Chapter 33 Mass
MASS
My fist cracks into Gabe’s face. His head lolls as spit and blood leak from his mouth onto the bare concrete floor. “Tell me how you did it.” I hit him again. He only groans in response. “Tell me how!”
“I don’t know,” he mumbles and manages to spit. A tooth rattles onto the floor. “Allie… is Allie alive…”
I grab him by the hair and press a blade against his exposed neck. “What the fuck do you care about your sister? You sold her to Medved. You gave that bastard my daughter.”
“No.”
“Make me believe you.”
“I wouldn’t…”
I snarl and flick the knife across his face, slicing his cheek and straight back through his ear. I lop off the top half, leaving an ugly stub behind. He lets out a garbled moan as blood rolls down his face, soaking into his sweaty and ruined shirt.
I kick his chair over and leave him to bleed.
“He doesn’t know shit,” I say to Lucy, throwing the knife onto the table.
It rattles against an array of torture devices.
I might regret disfiguring my brother-in-law one day, but right now, I have no room in my heart for anything but finding my daughter.
“Not a goddamn thing.” I’m tempted to reach for a particularly well-used pair of pliers just to ease some of this rage.
Lucy only shakes her head. “She’s awake. You should go to her.”
A pulse rips down into my chest. I hurry past Lucy and practically run to the medical wing. I have one focus and only one focus right now.
My wife. My Allie.
She cuts through the pain.
How could this have happened? When I’ve worked most of my life to build a fortress worthy of a Dragon? Only for it to be infiltrated by traitors and spies.
I was too soft.
I let myself trust the people around me.
Never again.
I burst into her room. A nurse is there checking a line and making a note in her chart. I ignore the woman and throw myself down at Allie’s side, taking her hand in mine. It’s warm and smooth.
My wife blinks at me, confused and still only half awake. “Mass,” she whispers.
I kiss her fingers. I kiss her wrist and palm. “I’m here.” I want to devour her, wrap her in my arms, and make sure she’s safe.
“Rosie…”
I clench my jaw and say nothing. Some of the fire in my guts quenches in one heavy burst of agony.
Allie’s face crumples, and tears roll down her cheeks.
I try to wipe them away, but she flinches.
“I tried to get away,” she whispers. “I really tried, but Satya shot me.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“They took her, Mass. They took our daughter.”
“I know they did, but I’m going to get her back, I swear.”
“I tried…” She trails off into more sobbing.
I stay by her side. I have nowhere else to go. I feel hollow and empty now. Some of my rage is spent, and the rest is ruined at the sight of my beautiful wife breaking down. It kills me worse than I ever thought it could.
This isn’t her fault.
It’s all mine.
And I’ll never live it down.
No matter what happens from here on out, I’ll carry this failure with me like a stone around my neck.
I’ll never be this weak ever again.
Never be so low either.
“So many times over the years, I’ve wanted to give up,” I say softly when Allie’s crying softens and begins to subside.
“I’ve hit rock bottom a thousand different ways.
I’ve been shot, beaten, stabbed, strangled, kicked, and worse.
I’ve lost friends, watched whole neighborhoods burn, and failed a million different ways.
But I’ve never stopped. That’s what separates the powerful from men like me.
No matter what happens, no matter how low I get, no matter how smeared in blood and shit and dirt, I don’t stop.
Otherwise, I’ve lost, and I can’t tolerate true failure.
I’ll get our daughter back, Allie, I promise. ”
“I believe you.” She touches my cheek. I take her hand in mine and squeeze. “Kill them all, Mass. Start with that horrible bitch Satya.”
“I will.”
I stay for a while longer until the nurse tells me Allie should get some more rest. She’s sleepy already and doesn’t mind when I step out into the hall to get some air. Lucy’s already waiting, a grim look on her face.
“What I don’t understand is why Medved wants my daughter.” We walk together, not going anywhere, but moving anyway.
“She’s important. You know that. Besides, she’s great blackmail material.”
“It won’t work. He has to know that.”
“What does he have to lose?” She grimly pauses near a window and looks out to sea. “Enzo contacted me a little bit ago. He thinks he located Medved’s boat not far from here. It’s a military-style vessel. Fast and well-armed.”
A thrill runs into my stomach. “Put out the call. We’re going after them with all the strength we have.” I can already taste the burning oil in the air and hear the screams of Medved’s crew echoing out through the ocean. I hope the sharks are fucking hungry.
Lucy doesn’t move, though. She’s still looking out the window. “How far are you going to go for this, Mass? What are you going to give up for that old man in the west wing?”
I grimace and look at my hands. “He’s got nothing to do with this.”
“You’re wrong. Kill him and Medved will take his place. Then he won’t need your daughter.”
“You just want me to give Medved what he wants? You think that’ll stop him?”
“I think you’re going to rip everything we’ve built together to the ground. All for what? Some girl you barely know?”
I lunge forward in a blind rage. Lucy barely reacts when I slam my knee into her thigh, twist her around, and wrap my hands around her throat. Her mouth opens, and she gags as I dig my fingers into her windpipe.
“Speak of my wife and daughter like that again and I’ll kill you.”
She stares at me. There’s strangely no fear in her eyes. “Had to be sure,” she chokes out.
My grip loosens. “What are you talking about?”
“Had to be sure,” she repeats more clearly this time. “Let go of me, you prick.”
I back away uncertainly. “Had to be sure what of?”
“Your commitment.” She spits on the floor and straightens her clothes. “God, Mass, you’re still such a fucking psycho. You know, all the years we’ve worked together, you’ve never touched me before?”
“Never needed to.”
“Yeah, well, here’s hoping it never happens again.” She pushes herself away from the window.
“Why do you fucking need to know about my commitment?”
“Because Medved reached out. You need to hear what he has to say and you need to seriously consider it. That little girl and your wife are the most important people in your life. Dragon or not, I don’t give a damn.
We built this place on people, and if you start turning your back on them now, you’re fucked. ”
My eyes open slightly. “Funny, coming from you.”
“I mean it. All these people? They’re loyal because you helped them. You took them seriously. It’s the same with me.” Lucy looks away again. “You remember what I was like when you found me?”
“I remember a skinny girl with hate in her eyes.”
“My parents were murdered by the cartels. I stole a gun from my uncle and I was going to kill them in cold blood. I went to that nightclub thinking I’d start with a local guy, but instead, I found you, and somehow you talked me out of it.
You made me believe in something bigger.
You gave me a purpose like you give all these people meaning. ”
I smile to myself. “You were the ballsiest girl I’d ever seen in my life. We ended up killing those cartel guys a few years later, remember that?”
“It was one of the happiest moments I’ve ever felt.” Lucy steps forward and puts a hand on my arm. “Do the right thing no matter what. Pay any price. Burn down any bridge. But get your daughter back.”
My smile fades. The memory of better days fades too. “He wants something big, doesn’t he?”
Lucy doesn’t answer. Instead, she pushes past me and heads down the hall. I hesitate before following.
She’s right that I built this empire on favors. I’ve taken care of people all my life, maybe as many as I’ve destroyed. I’ve always believed that the only way to create something lasting is to give as much as I take. Loyalty has to be earned. Money goes only so far.
But Satya has shaken that belief to its foundations.
I never dreamed someone like her would turn their back on me.
Now here’s Lucy telling me to hold on.
We’ve been together a long time. I was only sixteen when I found her. She was ten years old and already a vicious little monster.
Throughout that time, I’ve trusted her more than I can remember.
If she thinks this price isn’t too high, then I’ll have to pay it.