23. Emil
EMIL
A foghorn reverberates through the yard, guiding one of the ships into port. I stand on the top of a shipping container watching it dock, the wind blowing my hair away from my face.
The freight ship approaches, bright white lights cutting through the haze, causing me to shield my eyes for a few seconds.
The watch tower, towering above over on my left, is in complete darkness, but someone could be squatting in there.
They could be taking the docks from me right now, but Alexander and his crew lack bravery, which is why I’ve succeeded for so many years.
Does that make me powerful, or lucky?
I glance at the floor, staring at where the naked bodies were strewn between shipping container aisles. They were cleaned up in good time, loaded onto a ship and dumped out at sea, but it hardly solves any problems.
Fia’s friend could be responsible for their deaths. She has a big motive, and the look she flashed me at the gala suggested she would do anything to save her friend.
It’s endearing, knowing someone in the world is willing to kill for you. Nobody has seen enough worth in me to go that far, not even my own father. But being lonely has its advantages, forcing you to write your own narrative and protect yourself. Nobody in this world is coming to save you.
“Good view up there?” calls a voice.
Alexander peers up at me, squinting through the darkness.
I note the knife under my belt, but exhaustion fills my muscles. I choose to ignore the knife for the time being. It won’t solve much. Alexander’s death will motivate his crew to retaliate, and I’m lacking physical and mental strength tonight to start a war.
Fia and I are on complicated terms at the moment, having that difference in opinion about her friend. Our relationship is at risk of going backward. If she takes one step into the outside world again to escape me, it could cost me everything.
“Thanks for the presents,” I drawl, staring down at the man. “Your team worked hard the other night, destroying my night shift crew instead of actually doing something proactive with their time.”
“My team were fast asleep in their beds,” chuckles Alexander. “I was impressed by the vigilante’s work. Murdering an entire crew and getting away with it unscathed takes skill, but it also takes balls.”
I frown, the wind blowing between us. “This person wasn’t working for you?”
Alexander shakes his head. “I wish they were, since it appears we both want the same things.”
I grind my jaw, turning back to the freight ship, which has now docked. Mechanical clunking booms through the atmosphere like thunder, cranes moving in the night like giants, their shadows projected by flood lights.
The shadows cross Alexander, his face illuminated in the fog lights for a moment before the crane moves.
“You should have let that poor girl go after the car crash, giving her a chance to start over.”
“Thanks for your advice,” I groan.
“Anytime,” says Alexander. “I always speak the truth, unlike you, always cowering away from the facts of a situation. Fia was never meant to be part of your life. Call me evil, call the vigilante dangerous, but if you look at your reflection long enough, you’ll see that we’re all the same.
” Alexander narrows his eyes, reading me.
“In fact, you could be worse. You represent evil in its truest form, kidnapping an innocent young woman, dragging her into your shit. She only fell in love with you because it was the only option.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Stockholm syndrome. If Fia had her freedom, she would never have fallen in love with you.”
My blood heats up, surging through my veins like lava.
Anger isn’t the only emotion I’m feeling.
My chest aches as I hold Alexander’s words close.
His goal is to knock me down, weaken my forces so he can rise above, but he was doing that long before he started making comments about my marriage with Fia.
She is my weakness, but she is also my strength in all of this.
Which means if I lose her, I lose everything.
My place on this earth becomes irrelevant, my Bratva loses all meaning.
I become normal, unworthy of greatness as I float through life, turning to others for direction, for money.
I become the hopeless boy I always used to be, incapable of protecting the people I love.
Perhaps love was never meant to stay with me forever. Perhaps Alexander is right about the car accident. Fia was meant to die and escape me. Freedom is on the other side of death, and Fia always wanted her independence more than she ever wanted me.
“Why the fuck would you try and kill her?”
Alexander chuckles. “What makes you think I was involved in the car crash? You have more enemies than you know, bratan.”