Chapter 7
Dominik
The upstairs door slamming shut yanks me out of half-sleep, my back muscles straining thanks to the thin mattress.
I groan as I sit up and open one eye to see two of the usual guards stopping at my cell door.
My brow furrows when I see they’re carrying a mattress and a bundled pile of clothes. It’s hard to make out details in the shitty lighting.
“Extra bedding for me?” I remark. “How generous of my brother.” Not that I’ll complain.
The bastard still hasn’t shown his face yet, which is pissing me off more and more each day. He knows that I want to talk to him, and I’m starting to lose my mind worrying about what he’s doing up there that’s got him so busy.
Is he spending all of his time with Alina? Or is there something else eating up the hours of the day and night?
“I guess it’s your lucky day, huh?” Roman, the blond-haired guard holding the mattress, replies. “Daniil, get the door.”
My eyes narrow in suspicion as the cell door opens and they bring the items inside. When he jerks his head toward the back wall, I stand up and take a step back, watching as Roman drops the mattress and the blanket on the ground in front of me.
“Gavriil wants you to have these as well,” Daniil says in Russian with a sneer when he tosses the bundle in his arms onto the floor. “Enjoy.” They quickly leave and lock the door behind them a second later.
For good fucking reason too.
It takes less than a second to recognize them.
My stomach drops.
They’re Alina’s clothes.
I lunge at the cell door, gripping the vertical bars as I glare at the guards. “What did he do to her?” I snarl. “Is this mattress and blanket hers too?”
“What Gavriil does upstairs is none of your business,” Roman replies, amusement glinting in his dark eyes.
“She better not be sleeping on the goddamn floor!” I bite out, fury burning through me at the thought.
Roman and Daniil shrug, which is enough of an answer for me.
If Alina is naked without a mattress on his cage floor, I’ll make Gavriil pay. He knows I’m already livid at him and he seems to be enjoying enraging me even more.
What line did Gavriil cross now?
He must still be trying to break her. Which means Alina is still standing strong against him, defying him however she can.
“Bring him down here now!” I shout at the guards, rattling the cell door with all the strength in my body. If I could rip the fucking door off its hinges, I would in a heartbeat.
“He’s busy with far more important things than you and your complaints,” Daniil tells me before nudging Roman. “I need a smoke after the shit he did to her.”
“Hell yes,” Roman says in agreement.
“I’m going to fucking kill Gavriil!” I grit out as they head for the staircase, no doubt to sit on the steps and go through a pack of cigarettes after…whatever they just witnessed upstairs.
“You need to reign it in, boss,” Viktor says quietly a few moments later as the smell of cigarette smoke and the guards’ laughter fill up my cell. “If you lose your head, he could take it out on her,” he adds.
I force out a deep breath and finally release my grip on the cell door bars, my palms and fingers red from my tight grip. “Fuck. You’re right. I know that. It’s just…so fucked up!”
“I can’t believe Gavriil did that shit to her,” Renat says.
“I believe it,” I mutter, bitterness filling my voice. “He’s always been fucking cruel.”
“Must’ve been tough growing up with him,” Renat replies.
Our father was cruel, and Gavriil learned early how to survive him. After he died, whatever softness my brother had went with him.
“He wasn’t always like this.”
As kids, Gavriil would do what he could to protect me from our father’s wrath. But after his death, well, nothing was the same after that. I knew that I owed Gavriil for the burden he carried alone on his shoulders. He’s been cold ever since, and I’ve spent my life mistaking obedience for loyalty.
But not anymore.
“He’s been losing support for years,” Renat says barely above a whisper. “When we get out of here, you could challenge him for Pakhan. Everyone knows you have what it takes…”
Gavriil would do anything to stay in power, which means I’d have to back up my threats and take him out.
I’m sick of answering to him, of following his fucking orders even when I know he’s wrong. What he did to Alina crossed too many lines.
“How far are you willing to go for her?” Viktor murmurs. “Because overthrowing him is the only way this ends.”
A heavy sigh leaves my lips. I don’t want to think about that, but Gavriil is stubborn.
He doesn’t back down. I think he would put his life on the line to keep me from walking away with Alina.
He would see that as a challenge, and after my betrayal…
I’m not sure how much more leniency he would show me.
So could I take things that far once I’m free? Could I pull the trigger on my brother? The same man I owe my life to?
I’d do almost anything for Alina. Maybe I would put a bullet in Gavriil for her, but I just won’t know until that moment comes.
And it very well might if I can find a way out of this cell.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe,” I say. “First, we need to get out of here, then we can make plans.”
“For now, we just sit in here and wait out the month?” Viktor comments.
“I don’t know if Gavriil will honor that time limit or not,” I admit. He has a sneaky way of slipping through cracks in his agreements, even if he claims to be a man of honor.
“All the more reason to attempt an escape,” Renat replies. “We just can’t fail.”
If only things were that easy.
I hear door hinges squeaking as the upstairs door is opened and closed, followed by the sound of footsteps heading down the stairs. “Who is that?” I ask.
“Another one of your brother’s men. I don’t recognize him,” Viktor says, keeping his voice quiet.
I move to the far-left side of the door and strain my ears to hear the guards speaking in Russian to Roman and Daniil, their voices hushed and secretive. I can only make out a few words, but what really catches my attention is the urgency and concern in their tone.
Something is wrong. The new guard is sharing bad news.
“They don’t sound happy,” Viktor remarks in agreement with what I was just thinking.
“I can’t hear everything that they’re saying. Something about a damaged car? One of ours?” I whisper.
There’s more talking. More footsteps. Then the door opens and shuts once more.
“They’re all gone,” Viktor tells me, his voice returning to its regular volume. “One of our cars was torched by an unknown arsonist.”
“An attack?” I murmur. Attacks on us aren’t uncommon, but we just took care of the bikers. Who’s causing trouble now? “Did it sound like they have any leads?”
“I don’t think so,” Viktor replies. “But something tells me that this isn’t the first incident. One of them mentioned a break-in. One of our businesses must’ve been attacked too.”
“Two attacks this close together means someone’s testing us,” I say as my frown deepens. “Maybe it’s someone affiliated with the bikers.”
“Possibly,” Renat chimes in. “But the bikers weren’t much for making allies. Not long-term ones at least. And we took out most of them.”
“Whoever is attacking has chosen a good time to do so,” Viktor points out.
My neck tenses. Because of the rift I’ve caused with Gavriil? The Pakhan is down his second, and word must’ve spread about that.
And my betrayal makes him look weak. Vulnerable.
Gavriil’s probably furious, even if he doesn’t show it.
“But what’s the purpose of these attacks? What do they want?” I mutter, mostly asking myself.
If I was an enemy organization in the same city, what would I want from Gavriil that I don’t already have?
“Territory,” I answer my own question. “And they’re betting we’re too fractured to defend it.”
We were attacked for the same thing a few years ago by a faction no longer in this city. We cleared them out quickly and efficiently.
“Do you think Gavriil will be able to hold them off?” Viktor asks.
I’m the one who plans our retaliation. I’m the one who handles these situations and keeps them from getting out of control.
If Gavriil is calling all the shots, making all the decisions on his own without anyone to push back, then I don’t know what the result will be.
He prefers to lead by force while I lead by foresight.
“Depends on who is attacking,” I reply. “I doubt it’s the Italians, unless they’re holding a grudge about the guns. All of the other organizations, the Albanians and the Irish, have their own strengths and weaknesses. All dangerous in some capacity.”
“If something serious is going on, Gavriil should be talking to you about it,” Renat tells me.
“I’m not his second anymore,” I remind them.
He thinks that he can handle this on his own, and maybe he can, but I doubt it.
“Now would be a good time for a regime change,” Renat points out. “You stepping in and preventing a war would mean even more support for you to be Pakhan. You could try to convince Gavriil to forgive you, to let you help, then just like…take over command.”
It’s risky and I doubt Gavriil will be giving me any second chances.
“We’ll see if things get out of control,” I tell him before stepping away from the cell door and heading over to the shower to strip down and try to cool off.
What the hell is Gavriil thinking? Torturing Alina and edging us closer to war?
That sounds exactly like him. When he begins to lose control, he acts without thinking. He becomes more erratic, less reasonable, certain he knows what’s best.
Could I do a better job?
Who knows?
My brother is the one who was born to lead, not me. I’m not sure if I have what it takes to be Pakhan. Our father didn’t think so. He always told me how weak I was, that I would never be strong enough or ruthless enough to be the head of the family. Only Gavriil.
I dry off with my one pathetic towel, then inspect my wound before putting my shirt back on. The stitches were repaired by Yelena right after I was brought here. Since there hasn’t been much physical activity, the wound is closing well now.
That’s the only plus side of being stuck in this shithole. I refuse to ever fail Alina again.
Soon, I’ll be healed and ready to fight whoever I have to.
Whoever stands between me and my dikaya koshka.
My brother included.