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I try my hands again, but my arms have gone numb from the restraints. How long have I been here? A few hours, has it been a day?
Damn, how can I be this thirsty and need to piss so bad my bladder’s going to burst? I’ve got to calm down and think my way through this. I’m going to be a dad, I can’t let my child grow up fatherless.
Eventually, they’re going to send someone in here to make their demands, carve information out of me before they lower the boom, or put a bullet in my head. I’ve got to find out who’s paying them and make it worth their while to deal with me instead.
I must have dosed off at some point because I awaken to a clattering noise at the door. I stare at the rusty gray thing as I listen to the voices on the other side. Now they’re speakingRussian! Who the fuck is on the other side of that door?
When it finally opens, one of the Albanians enters the room first, followed by another, and then finally my captor approaches. My swollen eyes nearly pop out of my head.
Natasha Orlov! You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
She’s immaculately dressed in brown suede as she sneers down at me. “Look at you,” she says in Russian. “Filthy animal.” She spits at me. “You killed my Sergei and framed my father for his murder!” Her hand flies across my face, but it barely registers amidst all the other pain I’ve suffered.
“What…what do you want, Natasha?” I manage to say.
“I want my Sergei back you, bastard! But they say that they only found pieces of him, you monster!”
I lift my eyes to her. “You do know he killed my father, right? What was a son supposed to do with that information, Natasha? What would you have done?”
She scoffs, planting her hands on her hips. “You’ve framed my father for murder, he’ll go to prison for the rest of his life. What do you thinkIshould do about that?”
“Fair enough,” I say evenly. “What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to fucking die, you pig,” she shouts with hands balled into fists.
“How can I help your father if I’m dead?”
“You’re going to confess that you murdered Sergei and that you framed my father.” She snaps her fingers at one of the men. He comes forward holding up a phone and aiming the camera lens at me, intending to record my confession.
I stare at her for a moment. “Look at me, Natasha. Who would believe the confession wasn’t coerced? They’ll know I spoke under duress, it will be inadmissible in court.”
She glares back at me, cheeks flushed, blue eyes ablaze. But I can see that she’s already worked this out. This whole thing hasn’t gone according to plan. I wasn’t supposed to be the one sitting here, Madison was.
“The only way they’ll believe it is if I go on the stand or walk into the police station and confess of my own volition.”
Her eyes narrow to menacing slits. “And why would you do that?”
It’s clear that they don’t have Madison, otherwise, their threats would be directed at her to coerce a sincere confession from me. But it doesn’t mean they’re not still hunting for her.
“I won’t,” I say coolly. “But let me out of here and I’ll be willing to make you a captain in my organization.”
She snorts. “I don’t want to work for you, I want you dead, you imbecile!”
“Two seconds after you kill me, the Wolf is going to gut you and hang your sorry carcass in the streets.” I look at her two goons. “That goes for all of you!” The fear in their eyes is encouraging. “Let me go now and we can forget this all happened. I’ll consider it payback for breaking the engagement. But you need to end this now, Natasha.”
She grinds her teeth and scowls at me. “No, the Wolf only appointed you head of the family because my father’s been indicted. I free him and he has just as good a chance of being the boss.” She walks forward and roughly grabs me by the chin, digging her nails in. “You are going to confess in great detail exactly what you did to Sergei and how you stashed his body in my father’s warehouse. It’ll be enough to introduce enough doubt into my father’s conviction.”
I look at the other two men. “You know she’s planning on killing you after you finish this job.”
Her eyes go wide. “Shut up!”
“She used Albanians so this couldn’t come back on her father’s crew, only she can’t leave any loose ends that would trace back to her. You’re all dead men.”
They turn cold, suspicious eyes on her.
“You’re going to listen to this desperate fool?” she yells. “He’d say anything to get out of here. Can’t you see that?” For emphasis, she kicks the chair in anger. Distracted by this, they don’t see her pull her weapon. Before they know what hit them, she shoots them both, a bullet to the head.
She looks at me and shrugs. “You were right, Bash. But now you know I mean business.”
