37. Roman
CHAPTER 37
Roman
“I knew this was a fucking mistake!” I roar the instant Katerina’s at the door of Rosita’s apartment.
Me and my men charge from our observation point, crossing the street within seconds to make our way to her.
I hear every word being said.
Katerina asking who the fuck is hiding in the apartment. Rosita’s tearful apology. JC’s cocky fucking commands.
I should’ve known better than to let Katerina do this. Every instinct told me it was a bad idea. Every bone in my body sensed it was too dangerous no matter what she said.
But I’m a foolish man in love who wants to make her fucking happy. I’ve seen how she’s struggled in recent weeks and it was agony watching the light dim in her.
A woman strolling down the sidewalk screams as she looks up to find six large Russian men with weapons drawn barreling toward her. She leaps out of the way as we hurtle past her, busting open the door to Rosita’s apartment building.
We race up two flights of stairs to more screams from residents who happen to be on their way down.
None of them matter. They’re non-factors as we fly up the steps to the third floor.
I’m closing in on the door that’s Rosita’s apartment when JC reveals he’s got a gun and that no one’s going anywhere.
“Now sit the fuck down on the couch. You and Rosita. And if you think for a second that your Russian is getting you out of this, you’re fucking wrong. We’ve got you this time.”
“The fuck you do,” I growl in answer from the hall outside.
“Zver!” Oleg says. “If you go in there?—”
He’s drowned out by the roar I release. I charge toward the door and kick it open with the heel of my combat boot. The door bangs against the wall, barely kept on its hinges.
JC jumps back clutching the handgun and the little boy tighter.
“I knew this fucker was around here somewhere!” he yells. “There was no way Kat would come out of hiding without this dude lurking nearby.”
“This dude is a fucking beast, you sack of shit,” I bark at him, heaving air in and out of my lungs. I take several more steps toward him. “Did you think hiding in an apartment like a pussy would work in your favor?”
“More like we knew you’d be setting a trap!”
“Who’s we, idiot? Be a man and speak clearly!”
JC hacks out a laugh, shaking his head. He cocks the hammer on his gun and points it straight at Katerina and Rosita on the couch. “You think I’m going to tell you? That’s what you really want, right? You want to know who’s been fucking you over? Guess what? I’d rather die than tell you!”
“My pleasure,” I growl, stepping toward him.
“Come closer and I blast her. Don’t be dumb enough to think you’ll make it in time. One pull of this trigger and it’s BANG-BANG-BANG! Dead little kitten.” At the clench of my jaw, he laughs again. “What? Surprised I know about your dumb nickname for her? We’ve had laughs about it. You know when they sold her they billed her as the kitty cat?”
“You fucking sewer rat,” I howl with both fists raised and ready to knock his teeth out.
“Roman,” Katerina chokes out. She shakes her head. “Don’t.”
“You heard her, beast,” JC taunts, waving the gun. “Don’t… or else somebody’s getting shot and it’s probably going to be your little pet.”
“I’m no one’s pet, JC,” Katerina says. “The only pet here is you. You’re the one who’s the pakhan ’s lapdog!”
“I’m nobody’s lapdog!”
“Sounds like a lapdog to me.”
“Shut the fuck up!”
I would explode with rage if I didn’t realize what Katerina’s doing. She’s riling JC up even more, distracting him to the point he’s forgotten the situation he’s in. As he yells at her to shut up, he’s waving the gun around so wildly that I take the opening.
I launch myself at him and the little boy he’s holding onto as a human shield like the pussy he is. The boy seems to catch on at the last possible second and slips out of JC’s hold. He notices once it’s too late and I’m already spearing into him.
But he does pull the trigger.
A resounding bang rocks the small apartment. JC and I crash to the ground. Katerina and Rosita scream in horror. My men descend on us as if about to restrain JC themselves if I don’t.
I pin him to the ground with relative ease—our size difference is laughable—but my main concern is where the bullet landed. Looking up and scanning the room, momentary relief fills me at the sight of an unharmed Katerina.
Her best friend isn’t so lucky.
Rosita eyes remain wide, blood everywhere from the shot in the neck she’s sustained.
Katerina and the little boy scream all over again.
“Someone call 911!” Katerina shouts. “This is so much blood.”
But it quickly becomes apparent that her request is in vain.
Rosita’s tan complexion loses much of its color, a sickly gray cast emerging as she makes a gurgling noise and then gradually goes still. The light in her eyes goes out and she lays slumped on the blood-soaked sofa.
The boy is crying hysterically.
Katerina’s begging her best friend to hold on.
And I’m choking out JC like the enraged beast that I am. Now that I’ve confirmed Katerina is unharmed, nothing else is of importance to me in this moment than making him suffer. I draw my fist back and smash it into JC’s face a few times.
It’s like déjà vu. The first time I pummeled him within an inch of his life.
But punches to the face aren’t enough.
I lift him halfway up like a crash test dummy and then drag him toward the kitchen. I snatch a knife off the counter and press it into his throat, glaring into his eyes.
“Who the fuck are you working for?” I grit out, barely holding on. “Tell me now. Tell me who the fuck made you kidnap and sell her to the Midnight Society.”
He spits blood at me. “Don’t you already know?”
My fist slams into his face again, breaking the bone in his skinny nose. “Then you have no fucking use to me, you know that? I get to cut you open like a fucking fish.”
It’s exactly what I do on the kitchen floor of Rosita’s apartment. I carve JC Howell up with the sharp blade of the kitchen knife as he jerks and screams in agony, though refusing to beg for mercy until the very end.
It doesn’t matter either way.
I set out to destroy the fucker who sold Katerina to the Midnight Society, and I have succeeded in doing just that.
JC Howell is one person on a long list of enemies I’ll slaughter. I wipe his blood off me like it’s nothing and rise to my feet. Rosita’s kitchen is splattered with the dark red substance but so is the rest of her apartment.
It’s trickled onto the carpet in the living room. It’s sprayed onto the walls from when JC’s gun went off and the bullet first struck her.
Katerina’s stopped begging her friend to hang on. She sits catatonic beside her like it’s finally sunk in what’s happened. She’s lost her best friend. The glassy-eyed, mouth agape expression she wears says this will be another traumatic experience she’ll struggle with.
Then there’s the matter of the little boy, who is now without a mother. He’s crumpled on the floor in a puddle of silent tears and blood.
Fuck.
This entire situation has become a huge fucking mess.
My phone rings from my pocket. I pull it out while my men collect the remnants of JC for disposal.
“Da?” I answer.
“Zver,” comes the smooth baritone of the pakhan. He sounds amused. “ Kak vy segodnya? * ?”
“Fuck off!” I growl into the phone. “This was you! This was all fucking you. You sent him here. You used him as a pawn, knowing what would happen.”
“Tvoy otets prav naschet tebya. Ty emotsionalen? * .”
“Eto pravda. Ya zol I razorvu tvoyu chertovu rozhu? * .”
“Yesli vy ne unichtozhite sebya pervym. Naslazhdaytes’ vremenem, poka ono yest.? * ”
The pakhan ends the call on those parting words. The line goes dead in my ear. I swear under my breath and pocket my phone.
Katerina happens to look up at the same moment. The tears shining in her eyes have begun to fall. We communicate from across the room based off this simple exchanged look. The pain and sorrow on her face tell me what I’m already thinking.
We’ve played from the shadows long enough. We’ve strategized and conducted all the useful recon at this point.
The pakhan ’s made it clear he’s waiting on the next move.
There’s nothing left but to fucking do it. War has been waged, and now the stage has been set for the final battle.
* ? Kak vy segodnya - how are you today?
* ? Tvoy otets prav naschet tebya. Ty emotsionalen - your father is right about you. You are emotional.
* ? Eto pravda. Ya zol I razorvu tvoyu chertovu rozhu - it’s true. I’m angry and I’ll rip your fucking face off.
* ? Yesli vy ne unichtozhite sebya pervym. Naslazhdaytes’ vremenem, poka ono yest - unless you destroy yourself first. Enjoy your time while you have it.