Chapter 29
Georgi
Once my men have Boris and Anton stripped down to their underwear and shackled, I pull a drawer open and take out a cattle prod.
I’m standing in a different room that has one-way glass looking into the cell.
I’ve decided to put them together, seeing as they’re so tight.
Grinning, I walk to the door and enter the cell. It smells like bleach, and rats scurry through the vent running around the cell. They can smell the food and are scratching, desperate to get to the men.
“My pets are hungry,” I chuckle. I take a moment to look at the fuckers, then moving closer to Boris, I lock eyes with him.
“Let’s get the adrenaline flowing through your clogged-up veins.
” I press the prongs to his stomach and watch with great satisfaction as his body convulses.
One of his front teeth chips from how hard he’s clenching his jaw, and the hole looks hilarious.
I let out a bark of laughter as I stop electrocuting him, then grab his jaw and turn his face to Anton.
“Tell me this isn’t the funniest shit you’ve ever seen. ”
Anton meets my eyes with a defiant stare, his top lip curling.
I let go of Boris with a shove and move right in front of the fucker who raped Nina. Even though he’s strung up, he still has to lift his eyes to meet mine.
Letting every ounce of rage and vengeance show on my face, I stare him into submission. As soon as he lowers his gaze, I chuckle darkly.
“I’m not going to torture you, Belinski.
I’m keeping that honor for Nina, and I bet she’s learned a lot of neat tricks from watching Boris kill men.
” I shrug as I step back. “Okay, just this once.” I shove the cattle prod down his tighty-whities, and when the prongs touch his shriveled dick, the man bites the tip of his tongue off while his body seizes.
“My bad.” I pull the prod out and lean down to check the damage in his mouth as blood begins to flow. “Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.” I pat his cheek and smirk. “Suck it up, buttercup. It’s still a while before I feed my rats.”
Walking out of the cell, I drop the cattle prod in the nearest trash can.
“Is it broken?” Al asks.
“No, it touched the fucker’s dick.”
“What do you want us to do?” he asks.
“Just watch them. You can give them water. I don’t want them dying too quick.”
“Got it, boss.”
I pause and take hold of Al’s arm. “When I return with Nina, none of the men look at her.”
“I’ll tell them.”
I leave the warehouse with Frankie, because Santino went straight home to check on Nina and Simi for me.
During the drive to Manhattan, I stare out the window, my thoughts turning to Nina. It’s been four days since I saw her, and the itch beneath my skin makes me feel aggravated.
The instant Frankie stops the SUV in the basement, I shove the door open and jog to the elevators, the doors opening as I reach them because Paul’s already pressed the button.
He steps into the small space with me, and as we head up to the top floor, he says, “Everything was quiet, boss. The women didn’t leave.”
“Thanks.” As soon as the doors open in my foyer, I step out, and not finding my girls, I call out, “Where’s my princesses?”
“Oh, my God!” I hear Nina shriek, and Simi begins screaming, “Yay!”
They appear at the top of the stairs, and Nina hauls Simi into her arms before rushing down, her face filled with happiness.
“You’re home,” she says, her tone filled with excitement. “Finally!”
I take a wiggling Simi from her mother and plant a kiss on her chubby cheek. Moving her to my right arm so I can wrap my left around Nina, I haul my woman up my body as I lean down and kiss her on the mouth, reluctantly keeping it PG-rated.
Nina wraps her arms around my neck, and Simi tries to do the same with her much shorter arms.
“We missed you so much,” Nina says, her tone shaky.
“Yes. So, so much.” Simi nods, her eyes serious.
I’m hit hard in the chest by how emotional it feels to come home to the woman I love and my daughter.
“I missed you more.” My voice is hoarse, and I clear my throat as I set them down. “What did you do while I was gone?”
“Nothing. I just missed you,” Simi answers, her tone a little sad.
I crouch down and brush my palm over her hair. “I just have to go to work again, but I’ll be back tonight, and we’ll do whatever you want.”
“Aww. I don’t want you to go.”
I pull her closer and kiss her forehead. “I have to go fight a couple of bad guys to make sure the castle stays safe. Okay?”
Her eyes widen. “Will there be a dragon?”
“Yes,” I answer, playing into her make-believe world. “A big one, but don’t worry, fire can’t hurt me.”
“Okay. But then you’ll come home.”
Her expression is so serious that it gives me cuteness aggression, and I squash her to my chest while pressing two kisses to her cheek.
When the elevator doors open and Raya comes in, I rise to my feet and give my sister a quick hug. “Thanks for doing this for me.”
“No problem at all. You go take care of business while I play in the castle with princess Simi.” She wiggles her fingers and begins to move in on Simi. “Here comes the tickle monster.”
With a shriek of laughter, my kid runs for the safety of her little castle in the corner.
I take Nina’s hand and quickly walk to the elevator. When the doors shut, I say, “I have a surprise for you.”
She leans into my side as she tilts her head back, her eyes shining like polished stones. “What?”
“I’ve heard breaking shit is good for letting off steam, and I think you have a lot of anger to burn.”
She looks curious but also apprehensive. “Uhm…okay.”
Not wanting her to be caught off guard, I say, “I have Boris and Anton. I thought it would help you heal if you got to torture them.”
The apprehensiveness vanishes, and her eyes widen before I see the first spark of anger.
“And if you don’t want to do anything yourself, you can tell me, and I’ll take care of it.”
She shakes her head quickly. “Oh no, there are a couple of things I’ve dreamed of doing to them for nine years.”
My lips curve up. “I’ll be with you every second. You’ll be safe and in control at all times.”
Emotion tightens her features, and she reaches up for me. I bend down, hook my arm around her, and lift her until her feet leave the floor. As our mouths touch, the elevator opens, and I step out into the parking area.
I stop for a moment, and placing my hand on the side of her head, I thrust my tongue into her mouth and get lost in her warmth and addictive taste.
Nina
When Georgi leads me into a room, my gaze lands on a wide pane of glass. I stop dead in my tracks as I stare at Boris and Anton, where they’re hanging in a cell.
Holy shit.
I didn’t doubt Georgi, but seeing the men who’ve made my life hell, shackled and stripped, really drives it home. For once, they are the prey, helpless and at my mercy.
During the drive to this warehouse, I was focused on how happy I was that Georgi was back and checked that he didn’t return with any fresh wounds that needed tending to.
Boris and Anton look like they’ve been hit by a bus, and it fills me with satisfaction. For a moment, all I can do is stare while old, familiar fear echoes somewhere deep inside me.
“They can’t see you. The glass is one-way,” Georgi says as he stops beside me.
Their wrists are shackled to chains bolted into a steel beam above their heads, their bodies held upright by the restraints so that their feet barely touch the floor.
Every movement from them makes the chains rattle.
This isn’t some dingy basement. Electric lights shine brightly, illuminating everything.
The cell itself is empty. There’s no table with tools and weapons. No buckets. It’s just concrete and steel with a drain in the center of the floor.
As my gaze creeps along the wall, I see vents and shadows moving behind the grids. Only then do I hear the scratching and squeaking.
A shiver rushes down my spine, and my attention returns to the men who once made me afraid to breathe too loudly. Now they can’t see me. They can’t touch me.
The tables have turned, and I’m the one with the power.
Anton shifts, trying to rub his nose against his bicep, his shoulders straining worse than Georgi’s did. I take in the blood coating his mouth, chin, throat, and chest.
Boris hangs with his head lowered, then he lifts it slightly, as if he can sense someone is watching him.
Something merciless slithers through me as the memories creep out of the darkest corners of my soul. Years of pain, humiliation, helplessness, and ungodly terror flash through my mind.
Staring at the bastards, they don’t look like the monsters who broke me.
No, they look much smaller. Weaker.
The scratching sounds from the vents draw my attention again, followed by the slow drip of water somewhere above us. The incessant pattern is enough to drive any sound mind insane.
I step closer to the glass, and placing my hand against it, a smile curves my lips because for once, they’re the ones trapped.
They’re the ones who will be tortured and killed.
I hear something slide open, then Georgi asks, “Which of these would you like to use?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I see a wide drawer filled with all kinds of tools and instruments. There’s also a metal bat, a fireplace poker with a hook at the end, and a bullwhip that catches my eye for a couple of seconds.
Turning around to face Georgi, I struggle to make up my mind and ask, “Can I try all three of these to test them out?”
A smile spreads over Georgi’s face. “Of course, and if none of them do it for you, I can show you other ways to make the fuckers suffer.”
Other ways.
So many ideas rush through my mind. I used to spend so much time daydreaming about ways to get back at Boris and Anton.
Then one pops into my mind, and I ask, “Can you get me scopolamine?”
Georgi tilts his head, his expression tender as he looks at me. “What’s that, angelche moe ?”
“The drug I injected into you.” I make quotation marks with my fingers. “Truth serum.” Not wanting Georgi to misunderstand, I explain, “I want to make them suffer the way you did so I can mess with their minds.”
“Give me the name again,” Georgi says as he pulls his phone out. I spell it and make sure it’s right, then watch as he asks Augusto if he has access to any.
He tucks his phone back in his pocket, then asks, “What would you like to do while we wait?”
I move closer to the drawer and pick up the baseball bat.
“Have you ever used one?” he asks. I shake my head, to which he says, “Come, I’ll teach you.”
When one of the guards opens the heavy door to the cell, I notice he doesn’t look at me at all.
My heartbeat speeds up when I step inside, the sharp smell of bleach hits me in the face.
Both Boris and Anton lift their heads, and when they see me, they glare at me like they’ve always done.
For a moment, fear slithers through me, but then I feel Georgi’s big hand on my back, and it makes me lift my chin.
Anton spits at me, but it falls a few inches short of my feet. “Fucking whore.”
I react before I can think, and swinging the bat as hard as I can at his side, I let out a scream that’s filled with years of potent anger, humiliation, and disgust.
After the first hit, I lose my mind. I sound feral, tears wetting my cheeks, and sobs choking my growls.
Suddenly, an arm comes around me, and I’m hauled away from the evil monster.
As I struggle and strain to get loose, I’m carried out of the cell, and the door slams shut.
“Shhh…It’s okay. Calm down for me, baby.”
Cool hands frame my feverish face, and then my sight focuses on Georgi, and I begin to suck in deep breaths as I slowly ease out of the rage that consumed me.
“There you go.”
He pulls the bat from my grip, and I notice the blood on it.
“Sorry for spoiling your fun, but we don’t want to kill Anton too quickly. Okay?”
I nod, and wanting to see the damage I’ve done, I rush to the window. Anton is hanging limply, pain etched in deep lines across his face.
His side is red and already swelling, and blood seeps from where his skin has split.
Boris, on the other hand, looks relieved.
“I’m going back in,” I say, my voice firm as I hold my hand out to Georgi. “Give me the bat.”
His eyes drift over my face as he passes it to me.
When I walk to the door, the guard opens it again, and this time, when I enter the cell, both men watch me with caution.
I brush some strands of hair from my face as I stop in front of Boris. “Remember, Mama?”
His lips set in a firm line, refusing to answer me.
“Remember how you killed her before you let that bastard rape me?” I point at Anton, my hand trembling as the rage pours back into my chest. “Remember how you locked me in the basement for a week, forcing me to listen to Simona crying, all because I tried to escape?” The sentence ends on a scream, and I begin to see red.
“You drove me to insanity,” I hiss while I grip the handle of the bat with both hands and swing at my father.
This time I don’t lose it. I stay present, feeling every blow shuddering through my arms. I see how the bat slams into his ribs, side, and hip.
Just as I begin to grow tired, I dart over to Anton and bring the bat down on his groin.
The pain-filled roar from him is the best sound I’ve heard in a really long time.
Walking out of the cell, I drop the bat on the floor and cover my mouth with my hands as I gasp for air.
Finally, I get to hurt them.
Sucking in deep breaths, I turn around and hurry to Georgi. He lifts me off my feet and engulfs me in his strong arms.
I cling to him as the first sob breaks over my lips.
I will get to kill them.