VALERIAN #2
The same thing happens. They lift her into the air. Her scream cuts through the wind, straight into my chest like a dagger.
“Fine.” I slip the knife back under my belt for the second time this evening.
Igor, standing beside him, shakes his head, scoffing. “Fucking unbelievable. You actually care.”
I pin my son a glare. Now isn’t the time for him to pipe up.
Siguard flashes me a smug smile. I’ve seen plenty of those.
He keeps watching me, the wind battering his suit jacket.
It’s wearing him more than he’s wearing it.
“You think I’m here because I want to destroy your family?
” The twisted smile grows on his face. “Oh, Valerian. You’re still the na?ve little boy from Russia I met all those years ago, thinking you know the way the world works. ”
“Politicians always have been sanctimonious fucks, thinking they know everything. Using words instead of real violence.”
“Very well.” Siguard raises his brow. “How’s this for some words—Jamie Dunston. You remember him? The father of your late wife, Rachel.”
Igor shifts beside him.
Fuck.
I clench my jaw, my heart thrashing.
Do I lose my son and Joy, all in one day?
The sun sinks closer to the horizon. The sky is red and orange. The last few leaks of daylight land directly on Siguard’s face, enhancing that cruel look in his eye, the one I remember as a boy when the car drove past him across the street.
It’s the look of victory.
And in his world—and mine—you can’t win without somebody else paying the price.
I close in. “Explain.”
Siguard stares me dead in the eye. “You chopped off Jamie’s legs.”
Igor shuffles his weight onto the other foot, glaring at me. I can see multiple questions forming on his lips.
I flash him a look. I’ll answer his questions when we’re back on solid ground, after I’ve taken care of Siguard.
“I had my reasons,” I say.
“Hm,” says Siguard. “Did you? Rachel’s father was a good man.”
“Then we both have very different definitions of good.” I grind my jaw.
“He’s the one who got me citizenship here in the states, you know.”
“I don’t care. We’re straying from the main point of this conversation.” I clear my throat. “How much is Joy’s ransom? I see you’ve already taken most of the money yourself.” I pin him a glare. “How much more do you want?”
Siguard keeps smiling, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
He looks at Igor, back at me, alternating between us both.
“You have to be fucked in the head to want to chop off your daughter’s legs.
I get why he did it. She was gonna ruin everything for Jamie by going to the cops.
But that?” Siguard bursts into laughter, shaking his head.
“That is some next level shit. Even I wouldn’t go that far. ”
“What the hell is he talking about?” Igor is staring at me, his lips pressed together in a tight line. “My own... grandfather did that to Mom?”
“Yes.” Siguard answers for me. “Valerian finished your mother off and put her out of her misery.” He hitches his eyebrow up at me. “Isn’t that right?”
I know exactly what game he’s playing.
Igor steps back. The weight of gravity is changing around him. I know the symptoms.
There are many stages when it comes to descending into evil. This is the first one.
“He chopped off her legs?” Igor repeats, searching the ground as he makes sense of everything. He finds my eyes, his face pulled back, full of hurt. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I grit my teeth, flashing Siguard a glare, letting him know I’ll be dealing with him in a minute. “To protect you. Some things are best left unsaid.”
“I had a right to know.” Igor’s face turns red. He steps forward, growling at me. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”
I look at him pointedly. “You might wanna take a look at yourself in the mirror. That’s why.”
I step back, turning over my shoulder. Joy is still on the edge of the building, pinned down by the men. Her life is at risk the most right now.
“I almost killed you,” mutters Igor.
“Good thing you didn’t.”
“Why the fuck would you—?”
I barrel into Siguard and take out my knife. Fuck this. I won’t keep walking on eggshells around this mudak.
Joy’s screams cut through the atmosphere. I turn and see her, hair lifting in the wind, legs struggling for purchase as she fights to get back down on solid ground. These men are too strong for her. They lift her into the air again, holding her over the edge.
The wind carries her screams, stabbing me in the chest all over again.
I look at Niko, flaring my eyes, telling him to release the man he has in a headlock.
We’ll do this another way.
“What is it you want, Siguard?”
Igor isn’t so interested in fighting anymore. He stands aside, too busy wrapping his head around the truth I’ve kept from him for years.
I clench my jaw, looking back at Siguard. “Tell me what you want.”
“I want everything, Valerian.” Siguard folds his arms over his chest. “Jamie and I were still working together after you chopped off his legs. You thought you got your revenge. Unfortunately, he couldn’t face the media again.
But we were living underground away from the world, just the two of us.
He got sepsis in the end from his two severed legs and died.
” Siguard keeps watching me. “I think me taking over your Bratva is a fair trade for what you did to Jamie.” Siguard watches Joy. “This should be a walk in the park.”
I glance over my shoulder again. She’s stopped screaming, but they still have her in the air. Her body is tilted ninety degrees again, face staring directly at the ground. If she falls, there won’t be anything left of her…
Of me.
“Let’s keep this short and sweet, bratan. We don’t like to be wasteful with our time.” Siguard smirks. “Hand over your Bratva to me, including all assets and the real estate company, and you can have Joy.”
“And what will you do when you’re in charge?”
The smirk widens on his face. “The better question to ask is—what won’t I do?” The smile stretches across his face. “Power is a funny concept. Lots of people know how to make it, but nobody knows how to maintain it. That’s why businesses rise and fall suddenly.”
Siguard framed my father and sentenced him to die. He won’t take my Bratva away from me after he haunted me for years, his face the last one I saw before closing my eyes.
The memory weakened when I started building the Bratva.
Making progress with my empire, building the real estate alongside it, proved that I was worth more than my misery.
My days of sitting around, telling myself I was incapable and weak, were over, because I had a million-dollar business on the market. I finally had something to prove.
I stare deep into the depths of Siguard’s non-existent soul and suddenly see my own reflection.
It was always going to end with him. My test has arrived.
The wind howls between us, the sun almost down. The sky becomes a purple color as the evening transitions to night.
The buildings in the distance turn to silhouettes, standing tall against a dying sky.
I look out, seeing this city for what it really is. Dark and full of secrets. The whole world is. You can move halfway across the world and still expect to come across the same kinds of people. Power is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone always thinks they can accumulate more.
Control is always slipping through your fingertips, even when you think you have it.
But now I realize something much worse is slipping through my fingertips. A woman. Power can be rebuilt, but Joy is irreplaceable. Once a life has been taken, there’s no getting it back.
The satisfaction in breaking a neck and seeing the lights disappear in someone’s eye comes from knowing they’re gone forever. Once the lights go out, they don’t come back on.
I could give Siguard everything right now to save Joy. But as long as Siguard is alive, the cycle repeats.
I grab Niko’s attention, signaling to Joy. The two men holding her down need to be dead.
As for Igor, I’m not sure what his place is yet in this mess. He still looks like he wants to rip out my throat. I kept the truth from him. I get it. But he needs to channel that anger toward the real enemy among us and help me defeat Siguard.
Siguard likes to play games and turn people into monsters. There’s a reason he told Igor the truth of what happened.
I glance at Niko, preparing for war. As soon as I take out my knife and give him the signal, he’s barreling over to Joy and throwing the first man off the edge of the building.
Fuck. Not the best way to go about things, but we’ll work it out.
Joy screams.
In one fluid motion, Niko grabs the second man by his neck. A loud snapping sound fills the atmosphere as he breaks his neck, leaving the guy to bleed out on the floor.
I’m sure it’ll be a pleasant death for him. For putting his hands on what’s mine, he deserves more than a broken neck. But time is of the essence, and I still have a politician to slay.
I wrap my hands around Siguard’s neck, throwing him into the wall. I meet his eyes. Slide my knife under his neck, watching his Adam’s apple bobble up and down. He doesn’t look scared. But I can smell the fear in his breath as he takes staggered breaths.
“You’ll wish you were sent to my father’s prison by the end of this,” I hiss in his ear. The smell of earwax turns my stomach. He’s able to steal Joy but not take care of his own hygiene.