Chapter 36
?
Roman
Damien took Devin to his basement, where he hooked him up to several life-support machines to ensure he doesn't leave the realm of the living too soon. After what Roxy did to him, the man was already unconscious.
I can't help but laugh knowing the Irish mafia leader lost his manhood in seconds. I cross myself and say a little prayer for the lucky person who'll share a bed with that woman.
When I go down to the basement, I see Damien has already started having fun. Devin has pieces of skin missing from his abdomen and hands.
"Finally, you're here. I don't know how long he'll last, and I don't want to waste adrenaline on him anymore," he tells me, and I can feel his irritation.
Damien's always been like this. He gets carried away in the moment and loses perspective.
"It's not fun torturing a corpse, Damien," I throw out since Devin's eyes can barely open.
I watch him instinctively flinch, as if he had somewhere to run.
"What were you planning to do with Luna, Devin?" I ask while putting on gloves.
Silence hangs after my question, telling me everything I need to know. He'd never have let her walk away with Aidan. I glance at my clean shirt - more stops to make tonight.
The steel bar feels cold and heavy in my palm as I test its weight, swinging it gently back and forth. His eyes widen just before I bring it down against his leg. The crack of metal meeting bone echoes through the room, followed by a raw, guttural sound that bounces off the walls.
Good. So he still has some life in him.
"It's not nice to ignore my question," I say while rotating the bar in my hand.
His tibia is at an odd angle, but the good news is he has another one I can practice on.
"She was going to be the main whore in my club," he says, and the fool thinks I don't realize what he's doing.
He wants to anger me, believing that in a moment of fury I'll kill him and he'll escape this torture. But no. I'll leave him in Damien's hands. One of his men killed one of our soldiers right after the explosion, and like me, Damien doesn't forgive such things. That man had a family at home. Devin will end up several feet underground when he no longer has skin attached to his body.
"Hmm. Good to know."
That's all I offer before smashing the steel bar into his other tibia. Damien lets me have my way with it until my arm starts hurting. The Irish mafia boss now has all his ribs broken, and I don't think there's a single unbroken bone in his legs. I even convinced my friend to give him an adrenaline injection to prolong the fun.
At some point, when I realize I have nothing left to break, I decide it's time to let Damien play with all his knives and Devin's untouched tissue.
"Hey, do you have Luna's friend's number?" he asks just before I climb the stairs.
"Why?" I ask suspiciously.
A smile forms on his face and I know it's trouble. I've seen Damien smile in many ways, but not like this. What the hell happened to him?
"I want to make sure she's not going through PTSD," he says, and I burst out laughing.
"Stay away from Roxy, Damien," I tell him, climbing the stairs, but from his look, I know that's exactly what he won't do.
Put dynamite and fire together and you have the combination of Damien and Roxy.
The last thing I hear is Devin's scream, but now another scream is the one I want to burn into my brain.
?
When I arrive outside the barn, I light a cigarette. The weather is still cold and I see the smoke mixing with my breath.
Anton comes out of the barn and gives me his report without me needing to ask.
"He's still in decent condition. Beaten well, but we didn't want to kill him until you gave the order."
Lev will die today. But I want him to understand he was wrong when he targeted us for revenge.
When I enter the barn, the light is dim and I see the traitor hanging. His head turns toward me, and I register the resignation in his gaze.
I expected him to have more backup plans in case he was caught, but no. The man really believed his plans couldn't be discovered.
"You know how your father should have died, Lev?" I ask in a calm tone, taking the gun from my back.
I see the fury appear in his eyes, but he doesn't say a word.
"I should have tied him to the first available tree and removed his liver, alive. Should have cut out his tongue and forced him to swallow it. That's what my father would have done. I offered him the shortest path of torture. It lasted a few minutes and then it was over," I say, and I watch him frown at me and realize I told him the truth.
"If you want to know if I felt any regret, you missed the mark. The man stole money. I don't care why. He did it and knew what organization he was in. The only thing I regret is that you managed to fool us for so many years. It's a mistake I'll carry with me as long as I live," I tell him because it's true.
The fact that I allowed him to be so close to my family, to our surveillance systems, to our bank accounts is a massive error on my part.
"But I'll live many more years with this regret. You, on the other hand, won't," I declare and shoot him right between the eyes.
For a full minute, the ricochet is the only sound heard in the barn.
"Call the team to clean up," I finally tell Anton.
"You were easy on him."
It's not an accusation, it's an observation.
"I'm saving myself for later."
I have someone tied up in the interrogation area of another warehouse, the same place we took Tim and Gavin. Where we took Tim and Gavin. Now Aidan is there too, and it seems somehow poetic how all the men who tried to hurt Luna will end up between those walls.
I messaged Sergey to bring her to the warehouse. Although he was quite shaken after the car chase and attack by the Irish, the next day he asked to resume his duties even though his face is still swollen and his ribs are fragile. These are the people I know I could put all my trust in. I know Sergey feels guilty that he couldn't protect Luna, but I explained that the blame for this falls on me. Not him.
When I arrive at the warehouse, I spot Luna standing next to Sergey. She's wearing a red coat and tall boots over jeans. Her cinnamon strands cover her glasses because of the wind, and when I come up next to her, I notice her nose is red from the cold.
"Sorry I'm late," I tell her while leaning down to kiss her.
"There wasn't any traffic," she answers, smiling between kisses.
"Sergey, go get a coffee. This will take a while." I signal him to go to the barracks where soldiers can hang out while we handle interrogations.
"If you need me, I'll be at the door."
"You don't need to stay at the warehouse door," Luna tells him, moving closer to me to warm up.
"With all due respect, if you're in that warehouse, I'll be at its door in case you need anything," he says, and his voice is unwavering.
"Ugh, nothing but overprotective men. Thank you, Sergey," she says warmly and turns to me.
"Are you ready? I can have Sergey take you home and handle this myself."
Because I know her soul. It's not made for the violence she's about to see.
"Yes. I'm ready," she says in a determined tone, and without saying anything else, I take her hand and lead her to the basement.
For me, it's the umpteenth time I've been here. For her, it's the first. I analyze her every reaction and flinch. If at any moment I see she's not okay, I don't care how ready she thinks she is. I'll handle the idiot chained up in the middle of the basement myself.
Aidan wakes up when the basement door closes behind us, and his eyes focus on Luna.
"Sweetie, Luna, please." His voice is lifeless.
You could swear he's a broken man, but I know people like him. I'm no expert, but he clearly has mental issues. Luna told me he seemed unaware that he was the one who hit her when they moved her from the house where they were keeping Roxy. His entire behavior toward her makes me believe he suffers from some undiagnosed mental illness.
"I promise to leave you alone. I promise. You'll never hear from me again," he tells her, with tears in his eyes.
She watches him, her gaze following his movements while her face remains still as stone. Not a twitch at the corner of her lips, not a crease between her brows, nothing like the woman whose every emotion usually plays across her features like an open book. Whatever she's feeling now, she's locked it away where even I can't reach it.
She takes off her red coat and leaves it on the table. She turns back to Aidan, and I'm impressed when she does nothing but look at him. The way she boils him with her silence makes me smile uncontrollably. Have fun, my love.
Aidan then looks at me and tries to negotiate his fate with me.
"Please. Devin threatened me. I had no choice. I would never have... I won't do it again. It's the last time..."
Luna's laugh is all that's heard in the basement. It's an empty, cold laugh that makes me raise my eyebrows.
"Do you know how many times you swore it would be the last time you'd ask for money?" she asks, and her tone, authoritative and cold, leaves no room for interpretation.
Sweet Luna isn't here.
"Sweetie, I swear, it's the last—"
He doesn't finish because Luna's voice makes me turn my head toward her.
"LUNA! IT'S LUNA! Not little Luna, not sweetie , not whatever other name you've given me. IT'S SIMPLY LUNA!" she shouts at him, and I see Aidan flinching as if her scream had hit him.
"Luna, I know I went too far, but I really thought you were just playing hard to get and wanted me to beg," he tells her, and I have to remind myself not to strangle him.
When a woman tells you NO, it's NO. It's not about playing hard to get or wanting you to beg. She's simply not interested. I promised Luna I'd let her take out all her anger on him and that's what I intend to do, but if this idiot keeps spouting more garbage, I don't know how I'll restrain myself.
Luna takes out a switchblade and opens it.
Aidan's eyes grow as big as saucers."Luna, what are you doing?" The last syllables tremble as they leave his mouth.
"I never thanked you for the gift from Igor," she tells him with a sweet smile on her lips.
I didn't think I could be aroused in this situation, but Luna ready to make the man who stole her peace suffer? Fuck me. I could take her right here on this table just to show her how much I love this version of her. Only the thought that Aidan would see even the smallest piece of her, of what's mine, stops me. He'll die without having the privilege of seeing her body again.
"Ro, can you lift his shirt? I don't want to accidentally touch his skin," she says with a smile on her lips, and I go to her and kiss her.
It's a noisy, dirty kiss, and when I hear her moan into my mouth, I start reconsidering the table idea.
"Anything for you," I murmur against her lips.
I yank his shirt upward, exposing pale skin as he squirms against the restraints. His back lacks definition, softness where there should be muscle. My fingers curl into fists at the thought of these weak arms around her, these unworthy hands touching what's mine. Blood pounds in my ears, vision narrowing to a red-tinged tunnel as my breathing turns shallow. I force air deep into my lungs, unclenching my jaw one muscle at a time.
Calm down, Roman.
Luna positions herself behind him and starts carving his back. His screams echo throughout the basement.
"You know something? I didn't scream when Igor did this to me. I couldn't. It's not fair that you can. If I hear you scream one more time, I'll ask Roman to find a way to fix that," she tells him in a sweet tone.
I look at her and analyze every feature. She's at peace. I didn't think I could ever feel more for her than I already did, but Luna taking back some of the power she gave up for this man makes my heart swell with pride.
"If you scream again, I'll cut out your tongue and shove it down your throat. Or maybe I should take care of that pathetic excuse between your legs that made you think you were tough when threatening a woman. MY WOMAN!" I tell him, the last words more of a roar.
Luna continues what she's doing, and I see Aidan sweating and turning red trying to suppress the sounds. He has no idea I have time to deal with both his tongue and his penis.
Not now. But I'm a patient man.
Luna finishes what she's doing, and his whole body relaxes when he senses she is no longer behind him. With the same bloody switchblade, she stops in front of him.
"I'd recommend a good ointment, but I know you won't live long enough for those wounds to turn into scars," she tells him, and Aidan starts crying even harder.
"Luna, please. I know I have problems, but you're not like this. You're not capable of killing a person," he tells her, and I see the manipulation in his gaze.
I see how he managed to convince her to help him for so long. He's good. You'd swear he's pouring his soul out to you.
"Hmm. You're right, I couldn't kill a person," she says, and that's the moment when a small smile appears on the idiot's lips.
He probably thinks he'll leave here breathing.
"Sweetie, I'll stay away," he says, and then the switchblade in her hand plunges into his thigh, right above the gunshot wound she inflicted.
"Aaaaaah!" is all Aidan gets out.
"I told you, for you I'm Luna. Just Luna. Pay attention, Aidan," she tells him as if she hadn't just stabbed a switchblade into his quadriceps seconds ago.
My woman is savage.
She turns to me, and it's enough to look into her eyes for me to understand what she needs. I nod slightly.
The next moment, she heads to the table and grabs a knife. Aidan starts writhing in the chains, though it's obvious he's lost strength. He's weak and has lost a lot of blood.
I step up beside her, and before she plunges the knife into his stomach, Luna looks at him.
"I'm not killing a person, Aidan. I'm killing my nightmare," she tells him in a low tone, almost a whisper, and then my hand covers hers and we both push the knife.
The shock on Aidan's face is evident, but his eyes roll back in moments. He's not dead. Not yet. But he will be.
"I want to go home," Luna whispers to me after letting go of the knife.
I kiss the top of her head and hold her in my arms.
"Whatever you want, my love."