AllFreeNovel
Share Us
If he wanted to escalate the party to knife play, I was more than happy to oblige. My combat knife was in my hand almost as soon as I saw his blade. “Your hand must be as quick asyour thought,” my trainer was fond of saying. I wasn’t quite there yet, but my mind could race circles around this huge, stupid clod, and my knife would match that speed. I twirled the blade in my fingers, making it dance around in delicate, dangerous arcs like a showman’s butterfly knife.
Still, Stepan was smarter and faster than I had expected. Instead of trying to push me into a duel of face-to-face blades, he flicked his wrist and sent his knife singing through the air toward my throat. Quicker than expected or not, he was still no match for me; I bent backwards, and the knife whistled close by my face, the breeze from its passage like a caress across my fight-heated skin.
I barely heard the heavy thud as his knife embedded itself in a nearby chair. “Stupid.” I tsked at Stepan with a grim smile. “I told you that your tab was closed out, but you keep adding to the bill.”
He roared at the insult and swung at me, his immense fist hurtling toward me like a train. I caught his wrist, but instead of drawing him into a throw like I had his goon, I used his size as a counterweight to launch myself around his arm, spinning like a gymnast on an Olympic bar. I landed on his back, hooking one arm around his throat in a lock. My other hand came up, knife out, and he froze as I held the deadly point of my blade millimeters from his eye.
“You’re done, big man,” I growled in his cauliflowered ear. Three of my security team stepped up to make sure Stepan didn’t decide to do anything else stupid, and I released him, dropping my feet back to the floor. “Forget about ever coming to see a fight here again,” I told him as I moved to face him, my knife still out and dancing in my hand again. “Forget about ever stepping foot into this casino again, foranyreason. This is Sokolov territory, and I won’t see it disrespected. The Baranovs?Razvaluha.No vision, no future.” I snarled, my eyes burning into his. “Never forget this face, you filthy pig.” I held my knife up, tapping the tip of the blade at my temple to remind him how close he’d come to losing an eye. “It’s the face of what’s to come. For you, foreveryonethat tries to fuck with us.”
I watched the emotions flash across his face: rage, then realization, and finally defeat. He knew he’d lost tonight; I could see it in his eyes. He dropped his arms and let his muscles go slack, indicating full submission. I watched as he gathered his men, some bleeding, some barely conscious, all humiliated. I turned my back to them, dismissing them. Security would do their job and make sure the trash got all the way out of the building.
I scanned the crowd. The staff was already back to work, but the clientele were still silent, a mix of shock and hungry fascination in their faces. I straightened my suit, cracked a knuckle, and yelled toward the back, “Naomi! Two free rounds for the house, and then the main event!”
“You got it, boss!” she piped up with a grin.
Everyone cheered and began to stampede to the bar. I took the opportunity to walk to the cage, hauling myself up by the ropes to stand at the edge of the ring. “I know one of you tipped them off to my fight club,” I growled, staring at the fighters. “But I don’t care to know which. You’re here to make me money, and the moment you threaten that, I don’t care how many fucking fights you’ve been in. That’s the moment you need to fear for your life, until I forgive it.” I gave them a moment to process what I was saying; I wanted it to really sink in. They’d spread the word, and my reputation, the family’s reputation, would only grow.
“Do we understand each other?” I asked after giving them a moment.
Both of them nodded. “Yes, Mr. Sokolov,” they said in cowed unison.
“Good. Take five, then put on a fucking show,” I said. “And cheer up; you’re still getting paid.” I spat in the middle of the ring mat before turning and jumping back down to the floor.
The crowd was happy, the high rollers ecstatic at getting two shows for the price of one, with the bonus of a little danger to really spice up their luxurious lives. The entertainment, the fighters, knew their job, and no prize fighter would think to challenge me again. The Baranovs had exited. I smiled. I’d find out how, exactly, the Baranovs had gotten in here in the first place, but for now, things were just as they should be.
