Chapter 18 – Adrik
Crack!
His nose broke beneath my fist, the impact knocking his head backward. He was strapped to a chair in a dimly lit room while I struck his face with heavy punches.
My knuckles were covered in his blood, my sleeves rolled up for efficiency. Red splashes stained my crisp white shirt as I beat the crap out of him. His face was battered beyond recognition, his breathing was shallow, and he was barely holding on to life by a thread.
I hadn’t planned on getting physical with the man. But after he killed two of my men in a lousy attempt to escape, something snapped inside me.
Sergei had done as I instructed: He captured Richard’s errand boy and tortured him for days. He was able to extract the necessary information we needed—the names of Richard’s allies in his plans against me.
I was never going to let him go after his capture. But I wasn’t going to kill him right away. However, after that attempt at escape that claimed the lives of two of my most loyal men, I had a change of heart.
Fueled by my rage, I beat him to a pulp—all that pent-up anger coursing through my blood. My heart was dark, my fists so tight my hands trembled.
I told myself that I was so mad because I lost two good men for nothing. But deep down, that wasn’t the real reason. I was furious at one thing: Emika’s possible involvement in all of this.
She claimed she had nothing to do with this. She claimed she didn’t know about her grandfather’s plans. However, I found that hard to believe. And the more I thought about it, the more her claims seemed rather baseless.
Deep down, I hoped I was wrong, even though my instincts had never been wrong about matters like this. I didn’t want to believe she was part of his manipulative scheme. Perhaps that was why I didn’t bother interrogating this man about her.
I was afraid of the truth he’d spill and how I’d be forced to react.
He gave up the names of his boss’s allies, but he didn’t say whether the man still had moles within my ranks.
I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to know. Not because the information wasn’t important.
But because I couldn’t risk hearing her name on the list.
Emika was beginning to affect me in ways I never thought possible. If I found out that she was involved in this heinous act against me, it most probably would break me. And I hated it.
Frustrated, I struck him harder and harder, splashes of his blood staining my face.
“Boss,” Sergei’s deep voice snapped me back to the present. “He’s gone.”
I froze, my hand hanging midair.
The man’s lifeless body sat limp on the chair, his head falling forward. His chin rested on his chest, a thick thread of blood hanging off his broken nose.
With heavy breaths, I straightened, my disheveled hair framing my face. My knuckles were numb, my face still twisted in anger. I extended my hand to accept a clean white handkerchief from Sergei.
I wiped the fresh blood from my hands and carefully cleaned the splashes on my face. I flexed my fingers, rolling my wrists in a slow, massaging motion while gazing at my victim’s body.
“What should we do with him?” Sergei asked me.
I combed my hair back, letting out a quiet exhale. “Put him in a box and send him back to his boss,” I said, my voice low and even.
This would send a message to Richard that he’d crossed the line. Actions had consequences. The death of this man was on him. He started this, and I hoped he was ready to see it through to the end.
“You’re declaring war on your in-law?” Sergei asked, his voice tinged with a hint of disbelief.
I turned to him, my expression cold as ice. “He declared war on me first.”
***
When I returned home that evening, I found her working late at the office. She was still in her corporate clothes: crisp white top with a black pencil skirt.
Her eyes were fixed on the laptop screen flickering on her desk, her fingers rattling across the keyboard. She was so engrossed in work that she didn’t hear me come in.
By the time she noticed me, I was already hovering over her table. Her eyes widened in shock, and she yelped, jolting backward. She put her hand on her chest, as if to keep her heart from jumping out.
“Jesus!” she exclaimed. “Don’t scare me like that again.”
“What did you tell Richard when you visited him?” I demanded, my voice low but stern.
The color drained from her face, and her expression darkened by a whisper. “Are we back to this again? I thought we talked about this….”
“Answer the question,” I insisted.
She rose to her feet, her tone defensive. “I already told you, we talked about my mother’s condition—”
I cut her off. “What did you tell him about my family?”
“Nothing!” she blurted out, her voice cracking, lips trembling. “I didn’t tell him anything—and you really need to stop accusing me of something I haven’t done!”
Quietly, I went around her desk, my footsteps slow and deliberate. She locked her jaw, watching as I approached her with the glare of a predator.
“You need to chill, Adrik,” she said, looking right at me. “I’m not your enemy.”
“But your grandfather is.” I halted in front of her.
“I am not my grandfather,” she shot back. “Look, I get it. You can’t be too careful, and trust is a luxury you cannot afford. But I’m asking you to believe me.” She paused, searching my eyes. “I didn’t tell Richard anything. I swear.”
She sounded believable, and it was almost like she was convinced that she was innocent of this. Should I trust her?
I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to myself, my gaze unwavering. “If I find out that you’re lying to me,” I toiled with the strands that framed her face, “you’ll wish you were dead.” The words were spoken with deliberate slowness and the whisper of a psychotic killer.
Fear flashed in her eyes, but she clenched her jaw to mask it. “Don’t threaten me, Adrik.”
It sounded a lot like a warning, the kind that stated she wasn’t to be messed with or underestimated. Strangely, I was drawn to the darkness beneath her eyes and the venom in her voice.
Fascinating!
She added, “I’m not your enemy. The sooner you understand that, the better.”
Moved by her guts and her ability to stand up to me, a mysterious grin tugged at one corner of my mouth. “For your sake, I hope you’re right.”
Her scowl deepened. “You’re not God over me, Adrik Tarasov. Stop acting like you are.” She shoved me aside and walked away, her heels clicking against the floor.
I watched her storm out of the office, slamming the door shut behind her. She was pissed. I liked that.