Chapter 17 Flynn
FLYNN
“You’re sick, you know that? Fucking sick!” Antov Yudkin’s face swims in and out of focus on my computer screen as he stalks back and forth, then he raises his arm and throws the glass in his hand toward the wall. It shatters off-screen, and I smirk.
“I’m sick?” I reply casually. “Or is the guilt eating away at you that your own silence drove me to this?”
“My silence?” Antov flies at the screen and grips it with both arms. “You rape my niece and think you can shift the blame onto me? Did it not cross your mind what I could do in return?!”
Flecks of spit land on the screen as he screams down the line and it takes every ounce of my control to keep the calm, impassive expression fixed on my face.
“Relax,” I reply. “I only had her strip to ensure she wasn’t hiding anything. If you think I’d stick my dick anywhere near one of yours, you’re more insane than you look. I sent the picture as a courtesy, Antov, because you stole something fucking precious to me and I want it back.”
Antov’s thick brows collide as he glares at me, then he vanishes from view as the screen is resituated back on what looks like his desk.
A close-up of his torso and crotch then leads to Antov moving back from the camera and dropping into his seat with a grunt. Then, he begins to laugh.
“You’re playing a dangerous game here, Flynn.” Every spike of laughter grates on my ears like metal against a drainpipe. “Maybe you should have been holding on a little tighter.”
“Like you were with your wife?” I shoot back. “Or your nephew? Vic, his name was, right? I would have thought you would have taught him better than to run right back home with his tail between his legs and bring the full weight of a furious family down on that house.”
Antov’s laughter trails off into a breathless cough and he leans forward. “We’re at a stalemate here, Flynn. There’s nothing you can threaten me with because I know how deeply you care for what I have. And if you dare touch another hair on Kaia’s head, I’ll do the exact same over here, understand?”
My stomach knots and tension pulls tight through my skull.
He’s right, to an extent.
He’s had me by the balls ever since the crash, but I’ve never taken anything lying down.
Our precarious back and forth relies on one fragile thing: that each of us is far too smart to kill what the other wants.
“I won’t be touching Kaia,” I say tightly, sinking my teeth into the inside of my cheek. “But I can’t guarantee her safety given that she’s tried to kill me twice. Which is twice more than you have.”
Antov’s expression darkens.
“I’m giving you one chance, Antov. You hear me?
One chance to return what you stole or I’ll start burning everything to the ground, do you hear me?
Every contact you’ve ever made will be murdered, every business you’ve ever owned or walked too close to will be burned to the ground, every family ever associated with you will find themselves picked off one by one and if you still don’t give me what I’m asking for, then I will only have one choice.
I will sell Kaia to the highest bidder I can find, and then what will you do? ”
As I speak, I get closer and closer to the camera and finally catch a flicker of uncertainty in Antov’s eyes.
“Do you want to threaten me again?” The words rip from me with a snarl.
“The only thing keeping you safe from me is what you stole, but if it’s not returned to me in the exact condition it was taken then I will rain more than hell down on you.
And what will you do, huh? When the only Yudkin capable of churning out heirs is sold to some other family intent on destroying you as much as I am?
A family that will surely take great pleasure in destroying her until there is absolutely nothing left. ”
Antov surges forward once more, slamming his hands down on the desk and making the camera jump. “I will kill what I stole from you, what will you do then?”
“Like I said…” Leaning back, I force myself to relax in my seat.
“The only reason you’re alive is because I want it back.
Look around you, Antov. I flattened your brother’s estate, killed your nephew and your wife, and now I have your only remaining family.
Your name is turning to ash in people’s mouths as my men slowly work their way through destroying your business brick by brick.
You’re losing. The only thing you have left to save any of it is to make the exchange. ”
The weight of the gamble makes me sick and nausea crawls up the back of my throat like acid.
Every word from my lips is poison, lies twisted to ensure my threat remains real, but I take no pleasure in talking like this.
In my youth, certainly. It was cool to be thought of as the devil, but since the passing of my wife in childbirth my outlook has shifted.
No longer is it about retaining power to stay on top, but creating a safety net for my family to live and grow in.
But calling back to my old days when torture was as common as a wank, and I acted as if I cared for nothing, is the only way to drive home the very real threat that regardless of what happens, I will get my way.
One way or another, Antov’s head will roll and there’s nothing to save him. I create the illusion of choice, give him a little of the rope to make him think he has a way out and that he has a chance to crawl back into the dark and save what remains of his worth and family name.
But it’s a sickening gamble.
One that, if it goes wrong, will utterly shatter my world.
Luckily, for now, Antov looks unsure of himself so I fake a yawn as if his presence bores me.
“No,” Antov replies. “Y-You’re not as untouchable as you think you are, Gallagher. There’s nothing to stop me from killing—.”
“Nothing?” I fix him with a cold, heavy stare.
“Are you telling me that you’re ready to die?
Ready for your the entire world to know what a fucking disgrace you are?
Because they will know. Did you think I would kill you quickly?
” I laugh darkly. “No, Antov. I will kill you slowly. I will make sure you live to see the utter destruction and desecration of your name, and then I will peel you apart inch by inch.”
“Fuck you,” Antov yells, but he fails to mask the quiver in his voice.
Slowly, I lean forward and smirk. “Fine. Keep an eye on the market. You’ll see Kaia front and center on stage within the day. Private bids only.”