53. Dmitri
53
DMITRI
“ I don’t think it’s wise that you bring your woman or her sidekick with you,” Luca deplored, referring to Elanee and Layla as we stepped into separate cars. There’s three cars in total. Lorenzo and he share a car with one of the hounds. One hound drives me, Elanee and Layla and the others trail in the car behind us.
Last night had been the first time in a long time that I’d been able to sleep for a few hours. I wanted to bury myself deep inside of Elanee and claim every inch of the woman so perfectly built for me. But she was too sickly and weak. Far worse than she’d ever been.
When I walked in and saw her like that, I broke into a million pieces. I never wanted to see her look like that again. The fight had fled her body and left nothing but a shell, and I would make sure that no matter what, she would come out of this in one piece. Part of me already knows that to do that, I also have to come out alive.
There’s no separating her pain and my pain any longer. I now realize that she would be the same without me as I am without her.
She threads her fingers through mine as we sit in the back seat, peering out into the dark hours of the morning. She’s wearing an all-black pant-suit, which is a stark contrast to her usual creamier tones.
Last night, I had two missed calls from my grandfather. He left one voice message as well after he’d found out I wouldn’t be at my mother’s tonight for our usual dinner. It’s as if he knows something’s wrong because his voice message ends with, ‘Don’t do anything stupid, boy.’
But it reminds me that he, too, cares about me. And no matter what, this was a long time coming.
“You stay behind the hounds the entire time,” I say to them both: the hound who is driving peers into the rearview mirror at me. I never thought I’d be in a position where I’d be relying on the Italian mafia, but I supposed stranger things in life could happen.
“I’ll do that as long as you’re kicking his ass. If I think you’re in danger ,then I’ll step in between, so make sure I don’t.” Elanee presses.
I glare at her. “Elanee, I’m serious.”
“And so am I,” she says defiantly. “The sooner this is over, the sooner you can go in for that operation.”
Layla’s eyebrows shoot up, and she tries to hide a smirk.
“You really know how to incentivize someone, don’t you?” I lecture her.
“Do you really think I’m going to incentivize you with sweet nothings while my sister is in the car?” she asks.
“I’d prefer it,” I’m quick to say.
“I’d rather you not,” Layla pipes up.
Although we might’ve laughed at it once, the somber mood is too heavy to break.
We’ve been driving out of the city for over thirty minutes now and ever slowly, the sun has begun to rise. I watch it as I focus on the sensation of Elanee’s thumb brushing over my hand, memorizing her touch.
We pull off the main road and drive down a thin dirt road along the river. Ten minutes later, we spot two cars parked under a leafless tree. Six men are waiting, all with cigars hanging out of their mouths. One casually dangles his hands over a bat resting across his shoulders.
Our cars come to a stop and the lights dim. There’s nothing here. Just a river, a lifeless tree, and more importantly—no witnesses.
Elanee’s grip tightens on my hand as her gaze lands on him. The Lion is only wearing a set of low-hanging jeans, so his torso, marked by various scars, is on display. I step to Luca’s side, still holding Elanee’s hand. Lorenzo partially stands in front of him, forever a shield. And the hounds and The Lion’s men size one another up. The Lion laughs as he points at the hound’s masks. “New York. It’s so theatrical. Where I’m from, men don’t hide behind masks.”
And then The Lion points to Luca and says in the way of an introduction: “You’re younger than what I imagined.”
“And you’re not welcome to conduct business on my turf,” Luca coldly replies.
The Lion smiles at that remark but then his expression twists when he notices Elanee and me.
“I wondered if you had a part to play in this. Perhaps I did underestimate you, you little shit. Do you know how much money you’ve cost me over these years?” he snidely demands.
“I thought I was nothing but a buzzing fly?” I arrogantly kick up a smile.
He offers a twisted smile that looks more like a snarl. “You went to quite the effort for a broken toy. But I can’t return to my boss empty-handed. So let’s make this easy,” he says looking at Luca. ”No weapons. Bare hands. Until the death. When I win, I get a little permission slip to continue my gun trafficking and you’re going to reimburse every fucking piece that you stole from me.”
“Not quite,” Luca says as he redirects his attention back to me.
“You’ll be fighting me,” I interject.
“But I don’t want in on your business,” The Lion says unfazed. “What could I possibly want with those tiny fucking cubicles you work in?”
“He’ll be fighting on my behalf?” Luca says matter-of-factly. Not that anyone would ever need to fight on his behalf, but that was our agreement.
“Isn’t this what you always wanted, paps?” I say to antagonize him.
His response is slow and calculated. Because The Lion cannot help but want to win any challenge. “I threw you away a long time ago, boy, because you’re weak, just like your mother. You should learn when to bow,” he says as he blows another puff of his cigar.
He’d caught me off guard last time, and with my body having sporadic numbing and paralysis, I was at his mercy. I just gambled that fate was on my side today. I begin to peel away my shirt, knowing that there’s no way The Lion will turn a challenge down, especially when he has an audience.
I cock an arrogant smile. “When I kill you today, my terms are that none of your men come after any of the families I’m involved with. No one is to come to New York.”
He laughs. “You actually think you have a chance, boy?” He looks between Luca and me and then his smile turns downwards when he realizes how serious we are. “Fine, let’s play this schoolyard bullshit. At least try to get a hit in.”
Cold fingers snake through mine, and I turn to face Elanee. “I told you to stay behind the hounds,” I grit. Her bronze doe-eyes focus on me, but I can tell it’s terrifying for her to stand so close to him.
“Come back to me. Promise me,” she says, looking up at me through thick eyelashes.
I press my forehead to hers, embracing the heat of her forehead, and inhale the same air that she breathes to give me strength. If my body doesn’t betray me, I can do this. “I’ll come back to you. Always.”
“This shit makes me want to puke,” The Lion says as he steps away from the cars and into the open space.
I kiss Elanee and release her hand as I walk over to him. I can’t stand the sight of him, but there’s something that feels off about the situation. He used her as bait to distract me from his other business. Maybe he didn’t anticipate I’d willingly align with the Italian mafia all for her.
He rolls his shoulders and brushes his loose, long, black hair over his shoulder. “Let’s see what you have then, boy.”
My jaw grinds, goaded by his condescending tone. But I wasn’t a boy, and I wouldn’t play his game and jump in first like I often did because of my short temper. Oddly enough, today, I felt a serene calm about the situation. I appraise his stance, looking for any weak openings. He seems to notice what I’m doing because he charms a smile. “Not all brawn then, ey? Come, you look like you have some questions for me.”
I loathe speaking with him, but since he was going to die today, I figured it’d be the only time I could have absolute answers.
“Why did you decide to show up now after all these years?” I grit out as we begin to circle one another.
“Maybe I just missed my girl’s sweet pussy,” he says with a ghastly smile. I lunge, the snaping of restraint gone before I can reign it in. I hated the way he looked at her. He spoke to her. He hurt her.
For a man of his size, he’s fast, but it wouldn’t catch me by surprise a second time. I step behind him and kick him in the back of his knee. But he doesn’t drop; instead, he swings his elbow back. I block my face and barely hold it tight enough to deflect his hit. We break apart and circle one another again.
“Maybe I grew bored in Russia,” he chimes in a sing-song way, and this time, takes the first swing. But it’s slow, nothing like the rumor of The Lion’s ferociousness, or perhaps he’s simply toying with me. I step out for a moment, looking for weaknesses again.
The others eye one another, the rivaling gangs watching the fight but each other as well. Elanee stands behind Lorenzo with her hands clutched to her chest. The sun is starting to stretch a gold hue through her hair, and my jaw begins to grind.
I had to kill him for us both.
That’s not the only thing that catches my eye. I notice the gold ring on The Lion’s marital finger. From the intel I’d gathered, he hadn’t remarried. So why was he wearing a ring? Had I missed something?
He lunges again, and there’s a difference to his speed and strength as if he purposefully increased a level. “Perhaps I wanted to destroy my only living heir since he’s such a wet blanket!” he says with frustration.
I dodge the blow and strike twice into his side, but he hardly flinches. The advantage I do have is my speed, but it’s not enough on its own. I’ll have to tire him out first. He swings and I purposefully take the hit and upper-cut him in return.
I feel blood explode in my mouth as I offer a lethal smile. “You talk too much.” I spit blood onto the ground.
He smiles, his own mouth a bloody mess, as he wipes it away. He points to me as he casually places one foot in front of the other as if going for a casual stroll. “I’m not going to lie, boy, I thought you’d come for me. I thought you’d come to Russia.”
“There’s nothing for me there,” I say blatantly, and something shifts in his gaze. It makes him angrier.
The only thing that was there was Elanee. But maybe… maybe he’s so self-involved that he actually thought I’d want to see him.
“Why didn’t you ever come for my mother and me? You could’ve snuck in and left as easy as that.”
He laughs. “Gramps never told you. He made a hardy plea to buy me out as long as I never touched American soil again. To leave you and the love of my life alone. Money speaks, boy, as I’m sure you know.”
I try not to show my surprise. My grandfather had bought him out to protect us? He never told me that. All this time, I thought he’d cowered from the Bratva, but instead, he did all he could to protect us.
“But that little truce came to an end when I was tasked with starting operations back here in New York. It’s just an added benefit that I get to kill you in the process.”
My mind swirls, and my vision fades out as he lunges.
Fuck.
I brace for the impact as I try to gauge the distance with my impaired vision and dodge him. His fist collides with my nose, and I’m thrown back with the momentum, but he’s already caught me and knees my sternum. I wheeze as he winds me and pushes me to the ground.
I gasp and cough into the dirt, trying to stand again. My vision fades in and out, and I curse this fucking illness that’s digging its clutches in so deeply.
“Why are you hesitating?” he growls. “Don’t you want to kill your old paps? Or is it not enough incentive?” he screams, furious now.
I look up through thick eyelashes as Lorenzo and Layla hold Elanee back. She’s screaming out my name, but it’s only coming in waves of sound.
Luca has his arms crossed as he watches, looking at me like I’m a sick man.
A dead man.
“Perhaps we should up the stakes?” The Lion says, and as I turn to look at him, I notice he pulls out a knife. It doesn’t surprise me that he plays foul.
The thing about a wounded animal is that when they’re most hurt, it’s the time they’ll most desperately fight.
For her, I would fight.
Against this fucking disease.
Against my father.
Against everything that would dare hurt her or our future.
He goes to bring down the knife, and as he does, I grab a fist-size rock and roll out of his way. I’m on my feet within seconds, and he seems amused by the movement. I begin to see red as I let that wild, wounded animal to the surface. I scan all the vital points where I can strike.
Dead.
I want him dead.
“Or maybe I came back for your mother,” he says as he strikes with the knife again. It’s close to my throat as I twist out of its way. I slam the rock into his kneecap and bounce back out of his reach. He grunts and tries to grab my shoulder, but I slip out of the hold and barely miss being struck in the chest.
I’m behind him now, and it’s the opening I need as I strike the pointed edge of the rock into the back of his head. He keels forward, blood immediately seeping down his back. He’s sluggish but still turns to face me with a crazed smile.
“Or maybe I came here to teach you how to be a real man,” he says as he touches the wound on the back of his head and pulls back red. His men pull out guns at the same time as the Hounds, but The Lion raises his hands. “No, this stays between us.”
Layla is trying to usher Elanee back into the car but she defiantly remains in place, her face twisted in anguish. I permitted her to come, but I wish now that I’d ignored her request.
My left arm feels like pins and needles from numbness, and I cling to the rock in my right, furious with my body.
The sunlight is too blinding as it splits my head in two with another of the constant migraines I’ve had these past few months, but I only have sights for one thing.
Blood.
There has to be more.
He must pay.
“Looks like I underestimated you. There’s a killer in there yet,” The Lion says with a smile. “You know you could’ve come back to me. I thought maybe you were only brains. But with a fighting spirit like that, you’d do well in the Bratva.”
I spit blood toward his bare feet. “I’d rather die.”
He doesn’t seem impressed by the gesture but says through a smile. “I thought you might say that.” He throws the knife, and I’m too slow to dodge it as it embeds into my left shoulder, propelling me back. The rock drops to the ground as The Lion pounces on me, but I’m quick to rip the blade out with a grimace and slash across his stomach.
He momentarily stumbles back, hand to stomach, as I strike lower and go for his thigh, aiming for his femoral artery, but the knife slips out of my grip with momentum. Blood squirts, and finally he’s forced to stumble, and drop to his knee.
I grab the rock again as I pounce on him and slam it into his head. He wrestles me, and we roll in the dirt. He’s able to kick me off, but I slide from the momentum along the dirt and pounce again like a predator on top of a wounded animal. And he is wounded, bleeding out even.
“You thought it was funny when you hurt her!” I seethe. I see nothing but red as I claw back on top of him. He tries to push me away, but I strike again. This time, when he kicks me off, I go for his feet. All I can see is Elanee’s face and the graphic mutilated detail of her feet. “You thought you could take her spring?”
I slam the rock down on his big toe edge down. Red stains the rock, and blood squirts as he kicks me off with the other foot, and I briefly glance at the detached toe.
“You tormented my mother and made her a shell!” I scream and lunge again. In and out. Everything’s a blur as rage grips me like a noose. I sever the big toe from his other foot. His stomach, face, and thigh are a bloody mess.
But he’s smiling. Wildly. Unrelentingly. Which only makes me more livid.
I hit and hit and hit, all together forgetting about the knife on the ground and willing all my strength to hit him over and over again.
Bang.
A gunshot rings out, and I’m stunned. Multiple gunshots go off afterward, and I realize with a cold realization as I look down that I’ve been shot in the chest. It’s slow for the realization to catch on, and I briefly glance in the direction of the cars as I notice The Lion’s men fall. I also see how one of his men has his gun pointed in my direction as he slides down the car. I stumble forward to strike at The Lion again, but when I look at him. Actually, look at him, I realize he’s barely conscious.
I fall to my knees beside him in shock. Everything goes still and quiet as I hear Elanee screaming out my name in the distance. I stare at my father in disbelief, his gaze unwavering from mine. “I—” He coughs up blood. “I’m—” More blood. He looks as if he’s trying to reach out to me. “Proud.”
What.
The.
Fuck.
My eyebrows furrow as my body caves forward. Someone catches me before I hit the ground, and all I see is black—the color of a woman who unintentionally dressed for a funeral.