Chapter Fifteen
Present Day. Moscow, Russia.
With a grunt, I dropped the unconscious man onto the floor of the cargo plane, a thud bouncing off the metal walls.
“Right,” my brother said from behind me on the phone with Collin. “We’ll be back in about twelve hours.”
Turning, I grabbed my duffel from the snow-dusted concrete of the runway and tossed it in the plane. Xander’s eyes met mine as he said, “Yes, he’s right here.”
He held out the phone to me, and I took it without a word. “Stevens,” I greeted.
The Mafia leader got right to it. “He’s still alive?”
I looked down to Kavi’s right hand, Ivan. His face was swelling more and more by the second. “Yes.”
“Good.”
Xander threw his bag into the back, lifting his chin to me before going to the front of the plane. Stepping into the back, I passed the beaten man tied up in rope. Then, I squeezed by the Toyota GT86, the BMW Roadster, and the new Dark Horse Mustang I’d stolen to take my seat. Collin broke the silence. “I’m afraid there was some push back at the meeting today.”
I knew there would be. “Jeremy should’ve told them.”
“What my brother-in-law does or doesn’t tell his men is none of my concern,” he said casually as the back door of the plane closed. A few seconds later, the engines started.
“They deserved to know,” I snapped. I wanted to tell them. They deserved to be in the loop, and after all the secrets I’d been keeping from them, I feared this would only set us back.
“The less people who knew, the better,” Collin assured. “The last thing we need is for Kavi to know we’re in his territory.”
“Right,” I muttered, fastening my seatbelt, the plane rolling down the runway now.
“Did anyone remember you?” he asked.
Darkness hummed within me, satisfied. “Those who did didn’t get the chance to welcome me back.”
I hated all of them, every last fucking one. The Bratva stole years of my fucking life, ruining so much for me. The least I could do was take a few of theirs.
“How many?” Collin asked, sounding unfazed.
“Thirteen.”
He hummed. “Any high ranking?” he pressed.
“A few,” I answered, looking over to Ivan. Years ago, when I’d gotten wrapped up in the Bratva, he was the one who ordered the symbol to be branded on my chest—directly over my heart. They wanted to beat me into submission, figuring the loyalty would come soon after.
Ivan was the only man Kavi kept close; all the others were just a means to an end.
“Any word on Kavi?” I asked.
“He’s underground still,” the Mafia leader said, annoyance lacing his voice.
My jaw clenched as I thought of what seemed like the only solution. “I can go after him—on my own.”
This was met with silence.
“This needs to get done, Collin,” I reminded him. “He’s been fucking with you and Oasis for months. I’m tired of it.”
“Everyone is, Cain. If Oasis wasn’t involved, I would’ve declared a war months ago, but St. Louis isn’t a battle ground. It’s my wife’s home,” he explained. “If it weren’t for her, I’d be going underground.”
Shock slammed into me. “You couldn’t do that. You’re the boss.”
A dark chuckle came from him then. “I was a hit man before that. How do you think I came into power?”
I knew the story—everyone did. “I’ll do it for you,” I said, not offering. The decision was made.
“Just get Ivan to me first. Then, we’ll go from there.”
The phone call ended, and I sigh left me as I leaned my head back against the wall. Minutes later, when we were up in the air, the door to the cockpit slid open, and my brother appeared.
“What did he say?” Xander asked, his eyes void of emotion.
“Nothing you don’t know,” I replied, flicking my seatbelt open before going over to Ivan. He’d rolled over during takeoff. With my brother watching, I dragged Ivan over to one of the seats, lifting and strapping him in. I looked over my shoulder. “Got any duct tape?”
Wordlessly, he walked over to the plane wall, unzipping a bag hanging from it.
He tossed the roll to me over the BMW, and I muttered a thanks before slapping a thick piece over Ivan’s mouth. I didn’t have the patience to hear the bastard scream and bitch when he came to.
“You okay?” Xander asked after clearing his throat.
A suppressed a chuckle as I turned to him, tossing the tape back. “You don’t have to do this shit.”
He knew what I was referring to. My older brother was many things, but a dumbass wasn’t one of them. “You and I have never been close,” he stated, the cars between us, thought it could’ve been millions of miles. I wouldn’t be able to tell the fucking difference.
I nodded, cocking my head to the side. “Growing up in hell will do that to brothers.”
“That doesn’t mean I never cared,” he said, his voice hard.
I stared at him. “This isn’t a therapy session, Xander,” I snapped. “This was a fucking job.”
It was his turn to stare, his mouth thinning. I knew that look, the one he used to get right before he fucking exploded, the one he’d give our mother’s back as she walked away from us.
“You don’t owe me a damn thing,” I reminded him, my tone even.
His chest rose and fell slowly. “What you did—for me—”
Anger surged through me suddenly, like a bolt of lightning and I took a careful step forward. “You’re my blood, Xander. I had no other fucking choice,” I pushed out through my teeth. This was the last thing I wanted to talk about.
I wanted to sit in silence. I wanted him to go back into the cockpit with Collin’s pilot. I wanted to get a fucking nap in.
I wanted to get home.
I wanted to check on my fucking clover.
I did not want to sit here with my fucking brother and open old wounds.
“You’re my blood too, Cain,” he said, his voice soft. I flinched at the emotion I’d heard within it. “You were my blood—my little brother—when I left you with that bitch.”
My throat clogged and my chest heaved as I tried to shove it back down. The memories of him packing his bags as I watched from across the hall, him tossing it over his shoulder before closing his bedroom door and looking at me over his shoulder. The fucker didn’t even tell me goodbye.
“What I did was horrible, but what you did—what you sacrificed—”
Blood pounded in my ears. “Enough!” I barked.
He didn’t stop. “It’s my fault,” he snapped back, arguing with me as if I didn’t know that.
It was his fault.
Everything in my life that had been fucked was his fucking fault.
I stepped forward again. “You’re right,” I seethed, my jaw aching as I watched his mouth close. “Everything—everything I’ve suffered after you left, the time I lost, the fucking people I lost—is your damn fault, Xander.” My feet moved then, carrying me through the plane, around the stolen cars, stopping just a few feet in front of him. “I had a fucking plan too, you selfish son of a bitch,” I growled.
He stood his ground, watching me as I struggled to contain it. The anger. The pain.
I was seeing red. There was no stopping it now. In a flash, I had my gun out—pointed to his chest. “You fucking left me.”
Xander’s throat worked, but other than that, he remained completely still. “I know.” The emotion was gone from his voice.
“Our mother was a monster, and you left me there,” I roared.
“I know she was,” he said, a muscle jumping underneath his stubble.
“You never called. You never reached out. You forgot about me,” I spat. “Now, we’re tied up in some shit, and you think you can just start a fucking conversation about the past like its nothing?”
“It isn’t nothing, Cain.”
My finger hovered over the trigger. “I was just a fucking kid.”
That snapped something in him. His composure dissipated before my eyes, and I saw a glimpse of the broken kid underneath as he shot back, “So was I!”
“We could’ve gotten out of there—together, you and I,” I pushed. “We could’ve made it. We—”
“—you wouldn’t have come with me,” he said, laughing as he shook his head. “Fuck, I thought about it.”
My mouth snapped shut as shock rained down over me, chills shooting through my body.
Xander ran his hands through his hair before throwing his arms out, a harsh laugh leaving him. “I thought about it for weeks. I thought about the consequences—it was kidnapping for fuck’s sake. Our mother would’ve called the fucking cops, Cain.”
I shook my head. “No, she wouldn’t have.”
His arms fell as he shot me a glare. “You and I were her fucking paychecks, Cain. Without her monthly check from the state, she wouldn’t have had that house, her booze, or the shitty food we survived on.” He sighed, facing the car next to me, bracing his forearms on top of it before hanging his head in defeat. “Fuck,” he huffed, laughing.
Nothing about this was funny.
My arm fell, the gun hanging at my side.
“I tried to think of ways to get us both to Cali without shit going sideways, because she would”ve come after us. I planned out everything. I’d get a part-time job, working the nightshift some place while you slept. Then, during the day, you’d go to high school, and I’d take online classes at some fucking community college.” His head lifted, his neck twisting so he could look at me, his dark eyes brimming with regret. “I gave up football for you, Cain.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Senior year, I had scouts watching me like a fucking hawk. They wanted me—all of them. My coach told me that I’d get recruited with a full ride. He said I had it made—my life would never be the fucking same. Then, the season was over, and Christmas came.”
Dread swirled inside of me, eating at me.
It was a day I’d never forget, and one I’d do anything to forget.
Christmas was never good in our home—hell, it was just a regular day for us.
That year wasn’t a regular day.
That Christmas was hell.
“She threatened to kill you in your sleep,” he said, his voice raw.
I looked away from him, trying to stop the flashbacks from coming.
Mom had woken up that day wanting more whiskey and cigs. The problem was, it was the end of the month, and she was out of money. She’d gotten it into her head that I”d stolen it from her. She’d dug her nails into my arm, hissing all the usual things. When she released me, she went into the kitchen and came back with rat poison, telling me she was going to put it in my food. That threat didn’t work on me. I didn’t eat the food in the kitchen. Back then, I ate Nik’s food—every fucking night. Most days, if I didn’t steal something from school, Nik’s leftovers were my only meal.
“She told me she was going to slice your fucking neck open in the middle of the night,” Xander said, bending his head again. “I knew I couldn’t leave you then.”
“But you did,” I said.
“Months went by. I was planning and researching, Cain.” He looked at me then. “I tried to do the right thing.”
I shoved him away from the car in a wave a fury. “You didn’t do shit!”
He caught himself, rising to his full height, raising a finger in my face. “You would’ve never fucking left that girl!” he roared, getting in my face. This was the Xander I remembered. The fucking hot head. “At least you had her! You had Dominique!”
I blinked.
He was fuming now. “You would’ve never left her,” he repeated, stepping away.
“You don’t—”
“That night I packed and left. If I told you to grab your shit, would you have come?”
I ground my molars together, knowing the fucking truth.
A huff of quiet laughter left him again. “She was your fucking world, man. What kind of brother would I have been if I took you away from that?” he asked.
I stared at my brother, knowing that he did take her from me.
In the end, I would never have her.
All because of him.
“No, I wouldn’t have,” I said, anger rolling off my shoulders in waves. “Why didn’t you contact me?”
A shadow fell over his face then, looking away from me. “Needed to make a clean break.”
Ivan groaned from behind me, and I turned to find his eyes opening. With a growl, I walked over to him, shoving my gun into my jeans before cocking my fist back. Once I was in front of him, my fist connected with his nose, bones crunching as I knocked him out again. A lock of hair fell on my forehead as I stared at one of the men who’d made my life a living fucking hell.
“You needed a clean break,” I said in disbelief as I looked at him.
“I’ve made many mistakes in my life, Cain. If I’d known what those mistakes would’ve caused, I would’ve done things differently.”
A sad chuckle left me as I turned away from him, heading back to my seat. “That’s the shitty thing about this life, Xander.” I looked at him over my shoulder, giving him the same look he’d given me the night he left. “There are no second chances.”
St. Louis, MO.
Ivan was tied to a chair, the hook that Victor had been hung from hovering above him.
“Well done, boys,” Collin praised, inspecting the tools on his table, his suit jacket off.
His head and mine snapped over to the far side of the building as a metal door creaked, signaling the arrival of the Oasis drivers, Jeremy coming in first, Leon and Dontell flanking his sides.
Lee’s eyes snapped to mine before he broke away, heading to where I was leaning against one of the stolen cars. “I brought you a present,” I muttered once he was close enough.
He ignored my comment, his face set in stone as he asked, “You good?”
After a moment, I nodded. “Yeah. Tired as shit, but I’m good.”
His eyes flashed, his jaw jumping once as he put his hands into his hoodie pocket. ”You don’t have to bullshit with me. You must be tired from holding all those walls up,” he noted.
I said nothing. The last thing I wanted was another emotional conversation. What I really wanted was a fucking shower and to check on Dominique.
Dontell joined us, a scowl present on his face. “I don’t know whether I should hug you or punch you,” he muttered, looking me up and down.
I cocked my head to the side. “It was Jer’s call.”
He shook his head. “Don’t give a shit. You’re our fucking friend—you’re fucking family, Cain.”
Before I could say anything, Collin asked, “Has he told you anything yet?”
My eyes flicked to Ivan, hatred growing inside my gut, poisoning me from the inside out. “No. He put up one hell of a fight, though.”
The Mafia leader’s eyes brightened, a murderous gleam in them. “Did he now?”
“He’ll be out for a while, boss,” Xander said, walking back in.
Collin hummed, his eyes finding his brother-in-law’s. “Your call.”
Jer jerked his chin. “We got it. Go home to Kay,” he urged.
Collin looked over to us, his eyes landing on me first as he walked over. He held his hand out to me. “Thank you.”
My throat was tight, and all I could manage was a nod. I was tired of talking.
With that, he and Xander left the warehouse. Jer turned to us, folding his arms over his chest. “I appreciate what you did, Cain. I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like—going back over there.”
“No, you can’t,” I responded.
Lee stiffened as Dontell glared at Jer.
Jeremy looked to his boys, the men he’d known way longer than me, and said, “I understand you’re upset—”
“It was my idea,” I pressed, cutting him off. “The sooner we get this shit done, the sooner we can go back to living our lives in peace.” A silence settled over us, but I knew that some of the tension had been shaved off.
A sacrifice had to be made, and I was the only one who could do it.
“I owe you,” Jer said, his voice firm.
My eyes met his, and I said the only thing I could respond with. “We’re fucking family.”
Dontell nodded as Leon looked to me then to Ivan. “You guys go. I’ll stay here until he wakes.”