Page 81 of Fractured Ties

“All right,” Kolya murmured.

In the basement of one of the Compound’s many warehouses, he took note of how chilly it seemed. And damp. Fuck, he hated dampness. It clung to everything and soaked right through a man’s bones.

Kolya knocked once on the two steel doors and stepped back to wait. A slate on the door was slid to the side, closed just as quickly, and then the locks clicked. The doors were opened for Kolya, and he was quick to step in beyond the threshold with Sumerki on his heels.

He didn’t bother to glance around—he didn’t care who was there or what kind of greeting they had for him. Sure, he still took in his brother in the corner, the soaking wet man tied to a chair with live booster cables resting at his feet, and the guy who’d opened the door for Kolya.

They called that man Zhatka.

Reaper.

He was the one who kept the chambers down here clean, or watched over a problem while someone else was busy. More often than not, he was the one keeping a man alive by any means while the man waited for his torturer to arrive. He was the one who listened to them beg and said nothing.

Kolya didn’t even know his real name. As far as he knew, the guy rarely left the Compound, and if he did, it was by order of Vadim to do … something. The guy never spoke, not to them, or to the men he was tasked with holding in one of the chambers until it was their time. He didn’t even know if the guy saw the daylight on a regular basis, but probably not.

“You brought the dog?” Konstantin asked. “Why?”

Kolya passed his brother a look and then dropped the blanket on the middle of the floor. He pointed to the fleece square with one finger, and Sumerki was quick to clamber into the middle where he sat his little ass down and watched Kolya.

Bending down to one knee, Kolya pointed between his eyes, and Sumerki. It was yet to be determined how well Sumerki would do, all things considered. It was probably going to get loud, and a little scary for the pup, once Kolya really got going on the passed-out Albanian tied to the chair in the middle of the room.

Kolya figured it would take a couple of times for the dog to get the point when they had to do something like this, but he was hoping for the best tonight.

“Your spot. Be good; behave, yes?”

Another ear flick from Sumerki.

Good enough.

He stood and turned back to Konstantin with a nod. “He’s learning—don’t touch him.”

“Learn—”

“That’s what I said,” Kolya interjected gruffly. “Stop asking questions and let me get to the killing portion of my evening. Spasibo.”

He didn’t miss the way Konstantin rolled his eyes but Kolya’s attention was laser focused on something else, now. Or rather, someone else. He tugged the leather driving gloves out of his back pocket and slipped them on as he came closer to the unconscious man tied to a chair. Undoing the buttons on his dress shirt—he thought it might get in the way or bloodstained—Kolya discarded the item as he came to stand in front of the man.

A bucket of cold water rested at Tomor’s feet. Kolya picked the bucket up and dumped it over the man’s head. Tomor woke up with a gagged shout—thank you, Zhatka—and wide, angry eyes.

Oh, good.

He wasn’t broken yet.

Kolya liked them better when he was the one who got to break them.

Tomor took a minute to adjust but as soon as his gaze landed on Kolya, his rage became all the more apparent. He pulled and jerked in the chair, spitting words at Kolya in a language he wouldn’t have understood even if the gag wasn’t tight around his mouth.

“You look angry,” Kolya said. “Shame, no?”

Tomor jerked in the chair again, his teeth baring over the gag.

“Oh, scary.”

“Don’t play with your prey,” Konstantin grumbled. “You always do this.”

Kolya waved a hand over his shoulder, saying, “I don’t remember asking you.”

To be honest, Kolya was a little bored. Maybe it was because all of his baser urges had been thoroughly satisfied earlier by Maya … but it was hard to say. He was still raging fucking pissed that this man had thought to put his hands on what didn’t belong to him. He was going to hurt for that.