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“You’re done. Your reign ends here. Tonight.” Chuckling softly, I shove her to the ground onto her knees.
Looking at the crowd with my head held high, I made my announcement, “From this day forward, Lady Qing is no longer the temporary head of the Qing Triad! By Feng Qing’s dying will, I, Angel Vu, am the new dragonhead!” Though I had no microphone, the openness and my position at the front of the room carried my voice well enough. My throat would hate me later for all the shouting, but whatever. “Does anyone here have any problems with this new leadership!?”
Sporadic head shakes waved through the crowd as they slowly tried to back pedal out of this situation, only to be stopped by the teams in place that had executed the pincer movement perfectly. Everyone was trapped in their spot. The only place they could go was forward towards my position which was the back of the room.
My throat would hate me for all the shouting later, but I needed everyone to hear what I had to say. “Glad to see no one has any problem with this shift in position! First off, I’d like to apologize for the shit that my stepmother here has pulled in my absence! This event was, and is not, authorized under triad rule! Everyone in attendance here today will be free to go with their lives intact, as long as they do not try anything stupid! Furthermore, any and all purchases made tonight will be made invalid!” Now that got a rouse from the crowd.
The room quickly filled with the crowd’s grievances, some even took a few steps towards the stage which earned them a point of a gun which quickly stopped them. Even with dozens of guns pointed at them, they still got rowdier and rowdier until my head started buzzing from their complaints.
Letting out a deep breath, I let out a single shot at the ceiling, silencing everyone again. “Count your fucking blessings that I am not giving an order to execute you all right now! There are only two options: leave empty handed and alive, or leave in a body bag! Your choice! I also highly advise you don’t test me any further tonight because I am not in a patient mood right now!” I warned them all in a loud and stern voice.
Killing the whole room would be easy like breathing, but the mess would be too much to clean up. Like Nikolai said at the meeting, one or two prominent figures we could get away with, but nearly the whole state would not be in any way possible.
We were going to send the state into a turmoil, but it would be on our count and control. All of California will be at the mercy of the Volkov Bratva within a year or so’s time if we played our cards right, which included letting these cockroaches live, for now.
Looking over at Nikolai, I couldn’t help but give a smile of relief and excitement. Was it wrong to be turned on right now at the sight of him all sweaty and bloody? God the way he took out those men was so arousing to watch. The part where he got kicked around on the ground and got injured wasn’t exciting, but seeing him beat those men with his bare hands was something else.
God, am I really that fucked up to find bloody violence arousing?
Snapping out of my thoughts, my eyes softened with worry. “Are you okay,anh?” Or at least relatively okay. He looked like he’s seen better days right now. His face would be bruised up good, a split eyebrow, busted lip, probably a few bruised ribs from how and where they kicked him earlier. A little bloody too, but nothing like the guys he beat up.
“I’ll be fine.” He grunted, rolling the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows, revealing more bruises.
“Anh?” I looked at Nikolai with a confused expression when he kicked open the cage door, jumped down from the stage, and walked over to the small group of guards who were kneeling on the ground with our men surrounding them.
“These people came here for a show tonight, so it’d be rude to let them leave unsatisfied, wouldn’t you agree,lisichka? They wanted to work me up into a mood, so now they’ll get their damn wish.” The dark edge to his voice made me shiver out of fear and excitement. I could tell by his voice that he had a murderous look to him.
If I was on the receiving end of his murderous gaze then I’d probably be pissing myself. The fear I felt was my base instinct trying to do some self-preservation. Excitement shouldn’t even be a feeling in a moment like this, but I couldn’t help it. Knowing my husband would let loose excited the side of me that craved a savage man.
The guard let out a high pitched yelp when Nikolai’s hands landed hard on his shoulders to drag him up. Pathetically, the guard pleaded with Nikolai when he shoved the guard to the foot of the stage.
“Tonight will also serve as a stern reminder that I am not one to be trifled with.” Nikolai faced the crowd, the one who had taken a few steps back to give him room. “It appears that some of you have mistaken my generosity for weakness. Just because I am not the violent idiot that my father was does not indicate weakness, and a lot of you seem to be under the impression that I am growing incapable and complacent because I have been enjoying the peace and quiet that I have garnered through the blood I have spilt.”
Oh, he seethed with silent rage—the kind that should be feared more than a loud outburst. And by the way the crowd shrunk away with fear in their wide eyes indicated that they knew they fucked up.
“It’s easy to talk about a caged animal from the other side isn’t it? But once that barrier is gone, you all tuck your tails between your asses and cower. You all spat your shit at me while I was chained up. Well, where’s all that now? Hm? Where’s all the talk about how far I’ve fallen? How soft I got? How I was growing incapable of holding down my own business? And don’t even get me started on the disgusting things some of you said about my wife. Mark my words, you will all feel my wrath in the days to come.” There was so much conviction in his voice. It was no veiled threat; it was a promise.
With a deep breath, Nikolai picked the guard up by the front of his shirt, holding him up in the air. “I’m going to deal with you first.” The guard landed with a grunt when Nikolai threw him onto the ground. “Get up, tough guy. Or do you only pick on little girls half your size and men who are incapable of fighting back? You seemed rather feisty earlier wanting to take me on, so here’s your chance.” Nikolai held his arms out to the side, goading the guard to strike.
The guard scrambled to his feet, looking at Nikolai fearfully briefly before charging at him with a fist pulled back. Nikolai easily caught the punch with a dark grin and scoffing chuckle. “Pathetic.” There was a sickening crack when Nikolai’s fist met the guard’s face.
“Lisichka, give me your knife.” He demanded, holding his hand out towards me.
Looking over at Hanna, I nodded towards my stepmother and waited for Hanna to take my position before going over to my husband’s side.
“Don’t have too much fun now.” I said with a dark smirk, pulling out the knife from my thigh holster and placing the handle of the knife into Nikolai’s open hand.
Leaning back against the stage, I watched as Nikolai severed the guard’s fingers before he spoke. “That’s what gets for touching and forcing himself on the girls earlier.” His eyes glared at the crowd with an edge of darkness and anger. “This is what will happen if you dare go through with your pathetic threats about touching my wife. If any of you even think about touching my wife then it’ll be your fingers that get hacked like this poor bastard. If any of you dare try to lay a finger on my wife then it’ll be your damn hands that I take off.”
There was a moment of pause as Nikoli took in a few deep breaths, his body relaxing a little with the act. “It’s going to be your eyes next if you don’t quit looking at her.” He snarled, narrowing his eyes at a few men who let their eyes linger on me much too long.
Fuck, I love it when he gets a little jealous and possessive. Even if I was more than capable of handling myself, just something about him wanting to protect me was sweet and sexy. Yes, I would condone him for gouging out the lingering eyes of a pervert.
Amusingly, I chuckled with a fake smile. “Anyone else have anything they want to say about me or my husband? Speak now or forever hold your peace.”
No one dared to twitch their mouth, most of them hanging their head in shame or shaking their heads in response. With an overly exaggerated smile, I spoke, “Glad to see we’ve come to an understanding. Now, as I said, you’re all free to go, just no funny business. Although, I would implore you all to think twice about leaving on an impromptu vacation for a while. You might be walking away with your lives tonight, but that doesn’t mean that my husband or I are done with you. We’ll be in touch, so make sure you stay available. Otherwise, I would hate to see what would happen to you or your loved ones.”
Slowly, the crowd thinned out as everyone was escorted out of the facility in a single file line. All who remained in the empty area were Lady Qing, her children, Nikolai, and me.
