Chapter 24 Connecting The Dots
Connecting The Dots
Roman
We left Isla's apartment with all her things, and I was ecstatic to have her in my house again.
She acted like she wasn't fully on board, but it was obvious she was pretending and playing hard to get. I’d have to think of a punishment for her lies—one that would leave her fucked out and delirious on my bed.
The simple truth was that Isla and I couldn't keep our hands to ourselves. We fucked…like the world was about to end. I was starved for her; I couldn’t get enough.
A few days after she moved in, Isla got her period, and like a couple, we talked about it.
If she was up for it, so was I. Crimson stains adorned my sheets again just like the first night she was here, and I refused to do it any other way.
Seeing her period blood on my bed felt like a confirmation that she was mine.
We fucked in the shower, on the couch, against the island, on the floor, pressed up against the window...anywhere and everywhere. When my hands landed on her, there was no stopping it.
Isla liked being dominated, and I loved being that for her. She played the submissive role so well but looked at me with come-fuck-me eyes every time she wanted it. She drove my imagination wild, and her juicy pussy dominated me.
But it wasn’t only fucking; it was a new life. It was a bottomless abyss of lust and love. I adored every one of her features. I loved her voice, her humor, her gentle touch, her intelligence. My heart was full.
A week flew by, and late one evening, both of us lounged on the couch—Isla with a textbook and me with my phone, reading over the thousand emails I’d ignored over the past seven days.
"Roman?" Her sweet voice called my name and immediately caught my attention. "What does moya devochka mean?" she asked, her head tilted with curiosity.
Mmm, my sweet Angel. "It means my girl. Because you are.
You're my girl." I couldn’t hold back my smile at her blush.
The textbook fell to the side, and her hands sank into the soft material of the couch as she crawled toward me, slow and deliberate.
She sat up on her knees right beside me, my hand on her thigh right away.
Isla was wearing a white silk robe that began to unravel, giving me a tease of her beautiful and toned body. I took in the sight, feeling completely free to do that now.
"I see. Your girl is on birth control now, so…will you come inside? Next time you're...fucking your devochka?" She blinked innocently, watching for my reaction.
"Yes." I breathed out, my mind overrun with images of what she just mentioned, sending an unknown thrill through me. "Next time I'm making love to my girlfriend...I’ll fill her up...just the way she wants."
That sultry look in her eyes was back, and she ran her delicate fingers through my hair, sending shivers all over me.
She was a fucking dream come true.
The next day I was physically at work, but my mind was only on her. I was slumped in my chair with a file in my hands, going over every minute we’d spent together over the last week.
Her sweet words. Her dirty words. Her scent. Her smile. Her care.
But a loud bang on my door woke me from my blissful thoughts, and an angry Denis stormed in. Lately, it seemed that he had cleaned up a bit, consumed fewer drugs, and overall, became a little more responsible.
Loudly speaking in Russian, he accused me right away. "Listen, Roma, when the fuck did you decide to turn on your brother, hm? Seryoga tells me you've fucking ignored all his calls and are pushing him out!"
That was correct.
I contemplated killing Sergei, but I was sure it would send Isla into a sudden state of shock, and I wanted to make her happy, not stressed. So instead, I blocked his number, changed the locks on his office, and began the process of altering all our paperwork, excluding him from everything.
I knew he wouldn't dare come to my home, but the message I sent him was clear. I observed Denis with discontent, having no desire or energy to explain and engage with his nonsense.
"Seryoga is out. Last week was the last fucking straw. I'll send him a cheque for his share once we get the contracts renewed, and he can go live blissfully." I waved Denis off, concentrating on the files in front of me, but instead, his face morphed into a scowl.
"This is not your decision. You don't fucking—"
"I fucking do run the whole show!" My palm made loud contact with my desk, and I shot up to my feet, anger pulsating through all of me.
Who the fuck did he think he was to lecture me?
! "It's already done. He knows he fucked up. If he dares to take another step forward, I swear I’ll carve his fucking heart out.
Make sure you pass the message along to the cocksucker. "
Denis stared back at me, completely in the dark about Sergei’s actions.
Although not completely, he was the one defending him when Sergei proposed rape when Isla showed up in my house.
"What the fuck happened between you two, Roma?
We've been brothers since forever." He spoke in disbelief that Sergei was being removed.
"I don't give a fuck,” I spat back. “He lost it long ago. I stopped trusting him years ago, D! And so have you; don't fucking lie right now. He’s out." My words were final.
Reluctantly, he shut his mouth and shifted on his feet, deciding to change the topic. "Rodriguez says he wants to talk. Only to you."
"I'm all ears. He knows my number," I said once I slumped back into my chair, and after a brief pause, Denis turned and walked out. But not more than an hour later, my secretary informed me that Claudio Rodriguez was waiting to see me.
That, I was not prepared for. This was extremely out of character for him—to drop by out of the blue in the middle of the day. Always opting for phone calls, evidently, Claudio decided this was a face-to-face conversation.
In his mid-forties and perpetually single, Claudio had been involved in a bunch of shit I didn’t want to know about. He had also been working for a decade longer than me.
I did what I needed to do, but I only embezzled money from the government—that’s it—I didn’t meddle in anything else. It was a ton of fucking work already—cleaning the money, securing contracts, keeping up the facade, managing my men. I had no interest in taking on more shit.
I had never sold guns, drugs, or girls, but Claudio was a jack of all trades and a master of none. And now he wanted a piece of my profitable pie. In the last ten years we stole so much fucking money that he needed a calculator and a pen and paper to figure it out.
“Roman! Good to see you, my man.” He shook my hand, and I nodded, knowing that I was never his man, only a necessary acquaintance.
“Drink?”
“Sure! Your national poison, on the rocks.”
I passed him the heavy glass and took a seat at my desk, observing his little smile. He sipped and began chatting about random things that had nothing to do with the contracts he came to speak to me about.
I knew exactly which ones he was after, and in a way, Claudio was a godsend.
Not now, but eventually, I wanted to get out.
It wasn’t just me, Denis, and Sergei, no.
We were part of a much larger, much darker web, one that you couldn’t simply walk away from.
I wanted to leave it all behind, and that wish became a burning desire once I met Isla.
If I passed it to one of our men, I would always be involved.
But if Claudio took over, I could disappear and be free.
The timing wasn't right, but Claudio had been pushing for years, and now he came to openly ask for it. Or so I thought.
Out of nowhere, his rambling took an unexpected turn—he mentioned the house that we set on fire. I sat with a stone-cold expression, but all of me burned inside, immensely curious to find out why he wanted to discuss it.
"It was your lucky day, Roman. That bastard finally met his fate.
" Claudio’s gaze fell into his glass, the vodka on ice swirling inside.
"Fuck. I'm so sorry about what happened to your sister, man.
I have a sister too. I wouldn't rest until I found out who ordered the job either.
" He spoke genuinely, but that last sentence made all the hairs on my body stand on end.
I thought I already did find out who ordered the job. ..
"That's already been taken care of." I brushed it off with no emotions in my voice but watched him like a hawk. He nodded and narrowed his eyes on me, indicating that he wasn’t so sure about that. I said nothing else, waiting for him to keep talking.
"I sure hope so. But do you really think the Albanians had their eyes on her?
" Claudio almost whispered, all his attention on me. What the actual fuck was going on? My soul in complete turmoil, I wanted to pin him to the wall and pummel the information out of him. Clearly, he knew something but wouldn’t say it out loud.
"That’s who he worked for.” I threw it out there, but I knew that wasn’t entirely true.
"He was an independent contractor, Roman. You know that." Claudio leaned back in the armchair, looking mighty comfortable. "Listen. I honestly have no evidence of anything, Roman. I want something from you.” He nodded again, but I was stuck on his last message. Evidence? What the fuck did that mean? “I want those contracts, and they’re coming up for renewal soon. There’s nothing I can truly repay you with, so I’ve been…
connecting the dots.” He searched for the right words. “And I think you made a mistake.”
My bright office swallowed his words, and there was silence between us, but everything inside me was screaming. What did he just say? I made a mistake? When I decimated the Albanian crew, killed a dozen men, and spent years reconstructing that fateful night—I made a mistake?!
“I want to give you this so I can get what I want.” Claudio continued while I struggled to take a full breath in from this conversation.
“And I really want it. I wouldn't be wasting your time if I didn't have a lot of confidence in what I’ve come up with.
But at the same time, I have no evidence.
" He lifted up his hand as if in defeat, his last words basically negating everything he said. What the fuck were these riddles?
"What the fuck are you talking about, Rodriguez? You have information about who killed my sister? Something that I missed? Then tell me. Don’t waste my fucking time.” I was ready to flip my desk over. “Where are you even getting your information?"
"Just my own conclusions.” His voice was light and calm.
“Think about it. Why would the Albanians target her, hm?
To get to you?" He shook his head to deny it.
“They don’t have any interest in your work, you know that.
For fun? That's too fucking stupid, and they’re not.
They know you would annihilate all of them.
Would my boys? Nah. No one has the balls, plus no one moves without my permission.
Whose men are left?" Claudio placed his drink on my desk and leaned in to stare right into my battered soul.
I gulped the pool of saliva that collected in my mouth. Was I blind? Was I stupid? Was I completely fucking insane? It had been five whole years since my sister was killed. After it happened, I had completely deteriorated as a human being.
The trail had gone cold in the months it took me to drag myself out of bed and put down the bottle. But I revived it. I pieced together everything that happened that evening—to the absolute best of my ability. And I was ninety-nine percent sure.
But not one hundred percent.
"Why would...why would my men do it?" I chuckled, trying my best to seem unbothered.
"Just one man, Roman.” Claudio stared at me, calm, collected, and chills ran down my spine from the look in his eyes.
"Sometimes, what is most obvious is right in front of us.
But you know, we become so used to the landscape that we don't notice when something’s off.
" Claudio was basically spelling it out for me, but I didn't understand.
I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me.
“Who?” I breathed out, visions of bloody revenge floating in my eyes.
But Claudio shook his head. “I have no evidence, Roman; I told you that. I’ve just been connected the dot—”
"Then tell me about these fucking dots, Claudio. I have no reason to believe you and more reason to suspect you now." I tried to flip the script, but I knew he was telling me the truth. He was too apprehensive to utter the name.
"As I said, Roman, I have absolutely no evidence. Only speculations,” he repeated, like that was his disclaimer.
“Once we eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. You know that saying, right?” He spoke in circles again.
“Your sister was a lovely girl. What if she caught someone's eye?
She was always a target, but fuck…no one dared touch her; no one dared to come across your wrath.
No one was crazy enough to do that." I listened to him very carefully, hearing the emphasis he put on that word.
“Only someone who knew they wouldn’t fall under suspicion or someone truly fucked in the head would risk touching her.
Or both. Think about who that might have been.
Or is." Claudio stopped talking, and deafening silence fell between us again. We stared at each other, my legs numb from his message. "I want those contracts, Roman. Come to me when you’re ready and when you’ve connected the dots yourself. "
Claudio had abandoned his drink and, without another sound, lifted off the armchair and walked out, leaving me glued to my seat.
I didn't want to connect the dots. I didn’t want the truth if it was different than what I’d been sure of. I was too petrified of what I would do with myself if I realized I was wrong...all these years.
I watched the clock hands turn as an hour slithered by, but I still sat there silently, going over every single one of his words. He had no evidence, so he didn’t want to outright accuse anyone, but he seemed certain. In my haze of shock, I couldn’t figure out who he had in mind.
Finally, I woke myself up and abandoned work and Claudio’s speculations and headed home.
My whole world took on color again; Isla was there, waiting for me. It was the most wonderful and delicious reality that I had ever lived. I was so in love with that girl.