side. She married one of the second sons of another Russian Bratva family. However, it meant that she was able to stay close and help the family. She was our primary care physician while she pursued an illustrious medical career.
“What’s the condition?” Her voice broke through my thoughts.
I gazed over the little thing in our cell. “Broken bones, bruises, scratches, bleeding quite a bit, but I’m unsure of the extent of the injuries on her back.”
“Her?” Whatever my sister was doing, stopped as she asked.
“Yeah. Came over to our boys knowing who they were. She’s…either been tortured or abused…or both. She’s a twig…”
Kamilia let out a huff. “Sounds like it’s been going on for a while if she’s a twig.”
I didn’t know how to answer that. “I’m bringing her to the house. Be there when I get there.”
She snorted. “Yeah, yeah. Zasranets.” [Asshole.]
The line went dead and I shoved the phone in my pocket. Taking off my jacket, I rolled up the sleeves of my black Armani shirt. Opening up the cell, I bent down and picked up the girl. She was lighter than I even realized. In my arms, she looked like a doll. My brothers were all built but somehow I got the ‘built like a farmhouse’ side of the family. My shoulders were wider and I maxed out at 6’ 6”. I worked out a lot as a teenager and into my twenties, doing hours and hours of weights a day. Now, I went in to keep my body in shape enough to be able to take down anyone if I needed to, though those days were rare now. However, I was pretty sure I lifted more weight than what she was when I was fifteen.
“Aleksei, you drive. We are headed home.”
He nodded, not saying a word. His eyes focused on the girl in my arms. This probably hit a little close to home for him. His sister once had been kidnapped. The condition we got her back in wasn’t nearly as bad as this poor girls but she wasn’t able to make it. This one somehow managed to walk from god knows where to the club with all this damage and still be able to ask for help. She was stronger than most but how strong I would need her to tell me.
“Should we warn Lev?”
I shook my head. “If she wakes up between now and getting there, we can. Otherwise, if she’s still out, there is no reason to move everyone. In this state, I don’t think she could even hurt a fly.”
Aleksei didn’t say anything else we made our way up to the main floor. He headed back towards the club to pull the car around back. I wasn’t about to scare the shit out of everyone with a girl looking like this. Laslo opened up the back door for me and I headed out, waiting for the car.
“Is there anything else you need, boss?”
I narrowed my eyes at Laslo for a moment. “See if your boys can track her movements through the cameras in the city. Lev’s a little busy and I want to see if we can see how far she came.”
He nodded and closed the door behind him back into the club.
Aleksei pulled around and quickly got out, opening the door for me. I set the poor girl across the back of the seat and debated putting on her seatbelt. It probably would do more damage than good so I left her laid across the back row. Getting into the passenger seat again, Aleksei came around and jumped in the driver’s seat. Glancing back at her, he scrunched his face up and turned back to the road.“Quick but gentle.”“I know. I know.” He took off from the alley and turned onto the main road.The estate was about the same distance from where we were now to the warehouse we had come from. Except that it was in the opposite direction. The worst part was that it was through the central part of the city. Traffic was a nightmare, but we just had to suck it up. I glanced back at seat where she was draped on. Her arms hung off the seat now and dangled down, the sickly purple and red blotches, only marred by blood, were almost better to look at than the floppy wrists that swayed as the car
Her eye narrowed and I saw her swallow a couple times. “Marek Baranov, fourth son of Ivano Baranov.” The voice was a croak, but it didn’t seem like it pained her to speak. I did notice her eye flit towards the water next to the bed.I was about to tell her to take a drink when I remembered that both her wrists were dislocated and one of her hands were broken. Normally, an interrogation would be best if the person wasn’t comfortable, but I needed her to speak more than just a few words. Striding over the edge of the bed, I grabbed the glass of water and leaned forward, tipping it slowly against her lips. For the first time, emotion crossed her face; surprise. However, it was gone as quickly as it came. She took small sips of the water until about half the glass was gone.Stepping back, I placed the glass on the table, her eye following my every move. She’s waiting for me to strike her down, I realized, but I didn’t let the disgust show on my face.“Who are you?”Her lips parted for a m
Shutting the door quietly behind me, it was about four in the morning when I got back to the estate. I had barely left the pit and missed the messages from my brothers. Juri already landed and apparently, they had already talked about the Italians. I didn’t know if Rosaria had provided the information to them. Or if they even bothered to ask. I’m sure they were more concerned with covering the border of our territory.Quietly making my way up to my office, I poured myself a straight whiskey and barely sat down when my door slammed open. Kamilia was livid as she slammed the door shut behind her as well.“What the fuck do you think you were doing? Just left, no information about where you had been or when you would be back. We’ve got the Italians up our ass and you decide to just fuck off.”I took a sip of my drink as she seethed. “I’m sure Lev tracked my phone.”“The fighting pits? Really Marek? You’re thirty-nine years old. Next year you’re going to be 40 and you think it’s okay just
“Wake up, Marek. I’m not that late.” Kazmer walked in, closing the door behind him.Shaking my head, I opened up my eyes to watch him sit down on the loveseat on the other side of the room. Of course, Juri was sitting behind his desk, his fingers laced together while his elbows rested on the dark mahogany.“So right now, we have an Italian princess in our guest bedroom.”I amended his statement. “An unwanted Italian princess.”Kazmer snorted. “A dead princess.”Juri didn’t acknowledge either of us. “I will not have a war with the Italians. The Spaniards are up our butt and from what I understand, they have sided with the Italians and our mutual understand with the Colombians isn’t enough to hold them to their word. Not until Damian and Ramona are officially wed.”We all hummed in agreement. Lev looked up from his computer. “So we take an unmarked vehicle, tos
“I would request you don’t call me Miss Bernardi. It feels more like a slur than anything.”I gave her a quick nod before walking to the far wall, where the windows looked out over the front lawn. It was quiet and the morning was clear. It was one of my favorite views outside of my own on third floor overlooking the back gardens.“So your brother decided whether to kill me, or let my father do it himself.”Turning, I looked back at this little bird. Her wings cut from birth, caged in a windowless room. “A third option has been presented by my brother.”“Juri Baranov? Your head?”I nodded. She waited patiently, her eyes defaulting to watching my every move as I tried to sort out my thoughts. I could imagine her outrage when I explained. Her face twisting in disgust much like my brothers. The nail in the coffin would probably be her wanting to choose death over marrying me.“What do you know of my family?” I figured I would put it off as long
My eyes looked up to her but she was caught in my story, leaning forward, her hands clenching the blankets. Looking back down, I continued.“Her father basically locked her down in their residence until our wedding which was six months away. Two months later, she showed up on this very doorstep covered in bruises and crying. She begged me to let me stay, that her father’s men were brutal and she didn’t feel safe.”My eyes caught hers. “Unlike you, she was lying. I wasn’t the idiot that she thought I was. I loved her, but the lovesick puppy ended the first time I found out she cheated on me. She was having an affair with the son of her father’s second in command; Ernesto Gutierrez.”“The infamous sniper? The rumor is he’s cruel, brutal, corrupt and dangerous. He’s never missed but he’s willing to sell his loyalty for a high enough price.”“At the time, it was his father who had the reputation as the best sniper and gunman in the cartel. Though, Ernesto already earned the titles of crue
*** Rosaria’s POV ***I stood in front of him, watching his face. It was ridiculous, what I had just done, but it wasn’t the worst. Whenever the men stripped me to fuck me, their faces contorted in disgust. ‘Well, at least, I don’t have to look at you to fuck you.’ That was their usual line. There wasn’t anything I could do at this point about how it looked and I was far past having shame about it.Marek was beautiful. Not handsome, beautiful. The same beauty I’d admired in fathers third wife, his second or third cousin. By then, most of us kids were already born. She actually had two children, Giovanni and Brianna, twins. They were killed and I had a serious feeling that Enzo did it. My father stopped having children after she died but the whores were on constant circulation.His brothers I’d seen had various fullness of beards but Marek was clean shaven. He was larger than his brot
“Does my age not bother you?” His head was cocked to the side a bit and he almost looked nervous about asking the question.I stared at his chest for a moment before my eyes trailed back up to his. “At nineteen, would you have been able to protect me against my father?”He seemed a little taken aback by the question but slowly he started to shake his head. “No, I wouldn’t have.”“Then no, I have no problem with your age.”His mouth opened up just a bit, his jaw dropping ever so slightly, before snapped back into place. His lips pursed in a thin line.“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” His question came out quiet and breathy.I held his gaze. “Are you?”After a few seconds ticked by, he nodded. “I am.”Swallowing, I ran my tongue over my chapped lips. “Then so am I.”Neither of us moved. Our agreement to marry when neither of us really knew each other felt like a weighted blanket of tension. Shifting slightly, my ankle