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“Fuck,” Brando hissed, following me out the door.
I took long strides down the corridor, heading toward the storeroom, resisting kicking the door open. When I walked inside, I glanced at the four men Filip had sent, two of them already green around the gills. They knew they’d been sent to face their execution. I had to wonder what atrocity they’d performed in order to slide onto the Pole’s dark side. My men remained against the walls, prepared to do what was necessary. They’d been frisked, the weapons slapped onto a silver platter as if we were serving up dinner along with interrogation.
While they’d come at my request, the fact they’d been sent as envoys angered me even thought I’d expected it. I thought about the fact it had become much easier to take a life, more so than I would have believed even two years before. Perhaps the likeness my father had insisted on had finally rubbed off. The irony was that he’d mellowed over the years, succumbing to his desire to protect his family, even though the fact he’d sold off my sister like cattle was something never far from my mind.
That had changed me overnight. No longer did I hunger the same way as I had before, insisting we could alter our methods and business practices. That had become impossible over the years, the treachery of my great-grandfather’s determination to rule the world filtering down like the black plague. The club was surrounded in case this had been nothing more than a subterfuge, which I also expected. However, Filip had to know that if he pulled the trigger, starting a war on our turf, our answer would be by hanging their soldiers in the streets.
Still, I couldn’t be too careful at this point. I wanted Filip concerned, enough so that he would tip his hand in the latest game of poker.
While I usually wasn’t a gamer, I played to win, no matter the odds. Perhaps I was testing the powers that be, but I’d convinced myself I’d become the devil, malevolent in my methods of extracting information.
I found myself calm and controlled, which was a far cry from where I’d been a few moments earlier. The four men regarded me with heightened anxiety, although one of them was the obvious messenger, a return to the terse statement Brando had sent earlier in the day.
They remained silent.
Unmoving.
It was as if time was running slowly, allowing me a few last seconds before the possibility that all hell broke loose.
“Do you have a message for me?” I asked after another full minute had passed.
They all looked at each other as if they didn’t understand. Their nervousness was something I wasn’t accustomed to. Very few men who faced certain death acted anxious, all faking their bravado. There was something wrong with this moment, a strange sense of instinct that thrust through me like the rusty edge of a blade. They were nothing but decoys, treating me like a fool.
“E ora di incontrare il tuo creatore,” I huffed as I popped the trigger twice, shifting my weapon to the third. Time to meet your maker.
Just as I heard a sound, the fourth man snarled his own curse of anger and hatred.
“Pust’ tvoy akt mesti budet tvoim raspyatiyem,” he growled.
The words were spoken in Russian. Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
May your act of revenge be your crucifixion.
* * *
Cassidy
Two minutes earlier
After taking and holding my breath, I stopped short, able to see a massive wooden door that obviously led further into the bowels of the old brownstone. I turned, waiting until my best friends followed my orders, heading for the entrance. I was angry, the rush of emotions making it impossible to comprehend the depth of what I was contemplating.
But I had to say my peace, to shove him out of my mind once and for all. Damn the consequences of whatever power he wanted to try to exert. If I didn’t flush him out of my system, I’d remain angry that I’d allowed him to fracture even a small part of me. I’d picked myself up from the depths of hell, starting over after being crushed.
No. He wasn’t going to do that to me. Damn him. Damn this trip.
There was door listed as private and while I hesitated, it was only for a few seconds. It was unlocked, several doors located on both sides, the long corridor appearing to turn in another direction.
I moved down the hallway quietly, glancing into the vacant rooms, offices that I wondered were ever used. After turning the corner, I was able to hear a single voice coming from behind one of the closed doors. His voice.
I didn’t hesitate. That had never been my personality before and this man, this monster wasn’t going to break me now. Fuck him. Even as I thought the words, my body remained treacherous, the burning desire I felt for him like the hot kiss of molten lava. Only a part of me realized that by confronting him, I was taunting the devil.
My reactions weren’t quick enough, two muffled thuds registering after I’d thrown open the door. A rush of understanding didn’t prevent the momentum of my body as I crossed the threshold, the loud cracking sound one I was all too familiar with.
The gun blast was quick, another harsh reality of who and what he was demanding attention as blood splattered across my face seconds before I screamed.
* * *
Valentin
