Chapter Twenty-Five
VIKTOR
WE WERE CURRENTLY ON our way up to Old Orchard Beach to get Gabriella from Vincent. My contact had managed to track Vincent’s exact location thanks to the messages I had been sending for most of the morning, some en-route. So, having sent the last message, we were only about fifteen minutes away instead of the five hours that he thought Nikolai was. I hoped that meant we could take him by surprise before he did anything to Gabriella.
It had taken too long to find them. Five days, she had been with that monster. I swore to God that if he had touched one hair on her head or hurt the baby in any way, he would die such a slow death. I was already craving to see his blood spill on the floor. My lust for death had awakened again when I’d killed Nikolai. I was looking forward to hearing Vincent scream and plead for his life. By the end of it, though, I could guarantee he would be pleading for death.
I knew I had to make the phone call to Nico, but I was so worried about what I would find when I got there, I had been putting it off for the past four hours. I knew as soon as I got there and hopefully rescued Gabriella that I would be too emotional to speak, so I finally pulled my phone from my jacket pocket and dialed his number.
“Viktor, do you have any news? Have you found her?”
I knew that Nico would have no time for pleasantries, and in this instance, I was thankful.
“Nico, I am just heading to the location where we think Vincent is holding Gabriella. I have it on good authority that they are both there.”
I could hear Hudson in the background trying to find out exactly what was happening. Nico must have put the phone on speakerphone because the voice I heard next was Hudson’s.
“Are you sure? Can you trust your contact?”
I almost laughed. “I’m sure Nico will have heard of Teneva Diable, even though he isn’t Russian. He is my contact, and he has been keeping an eye on the place for me for the past few hours.”
Nico confirmed my suspicions when he spoke. “If the Shadow Devil is telling you he has found them, then I will not question it. Where is she?”
“I will send you the details after this call. Just start heading up to Old Orchard Beach in Maine. Once I have Gabriella, I will let you know where to meet us. Don’t worry; once I have my malyshka, I will not leave her side.”
I could hear lots of shuffling at the end of the line, telling me they were already getting ready to head out.
“Thanks, Viktor. We will be heading down to our car shortly. We are just going to grab a few things for an overnight stay. We will get a hotel on the way.”
“Don’t worry about that, Nico. I will arrange everything here. I will let you know where I have booked, and you can meet us there.”
“Thanks again, Viktor. We all owe you for this.”
“You owe me nothing, Nico. All I want is to see my malyshka happy.”
I didn’t bother with the niceties of saying goodbye and ended the call immediately. I needed to get my head into what was about to go down. We stopped just outside of Old Orchard Beach, at an abandoned house, about a mile away from the cottage. I was due to meet TD with Aleksandr. We were two of the only people to have ever seen his face, hence meeting in an abandoned house. He didn’t want anyone else to see him.
I got out of the car with Aleksandr and we walked around the back of the house, all the while keeping our eyes open just in case there was anyone else prowling around. We walked up to the back door and opened it, slowly stepping inside and announcing our arrival.
“It’s Viktor and Aleksandr. Are you here?”
“In here,” a voice answered from the other room.
We headed to what had once been the living room of the house and found him standing at the back of the room in relative darkness, the shadows of the empty house almost making him invisible.
Aleksandr walked directly up to him and greeted him with a hug. “It’s good to see you again, TD. How are you doing?”
His voice changed completely as soon as he saw Aleksandr. “Alek, I’m good. How about you? It seems like ages since we last met up. We must try to see each other more often.”
“I’m all good, thanks. And yeah, we must.”
Aleksandr pulled away, and TD immediately held out his hand to me, which I duly took and shook as he addressed me.
“Mr. Koslov, it is good to see you again.”
“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Viktor? It’s good to see you, so I can personally thank you for this.”
He gave me a slight smirk. “It’s me who should be thanking you for the money you are paying me. As for calling you Viktor, you are still a much-feared member of the Russian bratva, and for that, you deserve my respect. I will always welcome you as Mr. Koslov. After a while, I may slip, Viktor.”
If anyone should have been feared it was him and not me. If you were in his sights, then you wouldn’t know until it was too late.
“Just remember to warn me if you are ever sent for me, won’t you?”
His raucous laughter filled the room. “I would kill anyone that sent me for you because they wouldn’t deserve my time. However, to matters at hand. I am sure you wish to get Miss Quinn back as soon as possible. From what I have seen, she is locked in the second bedroom along the corridor. She hasn’t been let out since arriving five days ago. It appears that Vincent has brought her food and drink every day. The back door is left unlocked. I looked around early this morning, so I would suggest going in through that, as it will make less noise than crashing through the front door. I noted just before I came to meet you that he has taken some cocaine today, so be on your guard. I haven’t seen a gun, but that’s not to say he doesn’t have one. However, I suspect a man like him doesn’t have the courage to kill someone, hence why your dear Nikolai was involved.”
He paused for a second before he continued. “Having looked into Miss Quinn’s background, I would appreciate it if you would give me a chance to torture him. He is nothing more than filth as far as I’m concerned and should be wiped off the face of the earth. The Teneva Diable feels like getting his hands well and truly dirty when it comes to that mudak .”
I could completely understand what he was saying, and a part of me knew he would torture Vincent far better than I could. However, this was something that I felt I needed to do for myself.
“You are willing to show yourself to someone, TD? Does he really deserve that?”
The smirk came over his face again. “For someone willing to kill unborn children, yes, I would show my face to the world for him.”
I nodded knowingly. I felt the same way about Vincent.
“I’m afraid I am going to have to turn that offer down. Even knowing what you could do to him, I need that pleasure myself. It won’t be quite as long and drawn out as yourself, but I need to avenge my malyshka. She means the world to me, as if she was my own daughter. She is my world, and I will do anything for her.”
TD smiled as I spoke. It was the first time I had admitted to anyone my feelings about Gabriella except when talking to Gabriella, Hudson, and Nico. I looked over to Aleksandr, who now realized just how important she was to me.
“I totally understand, Viktor. The offer will always be there, though, if you want me to help. Now, I’d better let you get on. Once this is all over, I would love to meet this woman who has tamed one of the hardest Russian bosses there is. I’ll wait here in case you need my help. However, I’m sure your men will be able to deal with him.”
I gave him a nod and said my goodbyes. We walked back out of the back of the house and to our car out front. My men had all been told to keep their distance from the house, on the understanding that the contact didn’t want to be seen. None of them except Aleksandr knew who it was, and I suspected if they did see him, they still wouldn’t realize. I knew that none of them would disobey me, and I found them all standing there in the same position they had been when we went inside.
We got into my car, took the short drive up to where Vincent was staying, and parked just out of sight on the long driveway leading to the house. Our position could't easily be seen from either the main road or the house, without walking along the driveway. The fact that trees surrounded the house, gave us the perfect cover to get up to it without anyone seeing us. My men all got out of their vehicles and started to gather, awaiting my instruction.
“You all know why we are here and what we need to do. I want one team to guard the front door, one at the rear, and the last to come inside with Aleksandr and me. Do not kill Vincent unless absolutely necessary. I will accept if he is injured, but I will have the pleasure of ending his life myself.”
I heard a few mumbles and noticed raised eyebrows at my comment. Only three men knew that I had killed Nikolai myself. I wanted to keep it that way. However, I wanted every member of my organization to know that I would kill Vincent. It would make them all realize just how important this was to me.
“I want everyone to head to their positions using the trees as cover. I want this to be a surprise and hopefully, no one will get killed, or even hurt. But know this, should that happen, you will be a hero to the Koslov family, and your own family will be well looked after. Now, to your positions, and udachi .”
I watched as my men headed into their positions, then turned to Aleksandr.
“Are you ready?”
He gave me a nod, and we headed around the tree line surrounding the house so we met up with the group who would be entering the house with us. Slowly, we walked the short distance from the edge of the trees up onto the back porch and through the door. We could hear muffled voices, which sounded as though they were coming from upstairs. The men checked all the rooms and confirmed that there was no one on the ground floor.
This made things easier. There was no way that Vincent could escape unless he jumped out of a window, and then he would probably be hurt and wouldn’t escape my men waiting outside. I signaled to two of the group to stay here just in case he tried to escape down the stairs. With that, we headed up the stairs.
As we grew closer to the room that Gabriella was being held in, the voices became slightly clearer. I could hear that Gabriella was crying and pleading with Vincent not to harm her or the baby.
I couldn’t hold back any longer as Gabriella’s muffled screams through the door. I motioned to one of my men to smash down the door and we all headed inside. The sight I found was shocking. Gabriella, my malyshka, was naked and tied to the bed with a half-naked Vincent leering over her.
I shouted at the top of my voice.
“Get the fuck off of her NOW!”