Chapter Eleven
Peter
I’d arrived at my place with time to spare. With the fair in town, no one was around, so I was able to carry the body of the still knocked-out man into the main house. Within minutes, I had my area set up, and I grabbed a glass of ice-cold water and slammed it in his face.
He came to, so I decided to crush the glass onto his face, making him scream, and I now was doubly sure he was very much awake and alert. Crouching down to be at eye level, I smiled at him.
“Hello,” I said. “So, you and I, we’re going to have a little chat.”
“I’m not telling you fucking nothing.” He spat in my face, and I wiped the spittle off, rubbing it between my fingers.
I was a patient man, well, in most situations, I was a patient man, but all of that had ran out when Niamh was taken. Now, I wasn’t Peter Shadows, the personal trainer employed by the gym and Niamh’s boyfriend. That cover was gone. I was Peter Orlov, and I didn’t have to put the monster that I was to bed. In fact, I walked toward the kitchen counter, grabbed a knife, and then plunged it into his genital area.
“If you ever make it out of here alive, I imagine you’re going to want the use of your cock, but I’m going to want it as a trophy. I hope the last time you used this thing was worth it.”
I debated pulling the blade out, but instead decided to leave it right there. It looked like I had actually pinned his dick to the chair, even through his baggy pants. This is why men shouldn’t wear baggy pants. The screams filled the room, but to me they were sweet sounds of Heaven.
Blood soaked my hand, and then I decided to grab a few more knives.
“You know, in my time, I’ve enjoyed a lot of knife work,” I said.
The man was still screaming and blubbering like a baby, but I wasn’t going to allow it to distract me from my work, so I kept talking.
“You know how when you grab a bucket and it has a hole in it, and water leaks out in a perfect united unit, and then you add another hole, and it’s like the two holes are competing for who could empty the most water? I’ve always been curious about a person and when it comes to their blood.” I held the small knife in my hand, the kind often used to prepare vegetables. Like a hand knife. “Do you think that is going to work on a person?” I asked, and then I stabbed him three times, going for places that wouldn’t cause him a quick death, but would hurt a hell of a lot.
His screams started. “Stop, please, fucking stop!” he said.
I looked at my masterpiece and clicked my tongue. “Not quite working how I wanted it to. Maybe there’s like a plug, and you have to unclog it to make it go glug-glug.” I stabbed him a few more times.
I knew exactly what I was doing, and I was really enjoying myself. I liked stabbing this man. It had been too long that I’d gone without killing, and I wanted to enjoy the experience again, and again, and again. I had not been able to take out every bounty hunter, and that upset me.
At the sound of my front door opening, I didn’t even bother to turn around to know that Ivan, The Beast, and The Butcher had entered my home.
“Where is he taking her?” I asked.
The man in the chair had just pissed himself.
“I can’t tell you,” he said.
I reached down and grabbed the hilt of the blade that had his cock imbedded on the chair. I gave it just a little twist, reminding him of exactly what he was going to lose. This man was dead, but there was always that faint glimmer of hope that for whatever reason, they might survive and make it out alive. It was kind of charming, at least I thought so. Never saw it myself.
I waited, and then I twisted, and his screams filled the air.
“You’re going to tell me where she is, or you’re going to suffer.”
I knew without a doubt that Finn was going to make her hurt. I also had an inkling that she was pregnant with my child. If he hurt her, beat her, there was a risk of our baby being hurt. I couldn’t allow that to happen.
The clock was ticking.
“Fuck you,” the man said, and then went to spit on me again.
“Allow me,” The Butcher said, and I turned toward her, not wanting her to interfere.
The man looked … happy as she stepped forward, and I watched, a little baffled, as she stroked his face. She was soothing at first. “There, there, it’s going to be okay.”
And then, I was amazed, as she made him scream in pain, and because she had stepped in front of him, I didn’t see what she had done, but as she stepped back, I saw that she’d removed one of his eyes. Holy fuck.
The Butcher didn’t look at all fazed by what she had done, as she wiped her hands on a towel. I didn’t think she’d gouged it out, but had crushed it inside his eye socket.
She looked up at me.
At first, I saw what she had done as pointless, but then he started to talk.
“I don’t know where he is. He planned to take his daughter to his secure location, but he isn’t going to stay there long. The plan is to transfer to another car, and then he’s taking her back, but I wasn’t privy to any of the other details,” he said. “I only know he wanted his daughter back. Please, just kill me. I … don’t let her … fucking Butcher.”
And then I glanced over to The Butcher and saw her smile. She knew that was going to happen.
Okay, now I was impressed. When it came to The Butcher and The Beast, their reputations were rumors, but now I was starting to see why. They were willing to do whatever it took to get the job done. I’d just watched her take out a guy’s eye and she didn’t even care. There was no love in her eyes, no feeling, and for a split-second, I wondered why. How did a woman get like that?
But then, I knew it was exactly the same for a man.
The Butcher had been raised this way. She’d been taught to be unfeeling, to do damage, to hurt, to maim, to kill, and that is why she was as scary as she was, and as deadly.
I looked toward Ivan. “Do we need him?” I asked.
“No, we don’t. I already have leverage for Finn Byrne.” He glanced down at his watch. “And I should be getting a call in three, two, one.”
As if by magic, Ivan’s cell phone began to ring.
I was angry, because he didn’t reach for it. “Answer it,” I said.
“All in good time. Take care of that asshole first. I want to see how you end him,” Ivan said.
I wanted to argue with him. Ivan always got what he wanted, and the longer I stood here arguing about following orders, the more Niamh was at risk of being at the mercy of her father, and that I couldn’t allow. Going to the man I’d taken, I looked him in his single eye, and then reached out to him, and with all my force, I twisted, snapping his neck. There was no satisfaction with his death.
Ivan’s cell phone stopped ringing and I turned toward him.
“It went to voicemail, how rude.” He gave a little tut. “No one knows patience anymore, have you noticed that?”
“The world wants answers and they want them yesterday,” The Beast said.
I wasn’t interested in righting the world, or even talking about patience or people not having it. Niamh’s life was on the line.
Ivan’s cell phone rang again, and this time he waited several rings. My patience was being strained to a whole new level, and I was about ready to snap when Ivan answered the call. He’d put it on speaker.
“You have something of mine,” Finn Byrne said.
“I have something of yours, but you don’t tell me who you are?” There is another tut from Ivan. “I don’t like playing these guessing games, because if you want to get truly technical, then I have a whole lot of everyone’s things.”
Running a hand down my face, I was close to losing it.
The Butcher and The Beast looked calm, also mildly entertained. I was the fucking furthest from any of it. I was ready to explode.
“You have my son, and you know exactly who this is,” Finn said.
Ivan clicked his tongue. “Finn, Finn, ah, you’re talking about Finn Byrne, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, I do have your son. He’s in a rather uncomfortable position at the moment.” Ivan let out a little chuckle.
I didn’t see a third member, but The Butcher had left, only to come back seconds later with a man whose arm looked to be in the wrong position. There was also blood oozing out of his nose, and it looked like a couple of teeth were missing.
“I had a little fun,” The Beast said.
“Dad,” Finn the son said.
“Finn!”
“There are a lot of Finns right now, I’m getting confused,” Ivan said. “Maybe it’s time to cull the Finn population.”
I watched as The Beast walked over to Finn the son and wrapped his fingers around his throat.
“Do you love this son?” Ivan asked. “I mean, he is your oldest son, and you do plan to … what is it, allow him to take over?”
“Let him go,” Finn Byrne Sr. said.
“Let him go? Do you seriously think I am just going to hand over your son? No, I want something in return,” Ivan said.
“What?”
“Quite simple really, I want Niamh. You know, brown hair, brown eyes, you’re her shit father, but I kind of like her,” Ivan said. “You will get your son, and I will get Niamh, and I’m not negotiating.”
Ivan hung up the phone, and I was ready to fucking scream.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m waiting to see what we’re dealing with.”
“My dad won’t call back. He doesn’t do deals with the likes of you,” Finn the son said.
I was already sick of thinking about the name Finn.
I didn’t know for sure how much time had passed, but then Ivan’s cell phone rang.
We needed to make a deal.
I had to get to Niamh.
“We have a deal,” Finn Byrne said.
****
Niamh
Present Day
This was a trap.
My father was not going to let any man from the Volkov Bratva get the better of him. It had been hard to hear the full conversation, as it was vague. The Volkov Bratva had my half-brother, Fin n— the son and child my father did wan t— his eldest, who he wanted to guide and build the empire with.
I didn’t know exactly where we were. I’ve been forced onto my knees on the cold and dirty floor. The stench was making my head spin.
I had a horrible feeling I’d lost the baby I was carrying. I hadn’t taken a test, but I had done the math, and I understood basic biology. I was pregnant with Peter’s baby.
We were going to have a baby, or we might have been. I didn’t think … after the beating I’ve just been given, I didn’t know if I still carried his child. There was a lot of blood between my thighs. The bottom of my white dress was now stained with blood.
My father had stopped when he saw it, and I think he might have known what he’d done. He seemed happy about it.
Pain sliced through my whole body.
I hoped Peter had gotten away, but then the memory of him with a gun … I didn’t know why that bothered me so much. Guns didn’t scare me, I was used to men holding guns. I’d been around them all my life. I even knew how to fire a gun myself. One of my father’s men had shown me. I think he took pity on me and the fact my own father didn’t love me enough to care what happened to me. Either way, guns didn’t matter to me.
Peter and a gun, did matter. It meant something, but I didn’t know what.
Until I watched as Peter walked into the room with another man, who for some vague reason I recognized. Then, there was my brother, who looked like our father. He considered it a curse to look exactly like Finn Byrne, but he loved being the oldest son.
I looked at Peter, and I knew he must be part of the Volkov Bratva. That was the name that kept going on repeat. I wanted to ask him what this was all about.
He didn’t have a gun in his hands, but gone were the gym sweats and jeans I’d become accustomed to. Before me stood a man of business. A man I knew to avoid. The ink on his arms and chest all made perfect sense to me now.
I’d been lied to.
****
Peter
Niamh was on her knees, on the dirty floor, and I didn’t need to be a doctor to know she’d lost the baby. The blood on her thighs and coating the edge of the dress was a clear sign of that.
The bruises on her face and body already showed what she’d been through. Parts of the dress was torn, which could only come from a belt buckle, and one glance at Finn Byrne’s buckle, even in the low light, I saw the staining from it. He’d whipped her with the belt. He’d beaten her. The urge to grab my gun and end that son of a bitch increased.
“Hello, Finn. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Ivan Volkov—”
“Let go of my son.”
Ivan stopped and he sighed. “You know if there’s one thing I cannot stand, it’s rudeness, and you’re being so very rude.” He gave another tut.
Niamh cried out as her father’s grip on her hair tightened. “I want my son, or she is going to have her head blown wide open.”
Ivan clapped his hands. “I do love it when the theatrics are thrown about, but I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Now, this is what I loved about Ivan Volkov. Nothing ever went down without him being one hundred percent aware of the danger, and he always made sure he had a Plan B, Plan C, and Plan fucking D.
Red lights played across Finn Byrne’s chest, as well as the other men who were in the room.
Ivan tilted his head to the side. “Red looks good on you.”
“What is the meaning of this?” Finn asked.
“Oh, it’s quite simple really. Do you think I didn’t for a second figure this was going to be a trap?” Ivan laughed. “You chose the location, but you see, I’ve been keeping busy with all those bounty hunters you had finding your daughter. I searched the location, already figured out when you had started to get the clear understanding of where your daughter was, and I’ve had this warehouse prepared for weeks. One click of my fingers, and you all go down.”
I didn’t have to move. So, Ivan had been busy while I’d been doing what I needed to do, but that seemed useless now.
“I’ve had eyes on you for a long time. It was why young Finn boy here was so easy to find and take. You might want to consider a little more training in that regard.”
“What do you want?” Finn Byrne asked.
“Well, for a start, I want your daughter, and I think for a time, I’m going to take your son as leverage, and then we might start our negotiations.”
“Do you seriously think I’m going to negotiate with you?” Finn asked.
“Not right now, but in time, I have a feeling you’ll come to your senses.”
“No,” I said, speaking up. “He dies tonight.”
Finn turned his gaze toward me and then, even with all the evidence of the guns pointed at him, he smiled. “I take it, that was your baby inside her?”
I reached for my gun and was already taking aim at the smug little fuck. Tensions rose and I felt more guns had been drawn.
I stared down the barrel of my gun, and I looked directly at Finn Byrne. He’d fucked everything up, and I had a feeling he knew it, and didn’t give a shit about who he had hurt in the process. I’ve met men like him. Just staring at his face reminds me of my father, of the men I’d killed to free myself.
I couldn’t let this bastard live. I didn’t want to walk out of here knowing he was alive. I get Ivan had his reasons, but I didn’t like it.
Finn Byrne must die.
He was taunting me.
I hated him.
“Not today,” Ivan said.
I didn’t want to listen to him. Killing Finn now would save us a lot of trouble and that was exactly what I wanted to do.
“Let her go,” Ivan said.
“Tell him to lower his gun,” Finn said.
“Lower your gun.”
I looked at Finn, and the temptation to say no was so strong, but Ivan Volkov was the boss. He was in charge. That’s what made him king and why the Bratva was strong and constantly expanding.
Lowering the gun took a lot of strength. But I knew, one day soon I was going to use it, and when I did, I was going to look into Finn Byrne’s eyes and end his life. Then I’d be the one laughing.