Chapter Four
Maeve
Can he tell how nervous I am?
My palms are sweaty. I feel the butterflies in my stomach. I’m trying to play the part of being sophisticated, but this is one of those moments when I don’t know what I’m doing. My parents never took me out to a restaurant. My brothers and sister, yes, but I was the one that was made to stay home.
At first, it was because they would say they couldn’t afford to feed me.
Then, I realized it was because, as far as they were concerned, I wasn’t a member of the family.
It was why I always had to do things differently.
Even Christmas morning, I had to unwrap my presents in my bedroom, I was not allowed to join the family.
My rule at family dinners was to sit at the table, shut up, and be quiet.
I was part of the family, and not part of it at the same time.
They were just fulfilling the role of keeping me alive until they could get rid of me.
That was why I wasn’t allowed to go to school. I got nannies and private tutors. There was no love, no real care. And it was why I didn’t want to make a fool of myself here.
“I can promise you everything here is delicious,” he said. “You order what you want.”
There were so many options. If I went for the meatballs and spaghetti, would that be too basic? Childish? If I went for the chicken parmesan, what would that mean?
The waiter came over, and I didn’t quite catch what my captor ordered. In the end, I went with what I knew and ordered the chicken parmesan. I loved when Louis cooked it.
My captor poured some wine. I had partied a little.
Alcohol didn’t hold much appeal to me. Although, I wanted to play my part, so I held the glass and took a sip.
It was during my first sip that I saw my family.
They all walked in, and they looked so damn happy—like a family—a family I was never supposed to be part of.
It was like a sucker punch to the gut. I nearly dropped my glass, but I was able to rectify my mistake without looking like a total idiot.
My heart pounded inside my chest, and I felt like crying. I took deep breaths, but I was cautious as I did this, because I didn’t want him to know I was dying inside.
They didn’t even look in my direction. They were a little loud, and with a quick glance around the restaurant, I could see their noise was not welcome. That made me feel a little better.
“Do you want me to get rid of them?” he asked.
My captor drew my attention back to him. Staring at him, I felt comforted. He had placed his hand on top of mine, and it was like the magic pull I needed.
“It’s fine.”
“Say the word, they will be gone and never allowed to return here.”
“You’d do that for me?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I was going to leave it. I was going to be the bigger person, but their laughter was just too much.
I couldn’t stand it. They were playing happy family, none the wiser that they had a daughter to save their own skin.
If I was a bigger person, I might have done the right thing, but it was just too much.
So, I nodded to my captor. I wanted my family gone.
This was my night with my captor, and I was not going to have it spoiled.
My captor got to his feet, and I watched as he closed the distance between me and my family.
I’m not close to them, but I watched as my oldest brother Alex reached out, only his hand was grabbed by my captor, twisted, and I saw the pain on Alex’s face. I’m not a sadistic person, but I liked that. I liked that more than I cared to acknowledge.
My father got to his feet, and it looked like he was about to approach, but my captor grabbed him around the neck and marched him out the door. Several of the waiters, as well as my captor’s guards, did the same.
My family was dumped out on the street without a word. The moment they were gone, there were cheers around the restaurant, and my captor came back. He lifted his wine glass. His hand didn’t shake. It was like he hadn’t just thrown grown-ass men out of a restaurant.
“Thank you,” I said.
“You don’t have to be uncomfortable. All you have to do is say the word, and I will fix whatever you need.”
I believed him.
It wasn’t long before our food came out, and the chicken parmesan looked absolutely delicious.
Cutting into the succulent breast, I saw it was super moist. All the flavors were there, mingling together, which was exactly how it should be.
There was no way I could eat this delicately.
As I finished my food he offered me a bite of his steak, and it tasted absolutely delicious.
I expected a meal with this man to be awkward. He had taken care of my family when I asked him to.
After dinner, we had dessert. He had some warm apple pie, and I couldn’t resist a chocolate mousse. Both tasted delicious.
I didn’t want the night to end. When we traveled to the restaurant, there was this distance between us. Now, there wasn’t. I leaned against his shoulder. It felt so natural, so real.
When we arrived at home, my captor put a hand to my back, escorted me into the house and up to my living quarters. I didn’t have a bedroom, it was a living space.
I turned toward him, and I was just going to thank him for a lovely evening, but then, against my own judgement and acting on instinct, I threw myself at him, wrapped my arms around his neck, and kissed him.
I had not kissed many boys or men in my life. This was my first real kiss, and I liked how his lips felt on mine.
All too soon, the reality of my situation came rushing back, and I pulled away, thanking him for a lovely evening and escaping into my sanctuary.
What the hell was that?
****
Draven
“Fuck you!” The spittle missed me. It was a bad aim, but the man was hanging upside down. I was not in the best of moods.
A girl was taken to the hospital after being found outside one of my casinos.
I had an informant give me the details so I could handle it myself.
I had the security hunt the man down, who also happened to have several bags of heroin on him.
The same kind of heroin I knew the Taylors were dealing with.
Nodding to one of my men who held a tire iron, I watched as he struck the man at the back of the legs. He did this once, twice, three times. The man screamed, begging for it to stop. His name was Hunter Price. I’m not sure if that was his real name, but it was the alias he had been using.
“I’m a very patient man, Mr. Price,” I said. “We can do this all day.”
Hunter was spinning as he was upside down. He had already pissed himself, and there was a small puddle of vomit on the floor as well.
With him spinning, I grab a knife and press the blade against his chest. He is not quite at eye level, and I nod to my other man to spin the wheel that would lift him up.
“Please, for fuck’s sake, please,” he said, whimpering.
“Who do you work for?”
“No one. Fuck you. That product is mine.”
I press the knife, going through his clothes, and I know I was touching flesh at this point. I don’t even have to press that hard. My knives are sharp. If he twisted wrong, it was game over.
He was covered in sweat.
I tutted. “You know this will go a lot easier for you if you just say their names.”
“Do you have any idea what they will do to me if I tell you anything?”
This made me smile, and I slid the knife all the way in and didn’t take it out.
“Do you know what I’m going to keep doing to you?
” I asked. “Just between you and me, I happen to love learning. I think education is necessary. I really don’t see why it is uncool to keep learning.
You see, I’ve learned how to keep someone alive for months, years, and you can take them apart, piece by piece, remove organs, or the right number of organs, and make them feel everything.
I have the means to do so, and I’m sure we can remove a kidney, certainly your appendix, and I will make sure you feel it all. ”
I saw him breaking.
Pushing the blade in, I wait and let the reality of the danger he was in start to register.
It was always so much easier when they realized they were in hell, or they could be.
I liked to think this was not hell but a kind of purgatory they had to escape from.
I could send them right to hell. It would be a lot of fun.
“It was the Taylors! Fuck. They have a deal, and they want to wipe out your trade. They said you need to be taken down a peg or two. They’ve got backers as well.”
Hunter was all talk, and I was more than happy to keep listening.
The Vasiliev Bratva was new and upcoming, run by Mikhail Vasiliev Junior. I was aware it started out slow, small laundry businesses that had expanded once the son had taken over. It would make sense for the Taylors to jump in bed with them.
This was not the first time my enemies had attempted to work together. They had tried to remove my father, and that hadn’t worked. They were not going to get rid of me, but I liked to play games.
“When is the next shipment?” I asked.
“Tomorrow night. You won’t win. Mikhail is a mean son of a bitch, and he’s coming for your crown!”
There was another scream, and I held the knife to his throat and slid it across. I felt absolutely nothing as I watched the life ebb out of him. He had spoken too much.
Mikhail Vasiliev was a piece of shit. His father hadn’t been much better.
I had beaten his father many times in the fighting ring.
The son was ten years my junior, and our paths had not crossed until this point.
I’d heard many things about Mikhail Vasiliev.
Some of them sounded a little far-fetched.
A young man attempting to build up horror stories so people would treat him like the bogeyman.
I left the warehouse and sat in the back of my car. My men didn’t ask questions as I began to type on my cell phone.
I was aware of what Mikhail was doing, and I liked to allow people to show their cards.
I’m a businessman, and like the Mafia before him, I liked to see if money could be made.
There was far more fun to be had in business deals that didn’t end in bloodshed.
Unlike my father, who didn’t believe in business and expansion, I did.
I had beat the shit out of a couple of fighters, and at the end of the night, we were still able to come together to make business deals. It is why there were several more fighting rings that make money above the table, as well as below it.
I’m a level-headed man, but even I can be pushed to my limits, which is why I arrived at one of the bars Mikhail Vasiliev owned. The property was a piece of shit, but I also knew it was a place where they did business, especially with young girls.
Thirty minutes was all it took to wipe out the men guarding the place, destroy the building, and kill the men who were currently fucking the stolen girls. By that time, the cops had arrived, and the girls were safe.
I had just declared war. It was up to Mikhail what happened next. Either remove himself from my turf or take the next step.
I was going to remove the drug problem tomorrow night. I had a set of rules, and they were going to learn to follow them, whether they liked it or not.