20. Curious
Chapter twenty
Curious
It was never truly quiet in jail. Someone coughed, sneezed, groaned, or yawned—an endless barrage of noise. After three weeks here, Adrik thought he would get used to it, but now, when all he wanted to do was concentrate, every noise was like gunfire, keeping him alert.
Adrik lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, with his arm behind his head while the other arm laid on a propped pillow, trying to help ease the pain of a recent fracture. He used the ceiling like a painter’s white canvas, drawing events and moments in time that should have stood out—that he should have realized what was happening—and seeing how he had failed. Adrik had only gotten this far by learning from his mistakes and the mistakes of others.
And like a stray glob of paint splattering across the art piece, Jolie’s face interrupted the process and destroyed his chain of thought. Despite how much he didn’t want to think of her, he was too tired to fight it. He closed his eyes, and her voice came rushing in.
‘I don’t want your drug money.’
‘I’m sure a kindergarten teacher living in the city could use some help. ’
‘How the heck do you know that?’
‘I know more than you wish. Where are your contacts? Glasses aren’t the best for your small nose.’
From the beginning, Jolie’s distaste for his lifestyle was too strong. She didn’t want to be a part of his life. She had turned him down when he invited her to live at the house. So maybe she hadn’t been an informant from the start. Maybe she turned into one afterward.
Did that make it better?
Not at all.
But it would mean his instincts weren’t entirely screwed by her.
Adrik took out his phone and held it in a clenched fist. Did he want to hear her excuses? Alexei seemed to think she was owed. Maybe she was. But after learning of how he felt about betrayal, she should have said something.
Maybe she was afraid of me.
Adrik flipped open his phone and dialed her number. He had memorized it weeks ago. He called it every day since he got the phone, but it’s never gone through. And though he tried again, he had no hope anyone would answer. After it once more went to voicemail, he texted, ‘Were you working with the FBI?’
Out of all the things he wanted to say to her, none of it mattered if she had betrayed him. Weeks without hearing her voice, without knowing if she was okay, trapped in the house with the man who killed his father—the negative thoughts were filtering in like poison. Why wasn’t she answering the phone?
He dropped it and covered his eyes. Adrik lay there and panted heavily through his nose. The rage was sometimes so intense, his body felt like it was racing. His heart pounded, and his blood boiled .
To calm the panic, Adrik turned his attention to the physical. He pictured Jolie naked. The image that he wanted to save as a mural. She lay on the bed, her wet hair draped behind her, her legs spread out, exposing her beautiful pussy while she recovered from him eating her out. The taste of her lingered on his tongue, yearning for more. She was perfection. Everything in her was there with him. She couldn’t act that. He’d been with women before that performed, and fucking was their job. There was always a wall, armor around their emotions so they wouldn’t get sucked in. Fucking could be misconstrued for caring, but all those women knew better.
Jolie had no walls in place. She exposed everything she was and held nothing back. There was no lie there.
I saw what I wanted to see.
It was a bad night of sleep, and he was in a terrible mood the following morning. Alexei yammered on about the different cliques in the jail cell. Ever since Bony took them in his care, Alexei didn’t have to fight anymore, but the anger was still there. He picked fights for no reason. And if anyone even looked at Adrik the wrong way, Alexei ensured they didn’t do it again.
“Can you calm down?” Adrik bit in Russian. “You’re gonna get yourself killed, and then what? I’ll have to burn this fucking place to the ground.” Alexei was trying to make up for being in love with his girlfriend. The rift between them was wide, but silent. It was a stress he didn’t need added to an already screwed-up situation.
Alexei sat down, glaring at the guys who were glancing in their direction. He cursed under his breath, and then admitted, “It’s the fucking coke, man. I can’t stop.”
The confession was terrifying to hear. All their lives, they were around drugs, and their father constantly hounded them, keeping control of their intake so it never became a habit. Addiction was something that they saw destroy too many lives.
Adrik watched him, noticing his little twitches now. “Fuck, Alexei.” Adrik rubbed his eyes. “You’re gonna stop, you hear me?”
“I want to stop, but what the fuck else am I gonna do?” Alexei rubbed his face, jittering, never still. “You don’t know this, but—um…” Alexei licked his lips, constantly thirsty. “But last time I was hooked—”
“Last time?”
Alexei held up his hand. “Gil took me on a cruise.”
Adrik knew about that cruise. He was pissed they went without him. “You were hooked on fucking coke four years ago, and you never told me?”
Alexei shrugged. “Five days of fucking women, and I was good. You see any women around here?”
Alexei didn’t screw women for fun. To learn he did something so unlike him to kick the habit bothered Adrik. How could he help his brother now?
“How long?”
“Just a week.”
Since their argument. At least Adrik knew it affected Alexei just as much as it affected him to be at odds with each other.
“I can stop. I swear it.”
Adrik didn’t believe him. In a setting like this, where it was just too easy with nothing to keep him occupied, it would be more challenging to quit the dependence. “I’ll get you all the fucking pussy you need when we get out. But right now, you have to stop. It’s too dangerous. It’s unfiltered, untested. You have no idea what else is in it. Who’s giving it to you? ”
“Why?”
The sudden defensiveness wasn’t lost on Adrik, and he asked again, harshly. “Who is your supplier?”
“I said I’d stop.”
Adrik sat back, grounding his teeth. This was why he kicked out anyone that couldn’t handle their shit. He hated addicts. They lost sight of real purpose—only getting high mattered. Adrik had too many important things in his life to deal with to risk it all with addiction.
“Morozov! Lawyer’s here.”
Adrik stood and looked down at his brother. Alexei refused to meet his eye, chewing his nail, another uncharacteristic action.
“Can you give me the phone? I wanna call Mama.”
Adrik tossed the phone on the table before he turned away from him, directing his gaze to the room. It was social hour, and everyone was doing their own thing, from watching TV to playing cards. He eyed each person, trying to spot anyone who might give drugs to his brother. The Toxins formed their own group in the corner and got up to strut like peacocks. No doubt they were butthurt about all their pathetic attempts to kill him. Adrik wasn’t new to the game. Even now, his people kept to the shadows, observing, holding a shiv in hand.
Did the Warden know he was days away from owning this fucking place? It didn't matter how much the guards beat him. Fracturing his arm was child's play. They’ll change their tune when the uprising begins.
Adrik got to the office, and his lawyer sat in his suit and tie, asking about his injury and making a note to file a complaint. Adrik didn’t care about bruises and broken bones and hurried the man into talking about how much longer they would be in jail .
“Two months.”
The news was devastating, especially knowing that Alexei was suffering. It was a blow he wasn’t ready to handle. The excuses were endless and Adrik made him stop talking. He couldn’t wait two more months. Something had to change. He tried going the legal way, a route he despised, but now it seemed Adrik would have to do something else. Something his father would disapprove of. Yakov was always about keeping under the radar.
The lawyer eventually continued. “I have a message from Gil. He said they were working on an extraction. But it would be better to leave Helina where she is. Katia is working with Vincent to get her out.”
“I don’t give a fuck what Katia’s doing. I want my daughter out of that house.”
The lawyer paused and then slipped a folder across the table. He was silent, not answering Adrik’s question about what it was. Adrik opened it, hoping it contained some good news.
Instead, it was divorce papers.
Katia had filed for divorce.
Why wasn’t he relieved at the sight of it? Because it was all on her terms. The lawyer highlighted parts of the passage, pointing out where she wanted things that weren’t hers. With a prenup in place, she had zero right to anything, yet she dared to bargain. He slapped it down when he got to the last page.
“I need to remind you, you are in jail for murder, Mr. Morozov. She will get a hundred percent custody of Helina. You will have zero parental rights. But”—the lawyer put a hand on the table, leaning in—“it is temporary. As soon as you are cleared, we can get her back.”
“Katia tried to kill her own daughter. ”
“You have no proof. I’m sorry, but the judge won’t even listen without evidence.”
Adrik clenched his fist. Helina was the only thing he wanted, the only thing he cared for, and Katia was trying to take her away. She knew he wasn’t a bad father. She knew Helina wanted to be with him, but she was too fucking spiteful.
Gil had to get Helina out of there. If Katia got their daughter first, she’d return to Russia and disappear. She had more power there. The President was in her uncles’ pockets. They could get away with anything.
But Adrik’s sisters lived there. He wouldn’t be entirely without help.
The lawyer gave him amended divorce papers. Adrik scribbled his name; every line of the pen accelerated the bitterness and the resentment. He wanted revenge, but instead, he was stuck in hell, unable to reach Earth and take back what belonged to him. The devil had his feet; no matter how he fought, the iron grip was unbreakable.
Katia won this round.
The door flung open, and Adrik cursed his luck. Agent Mally came into the room. He sat back, bored already.
His lawyer turned with interest. “How can we help you, Agent?”
“How’d you do it?” she questioned Adrik.
No doubt she planned to blame him for global warming or the presidential election. Two interests he couldn’t give a fuck about.
Mally approached and sat down beside him, facing him. He remained staring at his lawyer, his look saying, ‘You gonna do something?’ but the lawyer shrugged, unable to stop her. She was technically allowed to visit Adrik, and as long as the lawyer was present, she could say anything she wanted.
It dawned on him he could ask Mally if Jolie was working with her. But the question was stagnant in his throat. He didn’t want to know the answer. He feared it.
“The fire,” Mally went on. “A stupid electrical outlet gone bad. A whole fucking street. Three people died. Millions of dollars in damages. And my office, destroyed.”
Adrik blandly responded, “I’m sorry for your luck.”
“All the evidence I had against you. Ten years’ worth. Ten years of my life, gone.”
Adrik had to fight a smile on that one. It was the first good news he had had in a long time.
Seeing Mally’s smile out of the corner of his eye threw him off. “Twenty years ago, that might have been enough. But with the invention of the internet, all my notes, emails, and videos—I still have everything I need to take you and your family down.”
Adrik finally turned to her. He wanted to reach out and squeeze her throat, listen to her sputter and cough, and feel the dig of her nails into his hand. Instead, he remained still, frozen almost. “Did you get Jolie to work for you?”
The way her eyes widened and her pupils dilated was all he needed. Adrik stood, separating himself from her before he lashed out and fucked himself. He went to the door, standing at the wall, wanting to escape, but it was locked, and the guard simply stood there.
“Jolie is innocent,” Mally rushed out. “I used her, and I shouldn’t have. But if you hurt her—”
Adrik spun on his foot. “You’ll what? Throw me in jail for murder? Collaborate with another drug dealer and my wife to destroy my family? What, Agent?” He waited for her to deny it, but the truth was in her silence .
Mally clenched her teeth. “She didn’t give me anything worth using.”
“And that makes a difference, does it? To whom? Because to me, a liar is still a fucking liar.” Adrik turned back to the door and pounded his fist on it. He needed to get out before he said something that could incriminate him.
Mally didn’t dare approach, but guilt about Jolie’s current situation kept her talking. “Jolie stopped working for me because she was lusting after you. She’s a naive girl, but that’s her only flaw. I’m trying to get her out of the house. I know she’s not safe where she is. But if she goes missing, I will work to the end of my life to see you pay for it.”
“How long do you think that will be?” Adrik turned just enough to make eye contact. “The end of your life? Just curious.”
The subtle message didn’t affect her. She’d heard worse from his father, and he still failed to kill her. “I am very healthy and plan to live decades more, Mr. Morozov. Bringing you down has been my biggest achievement. And I will be there on judgment day when the jury comes back unanimous and sends you and your brothers away for life.”
Adrik despised her confidence. Katia had given her indisputable proof, and without some divine intervention, there was a high probability that he would go to prison. But he wasn’t about to let her have the final say. “How’s it out there?” he asked, offhand, as he stepped toward her. “You sleeping better at night, with me off the streets?” Her smile slipped from her lips, and Adrik kept going. “Is Vincent doing a better job? Has the violence gone away? Has the death toll vanished? Have all the drugs disappeared? Have the hookers gone home to make an honest living? Has everyone turned in their guns?”
Mally clenched her teeth but conceded. “No.”
“No.” Adrik looked away, a bitter smile on his lips. “I have never been your problem, Agent.” Adrik stared down at her. “I’ve always been your solution. But now you must learn the hard way. Enjoy the turf wars. I know I will.”
The door finally pulled open, and Adrik dived into the arms of a guard, who directed him back to the main area. He was going to explode. He needed to scream, to hurt someone, to make someone feel as bad as he did. Instead, he headed toward his brother’s cell. Sharing these thoughts would be humiliating and challenging, but he needed his brother. He rarely exposed how he felt—words were weak to what he was feeling—but with no option to do the violence he craved, he’d have to talk, like a fucking fool. It would be the only way to figure a path out of the mental chaos in his head.
Ten feet in front of him, Alexei and another man slapped hands, and as they pulled away, a little baggie full of white powder was spotted. Adrik kept approaching till Alexei’s eyes landed on him. “Adrik—”
Adrik slammed his fist into the supplier, knocking him to the floor. Even though he had only one good arm, nothing was gonna stop him from beating the shit out of this fucker. Alexei screamed at him to stop, but there was no stopping him. It was everything he was feeling finally being unleashed. The betrayal he felt by Jolie, and how he almost gave her everything he was. And underneath, in the suppressed box of his heart, was the loss of his father and the approval he’d never gotten. Adrik kicked the stranger in his ribs, once, twice, three times before bending over him and wailing on his face. It numbed the pain, but it wasn’t enough. Adrik needed more. Blood splattered from a broken nose, and the man cried out, but Adrik was deaf as he hit him again and again.
Alexei grabbed his shoulder, desperate to stop him. Adrik swung around and punched him hard before turning his attention back to the writhing scumbag on the floor. He pounded a foot into his ribs one more time, and then guards were on him. A baton slammed on his back, but it only infuriated him more. He was done letting these fucking assholes take out their marital problems on him. He turned just in time to stop a full swing, but he forgot about his fractured arm, and the pain shot through him like electricity. Adrik fell to his knees, gripping his arm, and the guards took the moment of weakness as a sign to go all out. A hit to the face rendered him nearly unconscious. He could hear his brother screaming. It barely registered when Alexei jumped on one of the guards. Adrik blinked slowly, staring at the swollen and bloody face of his victim, only realizing too late he fucked up.