Chapter 22 - Jaroslav
My sisters both showed incredible remorse for their risky decision to leave without a guard, and yes, I could have torn through them in anger for putting themselves in that situation, but what good would it have done? They were terrified; they needed support, not anger.
But that doesn’t mean I do not have anger.
In fact, as I walk away from them under the guise of making a few calls, the fury inside me is threatening to erupt like a volcano, and the main reason I’m putting distance between myself and my sisters is to hide that from them.
I want to tear someone apart. Whoever the hell thought they could make a move against my sisters has to die.
First, someone messed with Valery at the mall. I know who that was, and he will get what is coming for him. And now, someone attacked my sisters, too.
It’s like they’ve forgotten what I’m capable of.
They need a reminder of the consequences people suffer when they hurt those close to them.
A reminder that I am more than happy to give them.
I dial my security team to let them know what’s happened, and while I talk, I watch Valery with my sisters.
She is gentle and caring. Beautiful, glowing with empathy and patience as she speaks to them.
My heart throbs, emotions deepening and growing stronger for her, even though I didn’t realize it was possible to love her more than I already do.
She finds ways to surprise me and prove me wrong.
Valery follows my sisters to the kitchen, and I update my security team on the events and assign them a task to investigate who was at the club.
There will be enough security footage inside and outside the venue.
Bardil Popov is behind the attack on Valery. I want to know if he is behind my sisters’ attack as well.
After setting my team in action, I walk through to the kitchen to be with the people I love. Tonight is about supporting my sisters, with Valery at my side.
***
By late afternoon on the following day, my team had concrete evidence that it was the Popovs who attacked Angelika and Stef. It was Bardil again. He happened to be there and lucked out when he saw them. His spontaneous attempt failed, and in his stupidity, he got caught on camera.
Between Valery’s attack, my sisters’ attack, and the matching DNA evidence we got from the warehouse attack, he has been cornered with too much against him to give him room for denying anything.
What I want to know is why—why he was arrogant enough to think he could get away with it, what his goal was, what he hoped to achieve with this, and besides that, I want to cause him pain.
The rage building inside me has to be directed at someone… and obviously it’s going to be him.
Now, all I have to do is catch him.
Approaching him directly, in force, is dangerous. It’s a risk I’d like to avoid if possible, also because it will attract a lot of attention. However, if it becomes a last resort, I will do whatever it takes to bring him down.
For now, though, I don’t want to ask my brothers for help; I would like the chance to question Bardil alone. Some one-on-one time with the man who thought he could take my wife from me.
The trap I set is pretty straightforward. Knowing the types of operations Bardil has been targeting, I set up a new one, but with obvious flaws that he won’t be able to resist. An easy way in for him while he assumes we haven’t worked out that he’s responsible.
I set the trap late at night in a warehouse away from where my brothers are working. Then I wait.
I wait in the dark on the lower level, hidden from sight, hoping he shows up. But as the hours roll by, my hope begins to fade.
Maybe it was too obvious, even for that asshole. Maybe he saw through my plan, or word didn’t reach him soon enough.
Glancing at the glowing face of my watch in the dark corner of the warehouse, I realize I’ve been waiting here for four hours, and it’s time to accept he’s not coming.
I stand, stretching my shoulders by rolling them out, arching my neck forward and then backward to iron out the tension in my muscles.
I’m about to step out from behind the crates when I hear a loud crack from the back entrance. He’s broken the lock. He’s here.
Excitement spikes my heart rate as I duck down again. This is perfect. He finally came.
I crouch low, my breathing heavy but quiet.
A dark figure creeps through the back door and moves between the crates toward the one I made him believe is fresh product delivered today for a vitally important delivery to a client tomorrow.
As far as Bardil knows, if he can damage this product, it will cost us millions of dollars, and the loss of a client we value.
He moves around the crate, and I move too, keeping it between us until he stops and squats down to pull detonators from his backpack.
While he is distracted, I stand and press my gun against the back of his head.
“Hello, Bardil.” My voice is low and immediately causes his entire body to go rigid with surprise.
“Jaroslav,” he growls, anger edged in his tone. “I don’t suppose you’ll give me a chance to explain why I’m here.”
I laugh bitterly. “Don’t bother, I know why you’re here because I set the trap for you. Besides, I’ll give you plenty of time to talk in a moment. I have a lot of things to ask you. For now, put your hands behind your back and stand slowly.”
I cuff him and strip every weapon from his body.
As I lead him down to the basement area of the warehouse, I think about how Valery made this call in the beginning. She worked out it was the Popovs, and even risked taking his hair when she came face to face with him.
She’s too smart for her own good, and I’m proud of her for it.
“Move!” I shout, pushing him when he stalls at the top of the stairway leading into the cold, dark basement.
“This isn’t necessary, Jaroslav. We can talk, we can make a deal.”
“The time for making deals is over. In fact, I’m not even sure I care about what you have to say anymore. I just want blood,” I growl angrily.
“Come on, man, we can talk. I’ll tell you what happened. It wasn’t meant to get this far.”
He tries his best to manipulate his losing situation while I chain his wrists to a hook hanging from the ceiling, then press a button on a lift that tightens the chain, raising it until his feet are dangling just above the ground, his toes brushing the concrete as he tries to support his weight on anything but the metal restraints around his wrist.
“What the fuck, Jaroslav? Are you going to kill me?” Already, his voice is breaking with fear. “The first few attacks, messing with your operations, it wasn’t even us. It was a smaller group,” he blurts out.
I laugh again. “Nice try. We know you hired the smaller group to try and keep your hands clean. What happened? Did they bail on you in the end? Is that why you were directly involved in the last attack? Is that why your brothers and you took matters into your own hands?”
“I…I can explain. We just wanted to mess with you a bit, not bring you down.”
I stand in front of him, his body hanging, helpless and vulnerable.
Slipping the silver blade of a very large knife beneath the collar of his shirt, I drag it down and cut the fabric from him, purposefully letting the blade slice against his skin at the same time.
“Fuck,” he snarls, wincing in pain. He looks down at his body, at the thin trail of red oozing from the line running over his chest.
“The attacks on my business, that I can deal with in a logical, even fair, way…but when you chose to go after my wife, and then my sisters, you crossed a line you can’t come back from,” I speak slowly, menace in my eyes as I glare at him.
Fear floods him as I lift the knife again and press it against his skin just above his nTimofey. The skin splits, spilling blood, red trickling over the blade. I push a little harder, and he screams, gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut.
I take my time, cutting his body, watching the blood flow over his skin, never deep enough to slice through arteries, but with the slow and steady onslaught of torture, his body will eventually give in.
After an hour of this, Bardil is exhausted, no longer arguing with me, no longer trying to talk his way out of it. He’s lost pools of blood, which are staining the concrete beneath my feet, and I still plan to make him suffer a lot more before I give him the relief of death.
I lift the knife to his neck, pressing it against the skin behind his ear. With a dark smile, I ask him, “Do you fear death? Do you know where you’re going to end up in the next life?”
He’s too weak to answer me, but he still groans in agony as I drag the blade downwards, spilling more blood.
“Stop!”
Her voice has my heart racing in confusion as I spin to face her.
“What are you doing here?” I snarl, angry to see Valery standing at the base of the stairs, her eyes on Bardil hanging from the hook behind me. Drained of fight, almost drained of life.
“What are you doing , Jaroslav?” she asks, her eyes wide. “Killing him isn’t going to help anything.”
“It is. It’s going to give me immense satisfaction,” I counter, cocking my head to the side as my eyes trace over her. “How did you know I was here?”
“I know you better than you think, J,” she sighs, walking toward me. “I figured out what your plan was; all I had to do was figure out which of the two more private warehouse locations you’d choose to carry out that plan.”
She stands in front of me, her eyes locked into mine. There is no fear in her gaze, even when she steals a look at Bardil and his blood-stained flesh.
“He deserved, little raven,” I say tightly, not wanting her to think I’m a monster. “He deserves to die for what he did.”
She reaches up, and her fingertips trace over my face. Her smile is gentle, caring. “I know he does, but he’s no use to us dead. He can still serve a purpose, and by the looks of things, you still got the revenge you wanted, you still inflicted pain on him.”
I shut my eyes, blocking out the innocence of her stare.
My heart clenches.
“Jaroslav,” she whispers. “I don’t want Talia to suffer because her brother is an asshole. Killing him affects her. She is part of my family.”
Dammit. I can’t say no to her. I can’t back down when she asks me for something.
This woman has me wrapped around her finger, and I don’t even want to fight against that control she has over me. I want to give her everything her heart desires, even if her heart desires that this asshole should live to see another day.
With a deep sigh of frustration, I put the knife down on the steel table next to me. “Ok, he lives.”
She smiles at me, stands on her tiptoes, and to my surprise, she kisses me. “Thank you,” she whispers.
“Do you have a plan?” I ask, slipping my blood-stained hands around her waist and pulling her close.
Valery has already proven herself invaluable in more ways than one. She has stood her ground, become a part of our team, and I trust whatever she suggests as a way forward.
How could I not? She is the smartest person I know.
She smiles at me. “Of course, I have a plan.” Her eyes sparkle with mischief. “I just don’t think you are going to like it very much.”
I narrow my gaze at her, furrows forming across my brow. “If it puts you in danger, I don’t like it,” I huff.
“But it’s going to be worth it. I promise.”
Rolling my eyes and clenching my jaw, I hug her tighter. “Fine, but I’m not leaving your side.”