CHAPTER FOUR #3
“That piece of shit is dead, but I’m sure you assholes have figured that out by now. Unless you really are a bunch of neanderthals.” I stomp closer and grip hold of the man’s arm tugging it toward me, using my other hand to twist his hand so the blade moves away from Pawel and points at me instead.
Pawel pushes backward into the man, breaks free and runs toward the barn door leaving me to face off with the bear of a man in front of me.
The man lunges at me with his pathetic excuse of a knife. I grab the meat cleaver from underneath the cloth that kept it hidden from sight.
You weren’t expecting this fight today were you, fucker?
He goes to reach into his waistband, but I swing at him with the cleaver and connect with his shoulder.
I don’t stop. I swing recklessly and the cleaver chops into flesh, bone, muscle, an arm, a leg.
I don’t even pretend that I’m aiming. I don’t care how long it takes to kill this motherfucker.
All I know is no one comes for my family and tries to take my girl and walks out alive.
“Dima,” Pawel calls my name, his face pale in shock and his body shaking.
My poor brother, you’ve never witnessed a murder before. You’ve never seen this side of me. I’ve always kept it hidden. But it’s needed brother, it was you or him. Him or me.
“Leave. Go check on Natalia, she’s in my car. I parked at the side of the barn,” I reply calmly and continue to hack into the half dead bear on the floor. I’m pissed.
This wasn’t something I intended to do today.
Another fucking dead body to deal with.
“Piece of shit ... argh, fucker!” I scream.
My hands are dripping in his blood, and I reach for the now dead man’s phone. Using his thumb to unlock the screen I hold his hand firmly until I have access. I scroll to his messages.
Let’s see who sent you here. Nikolai is dead so who the fuck are you working for and what the fuck do you want with my girl?
Mikhail: Bring the girl. Failing that bring someone he’d be willing to exchange for her. His brother or the old man. It’s his grandfather. Do it by any means necessary.
Hmmm, Mikhail. Who the fuck are you and how the fuck do you know my family’s names?
I toss the phone to the ground and drag the corpse onto the meat grinder’s conveyor belt. I take the cleaver and hack hard and fast into the body in anger. It’s not my usual workmanship but I’m in no mind to spend too much time dealing with this fucker.
In frustration I sing my favorite boyhood song, but I can’t even remember the correct fucking order.
Chop, chop, chop.
Slaughter, slaughter,
Son or daughter,
Motherfucker thinks he can come here and threaten my family.
I swing harder in blind rage. Blood spatters across my face.
“Fucker. Fucking piece of fucking shit!” I scream and wipe his blood from my face with a rag.
Steel blade in hand, and soul long gone,
Chop, chop, chop.
This fucker has no soul. I can’t deal with this bullshit right now.
I swing the blade over and over cutting through his thigh bones. With one huge swing I crack his neck and slice his head clean off. I pull off the beanie hat, grip him by his hair, lift his head and look into his cold dead eyes.
“Who the fuck is Mikhail? Why did he fucking send you? Fucking talk!” Rage consumes me and I slam the head onto the conveyor belt and start up the machine. The belt moves the body parts into the grinder, and it spits out chunks.
It jams with a clunk.
“Fuuuuuuuck!”
I’ll deal with him later. Right now, I need to make sure Natalia is safe.
I walk to the sink and wash my hands and face cleaning off every trace of blood from my skin, but it remains on my clothes. I go outside and see that the car is gone, but how? I just killed him.
Maybe Pawel took it, but I told him to check on Natalia.
I pace around to the side of the barn where my car is still parked. My body shakes and I grab the door handle. I don’t see my girl.
What the fuck, where are you?
My hand’s shaking and wet mean my attempts to open the door don’t work too great and they slip each time until I finally get a good grip and open the door.
“Natalia,” I call into the car as I scan across the backseat.
“Dima,” her voice answers quietly from beneath a bundle of blankets.
“Fuck, Sparrow. I thought you’d gone. I thought they’d taken you.”
“I heard the noise, so I hid beneath the sheets,” she says clutching hold of the edge of a blanket.
You’re such a clever girl.
“Pawel, is he okay?” She sits up and looks up at me.
“I ... I don’t know. I told him to come to you. Maybe he panicked and drove back to the farmhouse,” I reply unsure of my own answer. “Lie back down in case anyone is waiting. Stay down until I tell you.”
“Okay,” she answers and lies back down, I throw the blankets over her covering her entire body.
What the fuck have I gotten my family involved in? Is this my curse or am I the curse?
We drive back to the farmhouse. I don’t see the Range Rover or Pawel anywhere. I know the man I just killed was sent by Nikolai’s men.
I hope Pawel is inside.
What if they got to him?
What if more of these assholes were waiting and he didn’t get away?
What if the one I killed was just a distraction?
I’m fucking worried about my brother’s safety.
My Grandpa—I need to make sure my grandpa is safe. I’ll fucking destroy anyone who tries to hurt him.
It’s all your fault, Dima. You were too fucking sloppy when you killed Nikolai.
I know this is my fault.
You should’ve taken his body with you. You should’ve thrown him in the trunk and placed Jupiter on top of him.
I was so distracted, so messy, so ... not fucking smart.
You’re right, Dima. You weren’t smart about it, about any of it.
If anything happens to your family or your girl, you’ll only have yourself to blame.
“Natalia, wait here. Keep quiet. I’ll be right back,” I whisper to her so that it doesn’t look like I’m speaking to anyone. I don’t know if anyone is watching.
“Okay,” she whispers back.
I shut off the engine and get out of the car. I press the lock key multiple times. My anxiety means I don’t trust anything right now.
A trail of blood leads to the farmhouse door. It’s open just wide enough to give me a view of coats blowing on the coat rack on the wall. A flurry of snow swirls and makes its way along the hallway.
My eyes widen at the sight; my palms clam up and my heart bangs in my chest.
Fuck, my grandpa.
I push the door open and pace inside, not wasting time I call out for him, “Grandpa!”
“I’m in the kitchen, Dima,” he calls back. The sound of his voice is a huge relief and I exhale.
I walk in to see grandpa cleaning blood from his hands.
“What happened?” I ask him.
“I could ask you the same.” He looks me up and down and stares at the blood stains on my jeans.
“Someone had Pawel. I had no choice. He’s in the barn. I cut him up. The machine stuck, I’ll deal with it later. I needed to make sure you were safe. What happened here?”
“Some asshole thought he could enter my property. He’ll be bleeding out. He’s lucky that all I had was this little kitchen knife.” He picks up the sharp and holds it under the running water.
“Where’s your brother?” He dries his hands on a towel and sets it down on the kitchen counter.
“I thought he came back here, but if not then ....”
“There’s a few bratva assholes. They tried to manhandle me and force me to go with them. But I’m too quick with a blade for pups. I think they may have taken Pawel. They sped off in a Range Rover.” Grandpa shakes his head and places the blade in the knife stand.
“Did any of them hurt you?” I ask not really wanting to know the answer. I’ll fucking kill anyone who dares to hurt my grandpa.
Grandpa laughs. “He tried. He came in demanding to know where your girl is. I told him I don’t know who she is, that’s when he made the silly mistake of getting violent.
He’s the one who’s hurt, not me. He no longer has a functioning liver.
I’ll give him an hour to get to a hospital before he bleeds out completely. ” He sighs. “Where is Natalia?”
“She’s in the back of my car. I’ll go get her.” I turn to walk to leave.
“Dima,” Grandpa calls me back.
“Yes?”
“Take her someplace safe. They know about this place now.”
“But Grandpa, what about you? I can’t leave you alone. They might come back.”
“I’m sure they’ll try, my boy. You remember I was a member of The Ropes?
I can deal with these motherfuckers. We need to keep Natalia safe and try to find Pawel.
” Grandpa smiles. “Oh, and Dima, don’t forget to read my journal.
” He reminds me of the hidden family secrets I’ve still yet to be tortured with.
“I will.”
“It’s important that you do. You want answers.”
“And then you’ll take me to visit her ... to visit Anna?” I swallow hard.
“Yes, my boy. Now go. Take your girl somewhere safe,” he urges.
“I need to grab our bags,” I reply then head upstairs to my room.
I grab our bags which are hardly unpacked.
I place my grandpa’s journal into the side pocket of my backpack and throw any loose clothing inside the main compartment.
I don’t have time to separate the clean from the worn.
I throw one over my shoulder and carry the other bag in my hand and hurriedly bounce back downstairs where grandpa is waiting for me by the door.
“Lock the door behind me,” I tell him, concern burns through my voice.
“I intend to. Don’t worry, Dima. Be safe. I love you, my boy.” He says and ruffles his fingers through my hair.
The old man forgets I’m grown but his caring nature is why I love him so much.
“I love you too, Grandpa. I’ll see you soon. If you need me call me. I’ll take her to the lake house. I don’t want to be too far away and it’s only half a mile from here.”
“Dima, they know about the farm. They’ll know about the lake house being on our land.”
Fuck. That’s how they found me. It’s how they found us. It makes sense now. Nikolai’s fucking car. It must have had a tracker on it.