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“So.” Blade crosses his arms. “I’m gonna show you this. It’s my home, my safe spot, where my fucking wife and kids live.”
He pulls out his knife as Rip leans over and presses play. The large TV shows it all, the piece of shit walking up, taking down the prospect outside, and entering through the front door. My heart pounds as I watch Julianna grab her purse and leave for the bathroom. On screen, Dewey seems distracted by the girls. The Russian starts screaming.
He asks for Eve, and that’s when Dewey puts himself in front of her, taking the bullet in the stomach. As Julianna walks out, she doesn’t hesitate and puts a bullet in the back of the Russian’s head.
Blade freezes the clip. “Who the fuck is that?”
“My second cousin Victor. He hasn’t been around. His father was one of the ones we took out.”
“How did you not know about this?” Blade’s voice drips venom.
“Probably the same as you,” he spits right back, and the room goes silent.
Blade stares at him while we wait to see if he’ll slice Pavel’s throat.
He doesn’t.
He grins, reaches for the bottle of Jack Daniel’s, and takes a swig. “I was your age when I became king. Invincible. That’s how I felt. No fear. My brothers”—he motions at us with the bottle—“we took over and never looked back, and I fucking ruled.”
He kicks the chair Pavel’s tied to. “You’re in charge not even a month, and a fucking Russian pig threatens my wife!” He throws the bottle at the TV, the spicy brown liquid and glass shattering the screen.
“I haven’t seen Victor in years.” Pavel leans over to spit out more blood.
“He came to my house. My house, you fuck. He held a gun to my wife’s head.” Blade’s rage and pain pour out of him.
Today was a fucking wake-up call.
Pavel looks at Blade, then around the room at all of us. He’s beaten, bleeding, but the fight is still in his eyes.
“Victor was a drunken thug and has nothing to do with me or what I’m going to accomplish. I would have shot him in the head years ago if I’d had the chance.”
Again, the only noise in the room is the clink of ice cubes Axel’s dropping into a sock. Blade inches closer. His eyes narrow as he fights his need for blood. Unfortunately, the blood we seek has already spilled out onto his floor.
Pavel is innocent. I can see it, and Blade knows it.
“Cut him loose,” he finally says to Ox. “Fix this, or we’ll take you motherfuckers out.” He grabs another bottle of Jack Daniel’s from the table. Ox moves to Pavel as Axel holds up his hand, stopping him.
“Hi.” Axel stares down at Pavel. “I don’t give a fuck if you knew nothing about it. This is for our women.” He smashes Pavel’s nose with the ice-filled sock, and all of us hear the sound of cartilage breaking. Blood flows like a faucet down into his mouth, saturating his shirt.
Ox smirks and cuts Pavel loose, handing him the bottle of vodka. Pavel drinks almost half of it, then stands, wiping at his nose with his wrist.
“This your woman?” He motions to Julianna, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
I stare at him, not trusting myself. We need him alive right now. That doesn’t mean I won’t slice him up.
Pavel looks at the screen, then at me. “That’s fearless, I admire that.” He drops his hand, blood still bubbling out of his nose as he tries to breathe. “I have a file which, as of now, I had no reason to share. Forgive me if I don’t hand deliver it. I’ll send Kostya. Now, can I go?”
“Get the fuck out of here,” I say, opening and closing my fists.
He straightens and walks to the door.
“Pavel?” Blade’s voice stops him.
“Don’t ever think you’re too big to be taken down. That’s the mistake Misha made, and it’s the mistake my dad and brother made. I know what I am. Let’s hope for your sake you do too.”
He turns to look at Rip. “Drop Pavel back at his place and get the file.”
Pavel looks at him, then at me, and nods. Rip grabs his keys. The door shuts and Blade walks over to the window, looking out at the dark night.
“If you need to get back to your women, you can go.” He brings the bottle to his lips and drinks.
I pull out my chair and reach for a bottle of Southern Comfort. Axel drops into the seat next to mine and removes some weed from his back pocket.
“Let me get a prospect in here to clean up the blood.” Ox breaks the silence.
Axel loads up his pipe and lights it. After inhaling deeply, he hands it to me.
“Wait until later.” Blade looks over his shoulder. “Pavel was right. This was my fuckup.”
