Chapter 26 – Karik
I came as soon as Anatoli radioed the compound, saying they were under attack. Sergei and I brought reinforcements, but we were too late. By the time we got here, the enemies had already fled, taking my wife with them.
They killed everyone with her, including some passersby who had nothing to do with it. The streets were still heavy with tension, and the smell of gunpowder and burned rubber lingered in the air.
Sirens blared in the distance as I stood at the scene of the crime, fists clenched. I wasn’t there to save her. The fact that she must’ve been terrified to death only infuriated me even more.
I should’ve stopped her from going out today. Why didn’t I just say no when she asked to be let out of the estate? If I had insisted she wasn’t going anywhere, none of this would’ve happened.
I crouched after spotting something familiar glinting on the concrete among broken glass. It was her watch. It must’ve slipped off her wrist. I picked it up, glaring at the cracked glass.
“Boss,” Sergei called behind me.
I rose to my feet in silence, already cooking up the different ways to torture whoever had done this.
“We have a lead,” he said, his voice calm and steady. But his eyes betrayed him.
I saw the pain he tried to hide, the anger, and the guilt. I was familiar with them because I was dealing with those exact emotions.
He handed me an iPad. On the screen, black-and-white CCTV footage of the attackers was playing. They wore masks, but their movements, the types of guns they carried, and the tattoos on their skin gave them away.
“The Sokolov Syndicate,” I murmured, my thumbs pressing against the screen.
Those bastards had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. And one time when I wasn’t with her, they carried out a clean kidnapping. They took my wife. My wife.
My scowl deepened as blood ran cold.
The fact that I didn’t find her body on the ground meant they wanted her alive.
However, in my world, sometimes death was the best option. Because there was no telling what these men were capable of. For every second that she was in their custody, terrible things could happen to her.
Honestly, the mere thought of any of those pigs touching even a strand of her hair made my chest tighten.
“Have we found them yet?” I growled.
“The team’s working on it,” he answered. “We have the best men looking for her—street cameras, plate numbers, satellite imaging. They’re using everything at their disposal.”
A pause.
“We’ll get a location soon.”
I locked my jaw, finding solace in the terror I’d unleash on those unfortunate fools once I found them. I would burn this city to the ground in search of my wife. And when I did, everyone involved would pay with their lives. Every single one of them.
“How’re you holding up?” I asked, watching him try to stay composed even as his whole world was falling apart.
“I’m fine, Boss.”
“What’s her condition?”
A pause.
He swallowed hard. “She was still alive when I found her. I had two men rush her to the hospital.”
His phone buzzed in his hand, and he glanced at the screen like he was expecting an important message. His brows furrowed, fingers curling into a fist at his side.
Sergei looked up at me. “She’s in the ICU as we speak. They say she might not make it.”
I stepped forward, my expression dark with malevolent intent. “She will make it,” I said, one hand on his shoulder. “Agata’s stronger than she looks.”
His jaw clenched, fury dancing in his gaze. “Grant me one favor, Boss.”
I stared into those burning eyes.
“When we find those bastards, please leave this son of a bitch for me.” He raised his phone, the screen displaying the face of one of the assassins. “He fired the shot that put Agata in the hospital. I want him for myself. He’s mine.”
His voice was quiet, a low growl that accentuated his rage and the pain in his heart. Whoever that man was, I wouldn’t want to be him because he was about to suffer a fate worse than death.
I gave a curt nod.
Sergei and I were both wronged by the same people. And although my fight had always been his fight, this time, it was personal. The attack hit us both where it hurt the most.
They had no idea what was coming for them.
“How did they know?” he asked out of the blue, his tone laced with suspicion.
I squinted my eyes.
He looked right at me. “How did they know Mrs. Tarasov was out with only a handful of men?”
The question opened my eyes to a dangerous possibility.
“They’ve always had their eyes on her but never attacked,” he continued. “Why now? The one time you weren’t with her?” He paused, letting the words sink in. “How did they know when to attack? How did they know you weren’t going to be driving with her today?”
The realization hit me hard, making my face go ugly. “There’s a mole in the estate.”
“Exactly.”
“Fuck.” I hurled a punch into the window of the car beside me. The glass shattered in an instant, shards biting into my skin. “Round up all the men. Now.”
He nodded and left.
***
The plan was simple. But effective.
We gathered the men in one room, and I began briefing them on the operation as if we already had the enemy’s location. As I spoke, I studied their expressions, each and every one of them.
Sergei did the same, his gaze cold and assessing. We’d intentionally cut the signal in the house so there was no way anyone would send or receive a message.
After dismissing them, I sat in my office, watching everyone on my monitor. I knew it was only a matter of time before the traitor would try to tip the enemy off that we were coming.
And so, I waited.
Not long after, Sergei drew my attention to one of the guards sneaking out the back. His fingers were tapping at his phone’s screen, with nervous glances over his shoulder.
We watched him raise his device in the air, that silly move people make when they’re searching for a signal.
“That’s the mole.” I met Sergei’s gaze. “Bring him to me.”
He left immediately.
I wasn’t a hundred percent sure that the man was the traitor we were looking for. But I was going to find out soon.
About two minutes later, the door opened, and Sergei returned, holding the man at gunpoint. His face was already battered with dark shadows under his eyes. His nose was broken, and his upper lip was cracked.
Sergei kicked him in the back, forcing him to stumble to the ground.
“Please…please…” he pleaded, his voice dripping with absolute fear.
“You were right, Boss.” Sergei set a phone down on my table, which I assumed belonged to the man. “He’s the mole. “The calls, the messages. They’re all there.”
My expression darkened as I rose to my feet, seething in silence. “Are you the traitor?” I snarled, approaching him with slow, menacing steps.
He swallowed hard, begging on his knees.
“Did you tip off the Sokolov Syndicate?” I drew nearer, my blood boiling with anger. “The same people who killed your brothers, shot Agata, and kidnapped my wife?”
His chest heaved with ragged breaths.
“Answer me!” I thundered, throwing a powerful blow that knocked him down to the ground.
A tooth fell out of his mouth, a thick strand of blood lingering on his lower lip. “I…I didn’t know they were going to kill anyone.”
Lies.
Assholes like him would say anything to save their own skin when they’re caught.
“Where’s my wife?” I demanded. “Where are they holding her?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Sergei’s phone buzzed again. He checked his screen and met my gaze. “We have a location.”
That was the best news I’d heard all day.
“Good.” I snatched a pencil from my table and jabbed it into the traitor’s left eye.
“Argh!!” He cried out in excruciating pain, writhing on the floor as thick crimson blood flowed down his cheek.
His scream echoed off the walls, his body shaking with his hands hovering over the pencil buried in his eye.
“Throw him in the dungeon,” I said. “I’ll deal with him later.”
Sergei nodded.
“Round up the men.” I looked him dead in the eyes. “We’re going to war.”