Chapter 33 Nikolai
Nikolai
Ifeel pain in just about every part of my body. Gravel pierces into the skin on my back. And I’m shivering because it’s cold out and I’m completely naked.
I turn my head, and the ache in my neck intensifies.
A couple of yards away from me, I see Oscar lying on his back, in pretty much the same position that I’m in.
His face points in the other direction, so I only see the back of his head, which seems to be bleeding.
I squint my eyes to try to get a better look, to see if I can detect him breathing.
“Oscar,” I try to say, but nothing comes out of my mouth.
I hear a car door opening.
I turn again to face the night sky, a half-moon providing more light out here than inside Perpetual Sunset.
Someone gets out of the vehicle. The person walks toward me and stops.
I hear the beep of a cell phone.
The person, a man, speaks into the phone. He has a Russian accent. “I stopped them for you . . . Yes . . . Yes . . . Okay . . . See you in a moment.”
The man kneels down over me. He’s burly, bald, and bearded, dressed in what looks like an expensive maroon-colored suit. He holds the back of his hand to my nose to see if I’m breathing.
My eyes flutter open.
Satisfied, the man stands up and waits.
After about a minute, I hear a new set of footsteps coming towards me.
“What the fuck, Nikolai?!” yells the guy. I think it’s the same guy who was chasing me upstairs.
“What?” says Nikolai. “You told me to stop the two kids who were running out of the building. So I stopped them. With my SUV.”
“Jesus Christ,” says the guy. “You didn’t kill them, did you?”
“See for yourself,” Nikolai says. “Next time, be more specific as to what you want.”
The guy crouches down next to me. He peels off my mask.
He says, “Hunter?!”
He takes off his mask. It’s Nash.
Somehow, his normally handsome face no longer looks handsome. I can’t shake the image of his hands around Alessandra’s throat. Murder makes him ugly.
“What the fuck are you doing here?!” Nash screams in my face.
“I could ask the same about you,” I say.
Nash scoffs.
Then, the liquid courage better known as alcohol makes me talk and talk.
Questions just pour out of my mouth: “What are you doing at a sex party? Are you going all the time? Why are you some kind of big shot in there? Are you banging a bunch of different girls? What about guys? Do you do drugs? Are you some kind of dealer? Why are your grades so shitty?”
I’m clear-headed enough to know that I shouldn’t say anything about Alessandra.
“Let’s continue this conversation in the vehicle,” Nikolai demands. “We shouldn’t be seen out here like this.”
Nash pulls me onto my feet, and pain courses through my entire body. I scream.
“Nikolai,” says Nash, “go get the other kid.”
“I don’t want to get my hands dirty. Leave him there.”
“Well then at least go see if he’s alive.”
Nikolai shrugs. “Alive, dead: it is no concern of mine.”
“God, Nikolai, you’re impossible sometimes.”
“Who are these kids anyway?”
Nash drags me to the SUV and, with no care for my well-being, throws me into the backseat like I’m a rag doll. He climbs in next to me and slams the door shut. Nikolai gets in the driver’s seat.
Through Nikolai’s and Nash’s open windows, I try to see if Oscar’s okay. But a telephone pole blocks him from this angle.
“Now what are you doing here?” Nash asks. “How do you know about this place?”
I remain silent.
“Answer me!”
I shake my head. “It was almost by accident.”
Nash cocks his head. “Wait a minute. Was it you? Was it you and Oscar who were in my room today? Do you have my laptop?”
I don’t know if I should try to lie. So I say nothing.
“Answer me!”
“Hey,” says Nikolai. “He’s just a baby. Must be gentle with babies.”
Nash looks up at Nikolai. “This is my brother.”
Nikolai’s face lights up. “This is your brother?”
“Yes.”
“This is the one who is a porn mogul?“ Nikolai laughs. “This little boy is the one exposing your penis all over the internet? Very enterprising. Perhaps he should come work for me. Both brothers can be part of my organization. As you know, family is very important to me.”
“So I don’t understand,” Nash says to me. “Did you figure out everything that’s going on?”
I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to play this.
“Tell me!” Nash makes a fist and brings it up to my face, just short of hitting me.
I flinch. “Yes. I saw everything. I know what you did. And I know you’re trying to frame me.”
“And what else do you know?”
“About what?”
“About Alessandra.”
“That’s it,” I say. “I came here tonight to find out what you did to her.”
“And?”
“And what?” I ask. “And I didn’t find out anything yet.”
Nash leans closer to me. “And that’s all you know?”
I nod.
Nash smiles. It’s an evil smile.
Nikolai realizes something. “Wait a minute, Nash. I just put two and two together. This is your brother. This is your brother who saw the video of you . . .“ He wraps his hands around his throat and pretends to choke it.
“Yes,” Nash says.
“Oooooh!” exclaims Nikolai. “Well, obviously he knows too much and must be taken care of.”
Nikolai reaches into his glove compartment and pulls out a gun.
“Whoa, Nikolai.” Nash holds up his palms. “What are you doing?”
“I’m taking care of business. You get it? You understand?”
“No, I don’t,” says Nash.
Nikolai rolls his eyes. He gets out his phone. It looks like he’s writing a text.
Nash’s phone dings.
Nash asks, “You couldn’t just tell me? You had to write me a text? I’m sitting right here. You’re so crazy sometimes, Nikolai.”
Nash shakes his head and looks at the text he just received. He looks back at Nikolai.
“Ah,” says Nash, a blank look on his face. “Okay then.”
Nikolai points the gun square in my face. “To me, little brother . . . May I call you little brother?”
I reluctantly nod.
He continues: “Little brother, to me, as I said, family is very important. For example, there is nothing I would not do for my younger sister. If harm were ever to come to her, I would bring the most horrifying revenge upon every single person involved with hurting her. Dixie understands this, and she would do the same for me.”
My heart feels like it’s going to burst out of my chest.
“Now, little brother,” says Nikolai, “you would do anything to protect your older brother too. Yes?”
I nod my head desperately.
“Sorry,” says Nikolai. “I don’t believe you.”
“Yes, yes, I would protect Nash,” I say. “Family is important to me too.”
“Bullshit,” says Nash.
Nikolai laughs again. “Bullshit.”
Nash says, “Do it quickly, Nikolai. I’ll hold him down.”
With the gun still aimed directly at my face, Nikolai releases the safety.
“Goodbye, little brother,” says Nikolai.
Suddenly, the blade of a knife glides through the open driver’s side window and slides into Nikolai’s neck. I turn and see Oscar, standing outside the SUV, having just stabbed Nikolai, who drops his gun. Oscar pulls the blade out, and blood gushes from Nikolai’s wound.
“What the fuck?!” screams Nash.
I kick Nash in the stomach, and he buckles.
Oscar opens my door. I try to crawl out of the SUV, but Nash grabs my ankle and pulls. He slams his fist into my spine. I yelp in agonizing pain.
I see the knife in Oscar’s hand. An opportunity. I reach towards the knife, and the spirit of teamwork tells Oscar to hand it to me, which he does.
I grip onto the handle of the knife as hard as I can and swing my arm backward, the blade cutting into Nash’s stomach.
Oscar helps me out of the car, and we start running.
I look back and see both Nikolai and Nash stumbling out of the SUV. Nikolai has both hands over his neck, trying to stop the seemingly uncontrollable bleeding. Nash has his hands pressed firmly against his stomach.
“Hunter!” Nash yells.
My name echoes across the neighborhood.
Simultaneously, Nikolai and Nash fall to the ground, their weakened bodies slamming onto the pavement with such force that it seems to shake the ground beneath my bloody, bare feet.