21
I promise you
I glanced sideways at Nikita while dirving.
I wasn”t sure what was happening to me with her, but I was certain that something was going on.
If I had my friend in front of me, I would have given him a piece of my mind. To say that she was like him? Not even close!
She was cold, despotic, with a biting sense of humor, hated children, and nothing seemed to matter to her except herself. Yet, on the other hand, she was intelligent, decisive, daring, and damn attractive, not to mention her physique and how hard she turned me on.
Right now, with that damn dress that rode up way beyond decency, I felt the urge to slide my hand between its folds and finish what that fool of a masseuse couldn”t.
If Yuri saw me so unsettled by his dear little sister, he would be splitting his sides laughing. In fact, he probably was, from some corner of the damn hell I felt plunged into. Damn the moment I made that promise!
If it weren”t for her, I wouldn’t now be married to this nightmare of long legs and a thousand-demon temperament, from whom I didn’t know what to expect.
I thought back to the last night I spent with my best friend, the same night he extracted that poisonous promise from me.
Yuri was with me on the night of the shooting.
The Chinese mafia had made a strong entry on the Costa del Sol, and their boss, Cheng Yu, wanted a significant slice of the pie that until then my friend and I had been sharing.
The Chinese network limited itself to marijuana and methamphetamine, drugs that didn’t hold much weight in our organizations. They owned their own cultivation warehouses and a specialized parcel company to export the drug to France, from where it would be distributed. The problem was that they were no longer satisfied with just that; they wanted more of the market, and that”s why the Chino, as we nicknamed him, asked to meet with us to negotiate.
He wanted to enter our sector, as well as offer us the possibility to use his distribution chain.
Yuri and I, who until then had divided the area equally behind our families” backs, were discussing whether it was a good idea or not to reach an agreement with the Chino.
To everyone else, my friend and I didn”t associate any more than necessary to maintain cordiality in our territories. To our men, we were going to hold a tripartite meeting.
Cheng, us, and our trusted men. We agreed that for safety, we could only bring one person each.
What we didn’t expect was that it would be an ambush to eliminate the competition in one fell swoop.
The Chino didn”t even show up.
It was past midnight when Yuri, our men, and I entered a kind of drying shed on the outskirts of Málaga.
”This smells fishy to me,” I told my friend. The night was too quiet, and I had a bad feeling.
”That”s because of the ducks,” he pointed out, nodding at the animals hanging there. I looked at them with disgust.
”I”m not talking about that, and you know it,” I muttered. I scanned the surroundings, looking around anxiously. ”Cheng should have been here by now.”
”Maybe his night got complicated. Have you seen the whorehouses he”s opened? My guys say they”re the bomb—you go for a haircut, and you get a blowjob; you go for a massage, and you get a blowjob; you get a pedicure, and...”
”I get it,” I grumbled, my gaze piercing above our heads.
The place had two levels; it was a kind of industrial warehouse.
Cheng mentioned that we wouldn”t have any problems accessing it, that he”d leave the door open and we”d meet at the back. We were about to get there, our footsteps echoing on the asphalt floor.
Yuri laughed.
”What’s up? Don”t you like getting a good blowjob anymore?” He was still on that topic.
”It”s not that. You seem too calm, and we barely know this guy, except for his reputation.”
”The Chinese avoid conflict, they tend to be men of honor, and you”ve been very tense lately, maybe we should visit one of Cheng”s barbershops and ask for a full lowdown service to relax you.” I glanced at him sideways and offered a grunt. ”Come on, R, relax, no one in their right mind would set up an ambush against us, they”d be at a loss. The Chino wants to negotiate. You and I would do the same if we were eyeing a piece of the pie from two guys with our reputation. Nobody is foolish enough to go against the Bratva and the ”Ndrangheta at the same time.”
”The world is full of motivated fools,” I told him. Yuri started laughing.
”If Cheng were a motivated fool, he wouldn”t be increasingly riding the crest of the wave.”
I heard a noise and nervously scanned the area. We were surrounded by food machinery. Our men also became alert, searching for the source of the sound.
I gestured with my head for Aleksa to move to the right; he was my best man, a former hitman for a Colombian cartel before I recruited him. Yuri”s man waited for his boss to give an order that never came.
”What?” he asked me when I fixed my gaze on him insistently.
”Didn”t you hear that?”
”The creak? This place is old, come on, man, you”re becoming a bit paranoid,” he joked, slapping my back.
”And you”re too carefree to be the future Vor v zakone. Many people want to see you dead.”
”You”re wrong, they”d kill my father first, I don”t have the title yet.”
”But you will, and that puts you in the crosshairs, just like me.”
”Times have changed, R, people don’t just kill anymore.”
”Things haven’t changed that much, and our deaths would never be just because.” It pissed me off that Yuri thought he was invincible and didn”t take the necessary precautions. Another creak sounded, and I tensed up.
”It might just be that they have just arrived,” he sighed. My warning look made it clear that I didn”t appreciate the attitude he was adopting.
”Alright, alright, fine. Basile, take a walk so my girl can relax...” Yuri loved to joke about our relationship. Or maybe it wasn”t much of a joke.
One night, when we were both too far gone and alone, he kissed me.
I was so surprised that, initially, I did nothing, until his
tongue tried to move beyond a mere peck on the lips.
I pulled away as if I had been doused with a bucket of ice water and confronted him about what he had just done. He laughed, finishing his drink, and said he was just pulling my leg, wanting to see how I”d react. I didn”t want to make a big deal out of it because I liked Yuri too much.
I had seen him sleep with women in front of me. We had a couple of hookers on all fours, making out while we took them from behind, our eyes on each other”s pleasure.
Yet, I always had the feeling that if I had wanted more, he wouldn’t have minded turning our friendship into something else.
A bullet whistled past my ear, shattering my thoughts.
I could say it was unexpected, but that wouldn”t be true; from the moment I stepped inside the drying shed, I knew something wasn”t right.
The first bullet was followed by a deluge of lead that fell like a summer storm. So many bullets could only mean one thing. They were shooting at us with machine guns.
I pulled my friend to run under the cloud of impacts. I managed to reach one of the machines and get us underneath.
I felt the brush of ammunition against my skin. One of those bastards tore a bit of flesh from my arm. Luckily, nothing serious.
My men were not far away. They were stationed a couple of blocks away in case things went south. I pressed the button on the watch I wore for emergencies and waited for them to come running.
”Are you okay?” I asked, drawing my gun from its underarm holster. I barely glanced at Yuri, my pupils racing, trying to figure out where those bastards were.
”Co... Could be better,” I turned my head and saw a red stain blossoming on his shirt.
”Shit! You”ve been hit!” He offered me a rueful smile.
”So have you,” he remarked, glancing at my left arm. ”I”m sorry I didn”t listen to you, I...” He coughed.
”Don”t talk, I”m going to get you out of this.” I unbuttoned his shirt a bit to assess the wound. It didn”t look good; it had hit his chest and was bleeding too much.
”Damn it! I”m going to shove the barrel up Cheng”s ass and turn him into spring rolls that I”ll then offer to his whores.” Yuri smiled as I placed my hand on his wound to control the bleeding. I pressed the button on my watch again to signal that it was an emergency.
”I”m screwed, R,” he whispered weakly.
”Don”t say that,” I protested.
The barrage of bullets continued to fly over our heads, and footsteps could be heard running up and down above us.
”If you stay here, you”re dead,” he said, grabbing my chest to make me face him. I noticed a movement above us that made me ignore him.
I raised the semi-automatic and fired. One of Cheng”s men fell lifelessly to the ground. My shot had pierced his jugular.
”One less,” I muttered.
”Chinese are like cockroaches; kill one and a hundred come out. We”re not going to get rid of them that easily.”
”Thanks for the encouragement.”
”Listen, you have to go after that bastard Cheng, you have to go after him to make them stop.”
”I”m not leaving you here.” My friend pulled out his gun.
”I”m not alone, I can defend myself, and you know your men are about to arrive. You have to go after him; you can”t waste time with me.” I clenched my eyes.
”I”ve already told you I”m not leaving you,” I repeated.
”You have to,” he insisted. ”They can”t see us together, not like this.”
I knew what he meant. Few people were aware that Yuri and I were still friends, only Aleksa and Basile, in whom we trusted blindly.
For others, we were bitter enemies who had learned to tolerate each other; we respected each other but there was no friendship between us.
”Shit!” I spat out, recognizing he was right. He squeezed my hand.
”Everything will be fine, but if things go south...”
”They won”t go south.” His skin was getting paler. ”We”ll get out of this, and I”ll tell Basile to take you to the clinic. You should have listened to me when I said to bring your men too,” I grumbled.
”I”ve been a fool. I admit it. There”s no turning back now, so I need you to listen. If things go south... promise me, you”ll take care of Nikita.” His request caught me by surprise.
”Your sister?” I asked, puzzled.
”She”s been training all her life by my side; I don”t have any other brothers. So, she”s the most likely to take my place, unless she’s denied her rightful place because she”s a woman.” My head was spinning.
”Are you asking me to marry your sister?”
”Exactly. I wouldn”t ask if I didn”t think you could make her happy.”
”Your father and mine would totally oppose it, just like when we tried to merge our companies.”
”It”s different.” Yuri coughed again, giving me another bad premonition.
”Drop it. Your sister isn’t even here now; she lives in Saint Petersburg.”
”That doesn”t matter. If you do it right, she will accept. Remember the photos I”ve shown you? She”s beautiful, very smart, she”s my female version.”
”Stop thinking about nonsense and save your strength,” I urged him.
”For me, it”s not nonsense. You don”t know what it”s like to be a woman in our world, if I die...” he paused, and my throat tightened. ”Promise me.” His brow furrowed. Yuri was stubborn when he set his mind to something. ”If I have to go, I want to know that she will be protected, and there”s no better man on Earth than you. I need to go in peace, and I will only do so if you promise you’ll do everything in your power to make Nikita your wife.” It was a strange promise. I didn’t even know if I would ever meet her, or if our families would accept something like that. But if that vow was what my best friend needed to hear to be at peace, I would make it.
”Alright.”
”Do I have your word?” he reiterated.
”You know you do.” I wasn”t going to let him die, and therefore, I would never have to marry her.
”Okay, then get out and kill that son of a bitch for me.” I struggled with whether to leave him or not. I wasn’t entirely convinced, but if I stayed by Yuri”s side, we were done for. I needed to move fast. He shook his gun to make me leave. ”Go! Do it! It”s your duty!” With all the pain in my heart, I nodded; As much as it pained me, Yuri was right.
”I”m going, but aim well and don”t let them kill you, you know we have plans for our retirement.” My friend offered me a warm smile and nodded.
”I wouldn”t miss it for the world, brother.” Hearing him use that term squeezed my heart.
I kissed him on the forehead, we embraced, and with his blood staining my hand, along with a promise I never expected to have to fulfill, I set out to find the bastard who wanted to annihilate us.