21. Valentin
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
VALENTIN
I sit on the couch, looking out at the room in front of me, a cigar dangling from my mouth. The woodsy smoke fills my lungs, drowning out the smell of sex.
The room is packed, and everyone is excited to be out on a Saturday night. Gentlemen’s Wolf is where the rich and powerful come to play out their fantasies, cheat on their spouses, and indulge in every sin possible.
I have enjoyed the offerings of this place in the past, but not tonight. Tonight, we’re here on business.
Chase, my weapons distributor, called Nikolai and me here for something important—so important that he couldn’t discuss it over the phone. But now, he’s had to leave, forcing me to wait for him with the Colonel.
My patience is wearing thin. The only person I wait for is the Pakhan, and—of course—Lexi. I check my watch, counting down the minutes until I pick her up after the casino closes.
It’s been weeks since opening night, and while Lexi hasn’t officially moved in yet, her belongings are scattered throughout the loft. She only swings by her warehouse every few days to pick out something new to wear.
I proposed moving in without fully considering it, and I wasn’t sure how it would feel to live with a girl after so long. But having her in my bed every night, completely naked and eagerly waiting for me, has turned out to be an incredible experience. Amazing actually.
Stephanie offers me a glass of Scotch, teasingly rubbing her tits against my side. “We’ve missed you, Brigadier.” When I remain silent, she places my hand around her waist. “How about I arrange a room for you tonight?”
I look down at her. Her blonde hair and green eyes make her look just like her father.
Stephanie is Chase’s daughter, so, no matter how much she rubs her hard nipples against my arm, I won’t be touching her tonight—or on any other night.
A girl like Stephanie no longer excites me.
Only one girl is getting my cock hard nowadays.
“Thanks, but my girlfriend would be pissed if she found out. I hate for her to mess up your pretty face.” I raise my hand to Lev, who rushes over. “I bet my friend here can show you a good time.”
“I shouldn’t. Who knows what Chase is up to tonight?” Lev declines her offer, but I flash him a grin.
“Nikolai is here. I’ll be fine. Enjoy the party gift,” I tell him, giving him a friendly clap on the back and throwing a stack of cash on Stephanie’s lap.
Lev squeezes her cheeks and pulls her closer to him. “What do you say, doll? Want to have some fun with the help tonight?”
“Got any blow?” she asks, her nose brushing against his chest.
“I’ve got exactly what you want,” he replies, pulling her by the arm and leading her down the hall.
“Where the fuck is Chase?” Nikolai growls, his eyes barely looking at the naked women in front of us. Now married, Nikolai clenches his teeth and rolls his eyes, clearly agitated to be here.
I reach down to squeeze my hard-on, muttering a curse. “Did Chase say what was so important?
“It better be good, or you’re down a distributor,” Nikolai gives me a slimy grin, reaching down to grip his Glock. “If Ivy knew I was here, she’d shoot me first and ask questions later.”
I understand completely and wholly. I chuckle, imagining Lexi doing the same thing.
My jaw aches from grinding my teeth so hard. “I’ve got to leave soon. Lexi will be off work in an hour,” I say, stealing another glance at my watch.
“So, you and the kidnapper are serious?” he asks, casually holding his cigar, barely meeting my eyes as he takes a puff.
“I asked her to move in with me,” I inform him. “I haven’t told Andrei yet.”
Nikolai bursts into laughter. “Guess I shouldn’t kill her after all.” Once she rescued us from the Italian mob, I knew Nikolai would back off—he clearly saw she wasn’t a threat.
I shrug. “I prefer her pretty face to stay the way it is.”
“I swear I’ve seen her before,” he muses, scrunching his nose in thought. “She reminds me of someone, but I can’t quite place it.”
I’ve been thinking the same thing.
“I think I love her,” I confess.
“Fuck! Valentin, you’re in trouble.”
“No more than you,” I snort, recalling his own romance with a notorious assassin.
“Who knew men like us could fall in love?” Nikolai laughs, still puffing on his cigar, an amused grin stretching across his face.
“Apparently, Andrei and Dmitri,” I remind him, thinking back to when they both fell in love, we vowed that it would never be us.
Nikolai leans in and whispers, “If she breaks your heart, I’ll kill her then.”
“Thanks,” I reply, reaching out for a fist bump.
“Brigadier. Colonel.” Chase bursts into the room, sweat streaming down his forehead as fear grips him tightly. Reflecting on it now, I recall that the last time we were here, Nikolai pressed a gun to his head. Lucky for Chase, the chamber was empty.
I rise from my seat, adjusting my suit jacket and shaking out my leg to smooth my slacks. “This better be worth the wait,” I growl, furrowing my brow to let Chase know I’m not pleased with the delay.
“You’ll see, it was worth the wait,” he says, raising a finger and gesturing for us to follow.
We move down the hall, passing several closed doors leading to playrooms designed for indulgence.
Behind one of those doors lies a hidden room, and as it swings open, we find a man, bloodied and restrained to a metal chair, with plastic sheeting spread out on the floor to catch the blood that drips from his face.
“Why does he look so familiar?” I ask, stepping closer, trying to place where I’ve seen this man before.
“He’s one of Petrov’s top men,” a voice interjects from behind me. I spin around, caught off guard.
“Why shouldn’t I put you in the chair next?” I challenge the boy, narrowing my eyes at him. Nyx Petrov, Ivan’s stepson, leans against the wall, his knuckles smeared with blood.
“Because I’m loyal to the Coalition,” he answers, and something in his voice resonates with me.
I know Nyx has long despised Ivan, as he spent much of his childhood at my home with Daniel.
He holds Ivan responsible for his mother’s overdose, a tragedy wrapped in whispers.
Though there was no proof, Ivan wasted no time marrying his mistress and starting a new family, leaving Nyx feeling abandoned.
“Is that so?” I snort, spreading my arms and daring him to try to cross me.
Nikolai glances over at me before marching toward the man in the metal chair, his fist clenched tightly at his side. I give a brief nod, and I notice something dangerous flash in his eyes just before he slams his fist into Petrov’s man’s forehead.
“Where is Petrov?” I ask the man, blood gushing from his forehead.
Honestly, I shouldn’t even have to ask. The man knows who I am and what we will do to him if he doesn’t talk.
“I don’t know, Valentin,” he answers. My knuckles cross his jaw, and a crack resonates across the room.
Who does he think he is to address me by my first name? “Valentin?” I ask him.
“I’m sorry, Brigadier,” he says, voice quiet.
By now, Lev has joined us, and he hands me a cloth to clean the blood of this disgusting scumbag off my hands. Usually, I leave the questioning to Lev, but this time, it’s personal. I protect what’s mine.
I suck in a sharp breath through my teeth and press again. “Where is Petrov?”
“I don’t know,” he replies, but the way his nostrils flare and his breath quickens betrays his lie.
I direct a piercing glare at Nyx. “And I suppose you don’t know where your father is?”
“He stopped talking to me when he found out I was in contact with Daniel,” Nyx answers, meeting my gaze. I realize that his eyes are just as dark as mine. It seems that Daniel may actually have a future with us after all.
Nikolai crouches closer, his heated breath brushing against the man’s face, making him tremble as his whimpers escalate. “I know how to make him talk,” Nikolai growls with a diabolical laugh.
Unlike Andrei and Dmitri, who excelled in high school and college, Nikolai barely passed high school. At eighteen, he was already a Coalition soldier and opted out of college.
His lack of a college education doesn’t mean he’s not intelligent.
He just chose to study other subjects that a university couldn’t teach him. He’s a highly trained assassin, educated in war strategy and even in human anatomy. His training has made him an expert in cruel and unusual punishments.
It’s unfortunate, but the man before me is about to go through a level of pain that will leave him begging for death.
Nikolai sets a large knife on the table next to the man. “Bind him,” he commands. Lev swiftly seizes the man, securing his hands in heavy shackles that dangle from the ceiling.
Nikolai tightens his grip on the knife, swinging it swiftly before forcefully slashing the man’s back.
Oh, shit! This is going to hurt.
The blood eagle is a form of torture that comes from Viking executions. The tortured back is slashed to give access to the ribs, which are then broken and twisted upward to look like wings.
It only takes thirty minutes for the man to break.
“He’s here in New York,” he sobs in between his short breaths.
The information provided is not compelling enough to deter Nikolai. To make matters worse, Nikolai rubs salt into the man’s wounds.
The man lets out a piercing scream that expands through the empty room, his voice a raw mix of fear and anguish.
“Are you sure?” I move closer to him to make sure I’m hearing him right.
“He’s looking for the girl,” the man spits.
My heart stops. My breath catches in my throat. “What girl?”
“The pretty young girl,” he chokes, his voice cracking.
He must be talking about Lexi.
“Why?” I cry out, my hands pressed firmly against the wound, frantic to stem all the blood from escaping. “Why?” I repeat, my voice rising in desperation.
“Her sister.” His words trail off, and as he exhales a final, quivering breath, his eyes drift shut.
“Fuck him!” Nikolai yells, delivering a sharp kick to his ribs with his steel-toed boots.
All the muscles in my body are tense, my breath coming short and ragged. Rage is surging through my veins, dark and consuming. I can barely contain it.
I slam my fist against the wall, my control shattering. “That bastard touched her!” He doesn’t have to say it, but that fucker obviously did it.
Nikolai doesn’t even flinch. He keeps his eyes on the dead man. “Brigadier.”
“I’m going to fucking rip that motherfucker’s heart out!” I shout, slamming my fist against the wall. The pain cuts into my knuckles, and blood seeps onto my sleeve.
Nyx is frozen by the door, his eyes wide and mouth agape as he takes in the horror of what Nikolai did to that man. I grab him by his shirt and forcefully slam his back against the wall. “Did you know about this? Tell me motherfucker!”
Nyx coughs as air rushes out of his lungs. “I don’t know anything about the girl,” he whimpers. “I promise, Brigadier, I’ve told you everything I know.”
I loosen my grip on him, my chest tightening as I struggle to breathe—the air feels oppressively thin.
I reach into my pocket, quickly open the pill bottle, and swallow a dry pill, feeling my throat constrict around it.
The room remains silent, with everyone waiting for me to regain my composure.
The men glance skeptically at the pill bottle, fully aware that my health is under scrutiny, but at this moment, I couldn’t care less.
I look at the man hanging from the ceiling, his chin drooping down. I pull my gun out, finger tightening around the trigger, and shoot the dead man in the face. His head explodes in a spray of blood and bone.
“Brigadier.” My gaze shifts to Nikolai, noticing how one brow arches like a blade. “Who’s the girl’s sister?”
I shake my head, at a loss. “I don’t know.” My little Krasotka has a sister? Lexi’s past is shrouded in mystery, erased, as if it never existed. But why is that?
I’ll need to sort through these questions later.
The weight of the dead man’s words hangs heavily in the air. I dial Lexi’s number, but it goes straight to voicemail. I try again—still voicemail.
Frustrated, I run my hand down my face and take a deep breath. I look at Lev and say, “We have to get to the casino—now!”