Chapter 22 Luka
Luka
The door to the car slams behind me harder than needed, and Ivan jumps in his seat.
“You alright ?efe?” he asks in a casual tone because he knows the answer to that question.
We just met with a distributor who informed us that his warehouse mysteriously burned down two nights ago, just after the Mayor’s Ball.
I roll the window down, lighting a cigarette before starting the car.
Ivan’s eyes are boring into me, judging me for smoking inside.
He hates the smell, but I can’t make myself care at the moment.
I barely slept since the morning I woke up next to Sophie, and even then, I slept because I was hammered with alcohol.
“Going to the club?” Ivan asks me. I’ve visited the club once since the ball, and that was in the middle of the night, after a drop off, to check on Sophie. I guess it’s late enough to repeat the same thing.
“Yeah. For a minute or two. You mind staying the night?”
He shrugs, taking his phone out to inform his girlfriend. I throw the cigarette butt out of the window, shutting it, and we stay quiet for the rest of the drive. There’s not much to say.
Everything’s gone to shit. All our distributors are under duress from the Russians. I guess it’s the risk of working on loyalty—if you believe someone is loyal, it really fucks you up when they betray your trust.
Landers did our papers for the last seven years. And he knew everything about our business. He and my father were thick as thieves, so it makes little sense he betrayed him. When we really looked into him after Father’s death, we found out he had a daughter. A daughter we knew nothing about.
I guess he never fully trusted us the way we trusted him.
I enter the club, keeping my head down, and head straight to the dungeon. As expected, Sophie is sleeping, while Marko keeps guard on the couch.
She’s not crying right now, but her face is red and blotchy, her hair wet with tears.
“Rough night?” I ask Marko, gesturing to Sophie.
“Yeah. I don’t know how she gets any sleep this way.”
A chill runs through me as if we’re still riding on the open road with the window down. This is my fault.
My fucking fault she has these nightmares.
I’ve been busy as hell the last few days, but this is the real reason I haven’t been here more.
The guilt.
I can’t bear to look her in the eye after letting another person point a gun at her head. First, it was Leon while filming that useless video, but at least she wasn’t in actual danger then. But this random Russian soldier could have hurt her for real.
I know Landers is the reason all this shit is happening.
I know I have a parent sized hole inside of me because of the bastard she calls her dad.
But so far, I have found no proof she was involved or even knew what the hell he was involved in. And call me silly, but I don’t like hurting innocent women.
Unable to stand here any longer, I turn on my heels and climb back upstairs. Ivan’s at the bar, chatting to a server I’ve never seen before. My brows scrunch, looking around, and I notice there are a few girls here I’ve never seen before. Young girls.
Girls that don’t look like they belong here.
I slam my palm on the bar next to Ivan to get his attention. “What the hell is this?”
“What?”
“The girls?”
He looks down at his feet and I know I will not like whatever comes out of his mouth next. “Toma sent them.”
“Fuck.” I clench my fist hard enough to almost break it.
Ivan continues, “He brought them yesterday, saying Leon okayed it.”
“And you believed him?”
“No, but I checked with Leon, and he was telling the truth. Look, man,” he lifts his hands, “it’s not my battle to fight.”
He’s right, I know. It’s not his fault we can’t get rid of our stupid as shit uncle.
“Fuck,” I murmur. Leon insisted we had no choice but to let him make some decisions.
Trick him into believing like he’s actually contributing.
I might as well have guessed I will be the one paying for it.
“Where are they from? Are they even legal?” Bile rises in my throat.
“Yeah, I checked their IDs. The youngest one is 21.”
I release a relieved breath. “I need you to look into that. The IDs could be fake.” I’m already on my way out the door when he nods in response.
“And where are you going?”
“I got shit to do. None of your business.” I lift my middle finger as a greeting, making him smirk.
He gets on my nerves sometimes, but other than Leon, he’s the person I trust the most.
I lied to him, though. I have no more work to do tonight, but being in the club lately has been too painful. Biting the inside of my cheek hard enough to draw blood, I step into my apartment; the dogs rushing to greet me.
Both of them jump on me, begging for me to pet them.
My bad mood retreats to the back of my mind as I watch the two rascals overjoyed by seeing me.
Grabbing a quick shower, I make myself comfortable on my king-size bed and they follow right behind.
Typically, they’re not allowed on the bed, but their presence as they cuddle next to me soothes me, lulling me to sleep.
The next few days, work fills each waking minute. I put out fires left and right, but the more I do, the more fires the Russians start. They’ve threatened our distributors to the point of scaring some of them off, which is terrible for business.
I answer Leon’s call as I’m walking out of the club at two am.
“We need to send more men to Russ,” he says as I flick my lighter and light my cigarette.
Ben Russell, or Russ as we call him, is our major distributor of arms. The Russians have been threatening him, and we’ve already sent a few people for protection.
Now he’s asking for more. I take a long pull of smoke before answering, “We’ve already sent him three.
Should I go act as his personal chaperone? ”
“I know. But he said he wants protection, or he’s out.”
I exhale a cloud of smoke. “I have no one else to send.”
“What about Ivan?”
“Yeah, and who will take care of things while I’m not here?” I don’t tell him I spend practically no time at the club. Just five-minute visits in the middle of the night. Like tonight.
“You have Uncle’s men there.” I huff, but he continues.
“Look, I know it’s not ideal. But Toma is a loose cannon.
We can’t send his men to these… sensitive jobs.
” I can practically hear him rubbing the bridge of his nose, like he typically does when he’s stressed.
“But we can let them play around your little club.”
“I think you’re forgetting who we’re keeping in my little club.”
“I’m not. I’m sure you can threaten them not to hurt her.”
“Any news on that front?”
“As far as we’re aware, Landers is working with the Russians to help them destroy us. He probably struck a deal to set his daughter free.”
“Fucking moron.”
“I guess he was used to loyalty.”
We both stay silent for a second, my thoughts racing to my father. If Landers expects the Russians to be anything like him, he’s in for a horrible surprise.
“You think it’s time to call the Italians?” I ask.
“No,” he responds, in a flat tone. “We can handle it.”
I know what he means. We separated our business from the Italians with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. We have an unspoken deal with each other. We don’t touch them, and they don’t touch us. But if we were to ask for their help, they’d surely use the opportunity to get us back under their thumb.
“Fine,” I say, begrudgingly. “I’ll send Ivan. But you owe me.”
That earns me a low chuckle. “Sure, brate.”
Ending the call, I glance back at the club, figuring I should tell Ivan about his new gig right away.
Still, I shake my head and open the door to my car, opting to call him instead.
Guilt eats at me every time I see Sophie struggling with nightmares.
And now I’m going to leave her with guys I don’t fully trust. I brush a hand over my face.
The Bluetooth connects as I start the car, and I use it to call Ivan.
“I need you to be on Russ’ detail team,” I say as soon as he picks up.
“What? Doesn’t he have enough men already?”
“Does everything have to be a discussion with you? Can you do this or not?”
“Of course I can do it. But will you survive without me, ?efe?”
“Fuck off,” I respond, ending the call just in time to hear him chuckle again.
He’s not far off, though, but I won’t give him the satisfaction. I drive home, where I allow myself three full hours of sleep before I’m back on the job.
Three days later, I walk into Leon’s office. Ivan and Marko are already sitting there, and I take the last empty chair.
“Good day to you, too,” my brother taunts.
I level him with a glare, so he continues, “Please tell me you have good news.”
Ivan speaks first. “We do. We had three intercepted deliveries, but we showed them who’s boss.”
“I also found two new warehouses to store our product.” I drop the papers on Leon’s desk and his face visibly relaxes. “The paperwork still needs to be done, though.”
“Sure, I’ll handle it. But it’s good to know things are looking up.”
“How about you? Any success on your part?”
“I’ve mostly been babysitting our uncle, so he doesn’t burn the entire business to the ground.” I wince at his statement, more than aware of how demanding that is. “I’ve also been dealing with the law side of things. We’ve made quite a… mess.” He shoots us a disgruntled look.
While we do have the cops in our pockets, the more ruckus we cause, the more we need to pay to stay out of their sight. And with the violence between us and the Russians, I’m guessing keeping us under the radar isn’t the least bit easy.
“Our guest?” Leon asks, his eyebrows raising. “How is she?”
I clear my throat, glancing to the side. “She’s doing okay. Circumstances considered.”
“Good.” He nods. “That’s good. This has been going on for longer than we planned.”
That’s an understatement. We were planning to deal with it in a week, two weeks tops. And it’s been over a month since she’s been stuck in my dungeon. As usual, a knot forms in my stomach. Even though I’m avoiding the club like the plague, her screams as she sleeps follow me home.
I’m also dreading to ask how she’s doing. It’s why I never visit while she’s awake. I notice the chess pieces are arranged differently every night, meaning she’s still playing. Which is good, I guess. If anything, she’s stronger than she thinks.
“You good?” My brother’s voice drags me back to the present.
“Yeah. Just tired.”
“Things should settle down. Soon. Let’s just get there.”
I dip my head, but I don’t fully believe it. Even if we avenge our father, which currently doesn’t seem likely, he’ll still be gone.
Uncle Toma will still be here, aiming to destroy his legacy with his idiot ways. And Sophie will still be traumatized.
Raising from the chair, I get to his liquor cabinet, take out a bottle of rakia and down a sip straight out of the bottle. The burn in my throat is comforting and you don’t have to have a master’s in psychology to know that’s not a healthy way to cope.
I decide it’s time to leave before I’m tempted to finish the rest of the bottle. “Need anything else?” I ask Leon. “If not, I’d like to hit the hay.”
“That’s it for now.”
Ivan and Marko lift from their chairs and the three of us exit Leon’s office in total silence.