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
*** Five Years Later *** I rubbed my shoulders before lifting my glasses up and rubbing my eyes. There was a knock on the door and Ria pushed the door open with her back. She was holding a tray and stepped into my office. Setting it down on the edge, she put her hand on her hip. “You didn’t break for lunch. Again.” “I know. I’m sorry. Your brother sent a few more things for me to look at and I got engrossed in it.” Shaking her head, I reached out for her and pulled her into my lap. “How did the appointment go?” “Fine.” My eyebrow rose. “Just fine?” “Well, we figured out the issue. If that’s what you want to know.” “And?” I looked at her over my glasses. Ria had been struggling with her equilibrium lately. It started with when she was carrying something heavy, usually Alek. He was somehow in the ninety-nine percentile for his height but fairly middle of the road for his weight. Still, he would jump at Ria like he was two instead of five. Then, it started to get bad e
We pulled up to the airport in record time. Keenan dodged more than one cop and ran every red light on the way. Throwing open the doors, Lec and I made sure to do a quick sweep before letting Keenan and Ria out just in case he needed to take off with her.“Well, well. It took you long enough.”Lorenzo rolled up on us, smiling as he leaned forward in his wheelchair. There was a guy next to him and he stepped forward, grabbing our luggage as we took it out. Reaching in, I helped Ria step out of the car. She smiled and hugged Lorenzo, kissing him on the cheek.“I’m surprised you agreed. Having to leave all your women behind.” Ria chuckled but it sounded far more malicious than happy.“Yeah, yeah. I had to sell Terrance too. But I plan on getting one just like her. Terrance 2.0 wherever we end up.”I shook my head. “We are supposed to not stand out, Lorenzo.”“See here, cognato, I’m doing this out of the goodness of my heart. For my little sister.”Lorenzo handed me a folder and I opened
The speed limit wasn’t even a suggestion at this point. We didn’t have time to wait. I’d managed to get First Class tickets out of the country that would be just under the three hours but we needed to leave as soon as we could. Pulling up to the penthouse, I double parked next to the elevators. Ria was already unbuckling but she’d been quiet the entire ride from the house.Getting out, I slammed the car door shut. I’d speak to her when we got onto the plane. When I felt like we were safer than walking into a building filled with my brother’s men. Stepping into the elevator, I pulled Ria to me. Holding onto her tightly, I tightened my hand on the gun I’d grabbed from the glove box.The elevator dinged and I raised the gun, only to see Keenan in regular clothes. His eyes widened and he put his hands up immediately. I took a breath and nodded to him, dropping the gun.“Keenan? What…?”Keenan flashed Ria a smile. “I’m coming with you.”Ria looked from him to me. “But…you have family…and…”
Juri threw his head back and laughed. “You can’t leave the bratva. This is your family, Marek.”“I can. The contract we signed when you became head of the bratva allows for me to request leave once in my lifetime.”Ria looked at me, shaking her head. “Marek, it’s…it’s okay. You don’t…”I smiled down at her and brushed her cheek. “The both of us have done our time, zhena. I’ve been thinking, what it would be like for us to live normally. The two of us, raising a family, without the darkness looming over us.”“Request denied. Now, moving on.” Juri waved his hand but Kaz caught his wrist.“That’s now it works, Vor.”Juri yanked his hand out of Kaz’s grip. “Why the hell not? I’m Vor. I decide who comes and who goes. Who can leave and who can’t.”“Right. But there are consequences to saying no when one of us asks. Marek’s contract being the severest one of all of us.”Kam nodded from her lean against the bookshelf. “Da knew that if Marek was forced to leave, forced to invoke the contract,
I stared at the papers in my hand. Ria, somehow, had finagled an early release from the hospital. With the condition that she would come by every week to make sure she was healing properly. Now though, we were facing the black SUV that would take us to my brother. Her hand slipped into mine and she squeezed it. Really, it should have been her that was afraid. Instead, I was the one hesitating.Kam came up behind us. “Come on. I have to go too.”I helped Ria into the back seat with Kam before I walked around and got in the front with Wren. He was one of Juri’s men who did a lot of his driving. Keenan had been the only one to come to the hospital. Lec or Boris hadn’t shown up, which disappointed me a bit. Still, their oath was to the bratva, not to me directly.The ride was quiet and I kept glancing back at Ria. Her elbow was on the windowsill and her chin resting in her hand, looking at the city. I never really thought I would get here. Where I would put someone above the bratva, above
*** Marek’s POV ***I ran my hands through Ria’s hair. She was sleeping soundly next to me in my hospital bed. Kam had warned her multiple times that she was not to walk anywhere. Ria still snuck into my room after the night shift and crawled into bed with me. I’d never kick her out though. I don’t know why they didn’t just put us in the same room.In the past, I never really worried about things. If something bad happened, I just fixed it. End of story. The lack of light in Ria’s eyes made me add her emotional wellbeing, not just physical, to the list. She was still trying to force herself to not feel. Part of it I knew was because she was waiting to hear what Juri had to say. I wish I could tell her she didn’t need to go that far but I knew better. Even I didn’t know what was going happen next.The door opened and I heard an exaggerated groan. “YA klyanus'. Yesli ona budet prodolzhat' v tom zhe dukhe, ona naneset nepopravimyy vred svoim nogam.” [I swear. If she continues like this,
Three of us stepped over the debris of the hole we made of the entrance. After a quick debate, Lorenzo told us he could cover himself and not to worry about him. He deployed the drone he had left and it was hovering above us. Keenan and I were leading while Marek was just behind us.A few shots came from the second floor and I adjusted, looking up and taking quick shots as I moved. If anything, I knew this place like the back of my hand. I knew every squeaky board. Every blind corner, every room and every loud hinge. It was easy to know where the guys were coming from but there were only a few.“They are holed up in the study. Only a few guards left. Most are injured or confused. They aren’t organized and aren’t poised to attack.”I motioned for the guys to follow me as I raced up the stairs. Turning to the left, I walked down the open walkway before I turned down the very last hallway. At the end of this hallway was my father’s study. It was where he brought men after they had done b
I unbuckled the seatbelt and stood up, looking out the windshield. Sure enough, Lorenzo had pulled up against a brick wall that was part of the closest neighbors boundary. Tapping him on the shoulder, I walked to the back between Keenan and Marek. With a flick of a button, the top of the van started to retract back. I pulled down the metal ladder and climbed up.I had a perfect view of the guards house and the gate . My lips pursed and I stepped back down a couple stairs.“This will be fine. Their numbers went up though.”“Cause he’s back.” Lorenzo pulled out a laptop from the door and opened in. “Yeah, it’s nearly empty inside the house.”I nodded and looked over the top of the van again. “Confirmed location?”“In the study. Ferrari is also in there.”Smirking, I shrugged. “Two for one I guess.”“You need to ensure that he doesn’t run.” Marek added and I looked down at him.Frowning, I dropped down and took hold of the bulletproof vest he was putting on. I shook my head.“You’re not
I couldn’t tell if he was angry or if he was just pouting. Either way, Marek refused to look at me the rest of the drive. He did end up falling asleep and I worried we would need to drop him off with Kamilia but he waved us off when I told him the plan. We were quiet as we drove through the city and back up the way to the hell I literally had just escaped.It sent of jolt of nerves through me but I knew if there was a time to do it, now would be that time. Enzo was gone, we confirmed that. With Juri blowing up locations and knocking in doors, the security wasn’t what it normally was. If we waited even a day, Enzo could regroup and come back to bolster Father’s forces. That and with Marek in hand, Juri would probably stop his assault. He wouldn’t have the excuse of trying to find Marek anymore.“Set up where you can be covered and I can see the entrance from the top of the van.”“I know!” Lorenzo snapped at me.“If you don’t want to do this…” I turned my head to him. “It’s okay.”He gr