Chapter 21
21
Ivan
“J ames is awake,” Adrian announced as we neared the estate. I slowly blinked my eyes open, not realizing I’d dozed off. But my headache was wearing off, now just a dull ache I could tolerate. Lifting my head, I leaned back on the seat and yawned, rubbing at my eyes.
“That’s good,” I grumbled, my voice husky with sleep.
Adrian was typing away at his phone as he said, “I’m telling Darren to get him discharged and get him to the safe house. I already sent the address to Jaxon. Dr. Lebedev is ready to go when they are. When we finish with Crane, I’ll pack them some bags, and we’ll take them to the safe house.”
I nodded, then turned to look out the window. The tree line was getting thicker, which meant we were getting closer to the estate. Leaning over, I looked around Adrian to Crane, who was still slumped against the opposite door, knocked clean the fuck out. A bit of blood was running down his temple.
“He’s going to have a nasty headache when he wakes up,” I mused.
Adrian snorted. When I turned my head to look at him, he was smirking at me, a sort of lightness to his eyes that wasn’t normally there. Sitting back up, I gripped his chin, turning his head to face me. He arched a questioning brow at me when I just stared at him, drinking him in. “What?”
“You were already sexy as fuck, but you seem… freer. It’s kind of breathtaking,” I confessed.
His lips quirked up at the corners into a sort of half smile. “That’s because you’re not used to seeing me not hate your guts.”
I snickered and dropped my hand. “You never hated me, kotik . But you did hate how much you wanted me. There’s a difference.”
We came to a stop outside of the gates, and Mark entered the code to get us through. Once we pulled up in front of the door, I got out before Mark could come open my door, then strode around to the side Crane was on. Adrian was just getting out as I reached Crane’s door. “Hold on,” Adrian told me.
I smirked at him and ignoring his request to wait, opened the door, letting Crane faceplant onto the pavement. A low groan I was pretty sure he tried to hide sounded from his throat. Adrian sighed as he rounded the car. Mark snickered. Using my shoe, I rolled Crane onto his back, grimacing at the sight of his crushed nose. Crouching, I slapped Crane’s cheek hard. He slowly blinked his eyes open, and I gave him a little finger wave.
“How long have you been awake, sunshine?” I asked. “If you were biding your time to escape, I hate to break it to you, but you’re shit out of luck.”
He spat blood on my face. Sighing, I stood back to my full height. Mark held out a napkin, and I used it to clean the blood splatter off my cheek. After handing the tissue back to Mark, I folded my arms behind my back, arching a brow at Crane. “Well, now, that wasn’t very nice,” I crooned. “I’m not even the one who tied you up, sunshine.” He bared his teeth at me, and I lifted my foot, pressing it on his throat. His eyes widened in horror. My mask fell away, and his face paled. “If you spit at me again, I will rip your fucking throat out,” I growled.
Removing my foot, I looked at Adrian. “Let’s get him inside, kotik .”
Leaning down, Adrian yanked Crane onto his feet, then tossed the man over his shoulder like he didn’t weigh a thing. And I had to admit seeing him carry a man that probably weighed as much as he did without breaking a sweat was hot as fuck. For a moment, I contemplated what it’d be like to let Adrian fuck me. To pin me to the mattress before I flipped us over and took control again.
Christ, now I was hard.
“I’ll wait here,” Mark told me.
I nodded once. “Watch your back.”
He smirked. “Always, boss.”
When we entered the mansion, Adrian beelined for a long hall. At the end, he punched in a code on the last door, then pushed it open, flicking on a light. Immediately, Crane began to twist and try to get down. Adrian grunted, almost stumbling down the stairs in front of him from Crane’s weight shifting.
My hands snapped out. My right one gripped Adrian’s shoulder, keeping him upright so he wouldn’t tumble down the stairs. The other latched around Crane’s throat, tightening until he couldn’t fucking breathe. Cocking my head to the side the slightest bit, I narrowed my eyes at him. “If you make him fall down those fucking stairs, you’ll wish you’d just stayed calm and allowed Adrian to torture you,” I growled. “Because I will make you suffer for days , even after I have every bit of information I want. My patience is endless .”
When I released him, he stayed still. Once I was sure he wouldn’t try something stupid, I released Adrian, allowing him to descend the stairs. Once we were in the basement, Adrian dropped Crane onto a chair in the center of the room. It reeked of bleach and industrial cleaning supplies, instantly making my headache come back. But I kept my mouth shut.
We had answers to get and a man to torture. I wouldn’t sidetrack Adrian. This was too goddamn important.
I leaned against the wall, crossing my arms over my chest as I watched Adrian prowl toward a wall with all sorts of equipment hanging from it—baseball bats, cordless saws, handsaws, pliers… He grabbed a simple knife before walking back to stand in front of Crane. I cocked my head to the side, trying to figure him out. A knife was an interesting choice of a weapon compared to all the other options he had.
“Alright, Crane. We’re going to play a little game,” Adrian said, all emotion bleeding from his voice. My dick thickened so fucking fast, if I hadn’t been leaning against the wall, I’d have fallen on my ass for sure. Christ , I had not expected Adrian to sound so goddamn hot when he let his humanity slip away.
“A game?” Crane rasped.
“ Mhm ,” Adrian hummed, twirling the knife between his fingers. “I’m going to ask you a question. If you tell me the truth, I won’t make you bleed too badly. If you beat around the bush, I’ll make it hurt. And if you absolutely refuse to answer, I’ll start cutting off appendages.”
“What—what the fuck,” Crane spluttered. “That’s not even fair!”
“It’s not?” Adrian asked. I moved to the other wall so I could see my man’s face. Just as I thought, it was flat. There was nothing in his eyes as he stared down at Crane. “I think it’s plenty fair, Crane. You did, after all, make an attempt on James’s life. I don’t give a fuck that you did it to save your mommy either, Crane. You had two choices, and you made the wrong fucking one. So now, we play my game, and we play it by my rules. Got it?”
Crane stared at him like he was crazy. When Adrian’s eyes widened and his brows arched with impatience, Crane began to nod. “Okay,” he choked out.
“Not so hard, was it?” Adrian taunted. “Now, let’s see. Who threatened your mother’s life if you didn’t comply with what they wanted?”
“Inessa’s uncle,” he choked out. “Boris.”
He gritted his teeth when Adrian nicked his neck. But Adrian had kept his word to not make him bleed too badly. “Okay. Where did he meet up with you at?”
Crane shook his head. “He didn’t. He called me on my burner phone.” Adrian arched a brow—his only show of surprise. Even I was surprised. No one but family should know those numbers, and they were untraceable. How the fuck had Boris gotten his burner number?
“That’s interesting,” Adrian murmured, nicking the other side of his neck. Crane was already sweating. Fucking pussy. “Tell me—how did he get that number?”
“I don’t know,” Crane rushed out. “I swear I don’t. When I asked, he said he just had his connections.”
“You’re doing well,” Adrian praised as he put a little slice in Crane’s cheek. Crane hissed as sweat dripped into the wound. “I assumed you received some form of payment for the job you did?”
Crane shook his head. “No. He wouldn’t pay until he was certain James was dead. He’s waiting on some kind of news.”
A nick in his other cheek had him hissing again. “Was his call traceable?” Adrian asked, patting the young man’s pockets. He slipped out a flip phone a moment later and tossed it to me. Immediately, I pulled my own phone out to call Igor, knowing what Adrian wanted without him having to say a word to me.
“If it is, I couldn’t figure it out. He has it all scrambled.”
Crane clenched his jaw when Adrian sliced his eyebrow. Blood leaked from the small wound, mixing with the sweat staining his skin. Igor answered on the third ring, and I put my focus on the phone call. “I’ve got a phone number I need you to trace,” I told him before he could greet me with some smart-ass remark like he was known for doing.
“Hit me,” he said.
I read the phone number off to him. He made a small noise of affirmative. “I’ll reach out once I have something—if anything.” Then, he was gone. Slipping both phones into my pockets, I focused back on Adrian and Crane. Adrian was truly in his element here, and it was a fucking beautiful thing to witness.
“Did he ever mention working with someone else?” Adrian asked Crane.
“No,” Crane gritted. “Just said he needed the Jacksons wiped out. Said it would weaken Ivan enough so he could take what rightfully belonged to him.”
I barked out a laugh as I pushed off the wall. “He’s sorely mistaken. All of Russia is under my fucking control. The government doesn’t even make a move without me approving it first, Mr. Westbrooke.” I grabbed the knife from Adrian. “We done here? I doubt he knows anything else useful. He was just a pawn Boris and Ninel used in their scheme.”
Adrian nodded. “We’re done.”
Crane’s eyes widened in horror. “My mother?—”
“Not my concern,” I told him with a shrug as I crouched in front of him. “She shouldn’t have bred a fucking predatel ,” I spat, calling him a traitor. I didn’t normally speak in my native tongue, but sometimes, the goddamn English language just didn’t do it for me.
“Wait, please?—”
I shoved the knife into his throat, a cold smile pulling at my lips as his blood leaked over my skin. When the life left his eyes, I straightened and turned to face Adrian. He stepped forward and gripped my hips, pressing his mouth to mine. With a snarl, I wrapped my bloody hand around his throat and forced my tongue down his throat. He moaned, softening for me immediately, letting me control him.
“You did so fucking well for me, kotik ,” I growled into his mouth. “When we have time, I’ll reward you for it.”
He opened his eyes, locking them on mine. Then, surprising me, he dropped to his knees and began to work open the fly on my slacks. I moaned and slid my fingers into his hair. Who the fuck was I to deny him if he wanted this to be his reward?
As soon as my cock was free, he lapped at my tip, then wrapped his lips around me and sucked me to the back of his throat. I groaned long and low, tightening my fingers in his hair. Tilting his head back just right, I began to drive my cock down his throat, watching as his eyes went all hazy for me and he fell into that headspace only I was capable of putting him in.
It was a heady fucking feeling knowing I had this much power over him.
“I own you, kotik ,” I snarled down at him, my balls already drawing up tight. I wasn’t going to last long. Not after seeing him torture a man with so much careful calculation. Only a true monster could do something like that, and fuck, when he let his out to play, he was magnificent . “Tell me I fucking own you.”
His words were garbled around my cock, but I understood them well enough. With a shout of his name, I came down his throat, forcing myself so deep, he couldn’t breathe. Only once my balls were empty did I slide out of his wet mouth, leaving him spluttering and gasping for breath on the floor beneath me.
After fixing my slacks, I kneeled on the floor in front of him and tipped his chin up with my bloody hand. Mesmerized by the crimson staining his skin, I swiped my finger over his cheek, admiring how perfect blood looked on his skin.
“I’m not supposed to be able to love anyone due to my psychopathy,” I told him as I smeared more of Crane’s blood on his face, turning his handsome face into a work of art, “but I firmly believe if I could love someone, kotik , I would love you.”
His breath left him on a soft exhale. He didn’t respond, but I didn’t need him to. Him allowing me to see him so vulnerable like this was more than enough for me.