Chapter 16 – Kostya
“She told him to leave and to not contact her ever again,” Marco reported, arms folded over his broad chest as he stood beside Vinnie.
A smirk played on my lips as I stood in the dimly lit kennel, where the air was filled with the growls of my snarling pit bulls. Their eyes were fixed on me with a viscous hunger. I dipped my hand into the bucket of raw meat and tossed a chunk into the nearest enclosure.
It was delightful, watching my hounds descend on the meat with savage glee. The sight never got old. Those animals were dear to my heart, and I treated them like my children.
Back to the report, I thought about Marco's words and found comfort in the idea that Madelyn had finally accepted her fate. She must have acted so rudely to the young man just to get him off her back. I already told her that her father's life was in my hands. The woman was afraid of me.
Good. She should be.
Squatting in front of the nearest dog, I scooped a handful of raw meat from the bucket and fed it to the dog. Its jaw closed around my hand with a ferocious snap. “This young man.” I looked up at them, referring to the fella they'd seen with Madelyn, my gaze cold and hollow. “Who is he?”
“Jeremy Fox,” Vinnie replied, his thick voice vibrating through his vocal cords. “Anderson Fox's only son.”
My teeth gritted, and my eyes narrowed as I recalled him being the same man at the restaurant with Madelyn and her father. Anderson and Gabriel were business partners, so bringing both their adult kids to a so-called business dinner was definitely part of a larger plan. It was possible that both men had used that dinner to introduce their children to each other.
My blood was boiling at this point as I withdrew my hand from the pit bull’s jaw unscathed.
It dawned on me that those greedy bastards might have planned to match Madelyn and Jeremy. Wrong move.
My forehead creased, and I balled a hand into a fist. This was an attempt to get them to know each other and eventually get married. How convenient it would be for both families! Greedy assholes.
“The Fox boy was embarrassed,” Marco added. “He left with his fucking tail between his legs.”
She was a smart one, Madelyn.
I was impressed by how far she was willing to go to avoid my rage. She'd come to terms with the fact that I could do the unthinkable if she didn't play by my rules. She knew I owned her—that I had her in my palm, and with one squeeze, both she and her father would be crushed like bugs.
“We can trail him if you want,” Marco said, fixing his gaze on me. “Taking him out would be a piece of cake.”
As great as that would be, it wasn't going to be necessary. At least not yet, anyway—depending on what Jeremy would choose to do next.
“Leave him be,” I said, my tone unchanging. “I believe he got the message, and if he didn't, then you can pay him a visit.” I peeled off my gloves and slipped my hands into my jacket. “But for now, keep your eyes on her at all times.”
“Got it, Boss,” they chorused, nodding in affirmation.
I turned to the hungry dogs, growling with viscous glares, and said to the kennel assistant, “Make sure they're well fed.”
The pit bulls continued to relentlessly bark and snarl as I left the kennel, their fierce din lingering behind me. Marco and Vinnie followed up at my back as we made our way to my office.
I opened the door and walked in to find Alex seated in the visitor's chair, waiting for me.
“Boss,” he greeted, rising to his feet while I headed over to my desk.
“Talk to me,” I said, settling in my chair. Keeping my eyes glued to him, I knew what this was about.
“What's the plan?” He sat back in the chair with Marco and Vinnie standing by his side. “Clock's ticking, Boss, and Gabriel's still breathing. He still has the footage, and he will make his move on you sooner or later.”
With an elbow on the mahogany table, I stroked my chin, narrowing my eyes at him in silence.
“I don't mean to question you,” he clarified, leaning forward, “but the more time we waste, the more air goes through his lungs, and the closer he gets to bringing you down.”
Alex wasn't exactly pleased with the idea of letting Brown keep his life. He was more concerned about that video going viral than he was about anything else. Alex was a good soldier willing to bury whoever dared cross the Tarasov Bratva. He'd go to war with the entire country if need be.
His devotion to the cause was admirable, but he had to know that sparing Brown's life for now was for a good reason. So, bringing this up only meant that he was displeased with my method and had a proposal of his own—a way out of this.
“I understand that you don't wanna send him to hell because of his daughter. But time's running out, and Brown still thinks he’s one step ahead,” he added, trying to mask his disapproval of the way things were going.
He was right; Madelyn was the only reason Brown still walked the Earth. The plan was to kill the son of a bitch, but now, that was off the table. His life was the leverage I had against Madelyn, and killing him would only complicate things. She'd despise me for good, and I'd lose the only hold I had over her.
“What's your point, Alex?” I asked, eyes pinned on him.
“I just wanna know if we have a plan, Boss,” he replied, his voice low and cautious lest he cross one of my lines. “Brown still thinks he's in control. He believes he's the one calling the shots here—”
“And what do you believe?” I cut him off, my brows furrowing in an attempt to understand what was going on in his head.
Alex went silent, thinking meticulously about his reply. “I'm just concerned,” he said, leaning back into the chair. “We're not paying him, and we're still not killing him.”
I smoothed my hair backward, sighing softly. “I can't afford to kill him right now. He's way more valuable to me alive than dead.”
“Because of the girl,” Alex stated as though he had something else in mind to add.
Without a word, I relaxed in my chair, placing my knuckles under my chin as I continued to gaze at him, patiently waiting to hear his proposal.
He let out a sharp exhale. “That leaves us nowhere, Boss, because you won't kill him. You're only scaring her with a bluff. But you also won't give him a dime, which now makes everything look like we're at his mercy. The man truly believes that he's winning this.” He paused, watching the expression on my face. “If you won't kill him, and you won't pay him what he's asking, how, then, do you intend to handle this before he decides to hand that video over to the cops?”
Alex had a valid point, and he was careful with how he presented it; his voice wasn't out of line despite his frustration.
He cleared his throat, adjusted in his chair, and put his elbows on the table. This was it, the proposal he had in mind. He watched me for a moment, contemplating whether or not to say it. Obviously, I might not react well to what he was about to say.
My gaze lingered on him with narrowing eyes as I waited to hear from him.
“Don't take this the wrong way, but—”
“Spill it, Alex,” I interrupted, toiling with my cufflinks.
“After the boy Ethan was killed,” he began, “I had access to his phone….”
My pulse quickened at this moment as my face scrunched up into a frown. I had a pretty good idea where he was going with this, and he was right to have been hesitant in the first place.
“What if we blackmail Brown with the nude photo of his daughter?”
Hearing such suggestions from his lips was both disappointing and infuriating at the same time. My fingers balled into fists as I struggled to control the immense rush of rage surging through my blood.
“If it were someone else who'd suggested this, they'd be dead by now,” I said through gritted teeth.
He put his head down, avoiding my blazing eyes, knowing he definitely had crossed a line. I knew he didn't mean it the way that it sounded, but still, I hated the image of it in my mind.
“I'd burn the fucking world down before putting her body on display. She's mine and mine alone. Got it?” I snarled at him, clenching my jaw.
“Got it,” he said softly, jerking his eyes back at me. “You two are the exact opposite of each other. You're wild and dangerous, Boss, too wild for the Brown girl—”
“Keep talking, and I can guarantee that you'll lose your tongue,” I said with a threatening growl, shutting him up with immediate effect.
My chest was heaving rapidly as I boiled in anger at the thought of everyone on the internet seeing that gorgeous body of hers. The last man who saw that picture ended up dead, and I wouldn't mind committing genocide on her behalf should it get out.
Marco cleared his throat conspicuously, and I flashed a glare at him, almost as if to transfer this aggression on him. “What?”
“There's something else you should know,” he said, stepping forward. “We couldn't tell you back at the kennel because we wanted to do it here,” he explained, setting the record straight so when they'd hit me with the news, my reaction would be minimal.
“A few days ago, Madelyn woke up very early in the morning, and when we trailed her, we found out where she went,” said Vinnie.
“Where'd she go?” I asked, fuming at the unnecessary suspense.
“A clinic.”
My brows knitted as I wondered out loud. “Why would she go to a clinic? Is she sick?”
“We thought so, too,” Marco chipped in. “But after we did a little digging, we found this out this morning.” He withdrew a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket and placed it on my table.
“What's this?” I picked it up, unfolding the paper.
“It's a copy of the report from the clinic.”
My eyes widened at the realization of the kind of report this was.
“She's pregnant, Boss,” Vinnie said.
At the same time, my eyes settled on the positive result.
My fingers stroked my jaw as my breath hitched in my throat, and I drew in a deep breath. The duration of her pregnancy matched the last time we were together, and instantly, I didn't need a doctor to tell me that she was carrying my child.
A scoff, laced with joy and surprise, escaped my lips as I pinched the bridge of my nose. This was a game changer, and the whole situation had become even more complicated now that a baby was involved.