Chapter 4
Speak
Misha
I sit in chair with my arms resting on thighs. A frown comes to face as I would much rather be home with wife and children than be here in this dank, sweaty basement. I haven’t had proper shower in three days.
That alone has agitated me. Lifting hand, I wave Alexei over. He has bucket of ice water in hands.
“I’m tired of waiting,” I snarl.
“Da, understood.”
Alexei douses this piece of shit with water. He jumps up, flailing and looking around wildly. When his eyes land on me, then dead body still lying beside him, he begins to crawl backward to get away from me.
“Good, you awake. It’s time I get home. You decide now. Do I have men clean up and put you with friends, or do you speak and tell me what I need to know?”
Fear fills his eyes, and he begins to sweat. I can see he’s thinking over his options. Time will tell if his fear of me is greater than the woman the others have already died for.
He looks around at the other bodies piled high to be disposed of. Then he looks back to one beside him. Fuck. I see moment he understands he’s not making it out of here.
My window has closed. I gave him too much time to think. Logan might be right. I’m dragging my feet to find the woman we all want dead.
“I will talk,” he chokes out, but I know it is lie. “What do you want to know?”
“Where is Elizaveta? Where has she been hiding?”
His face hardens, but the fear in his eyes becomes greater than before. Unfortunately, I know that fear isn’t of me. If he only knew, he’s looking at the greater of two evils.
Telling me what I want will go over better for him than not. Even in death, I will allow him to play this game of pain he wants. I haven’t worked off enough of my anger just yet.
“Is that what you really want to know?” he asks with more confidence than I see in his eyes. “Elizaveta is untouchable. However, I think you are truly interested in her puppet.”
I fly from my chair, grab him by the back of his hair and pull my blade up the side of his face, filleting his cheek enough for the flesh to hang. He screams and thrashes in my hold.
“Do I look like you should fuck with me?” I roar.
“No. No, I’m not trying to fuck with you. I’m just telling you that finding Elizaveta isn’t something you want.”
I toss him forward and he lands on his face. He screams and flips onto his back, hands still bound behind him. I look down on him like the filth he is.
Hatred fills his eyes as he looks back at me. Good, I have more respect for his hatred than his fear. He struggles to sit up.
I squat in front of him and tilt my head to the side as I use the tip of my blade to clean my fingernails. I’m growing bored with this. When I lift my gaze back to him, he turns his ruined face from me.
His shoulders shake as he tries to sob quietly. Then he takes a calming breath and begins to speak again. “Her pet is the one who has wronged you and your friends. I can tell you where to find her.”
“I asked for one I want. Speak what I ask for or die.”
“I can’t give you Elizaveta. She will kill my family. But I can tell you where to find V—”
“Then you die,” I snarl as I stand to my full height then pull the trigger.
“Why kill him? You didn’t get information,” Alexei asks as he tilts his head and narrows his eyes at me.
“I want Elizaveta. No one else. He talked too much.”
“You will have to deal with them both, Misha. At least, if you would have pressed him, you would know where find one of them to end this once and for all.”
“Net, do you know what you’re talking about?”
“Da, I do. I know better than anyone. Remember who you talk to.
“I chose you. I have made peace with what I will lose when you find Elizaveta. The question, have you?” he growls and turns to start cleaning up.
Elizaveta
Anxiety fills me as I wait for news. It’s been three days since the setup was supposed to happen. Misha ask after me, I answer.
I need to know what has happened out there. However, it takes a few days for my men to get here to me with word.
Only the truly loyal know where to find me. To betray me would be death to their entire family. That much I still have in me.
I’m old, I’m tired, and I’m alone now. Nothing has gone as planned and here I am, waiting on my last hope to return to my life.
The door opens and I pull my gun and aim. I am always ready in case someone chooses to lose their family instead of remaining loyal. I will not go out with my eyes closed and my head in sand.
I relax when I see it’s Miroslav. I have come to rely on his help and loyalty. He gets me supplies and information.
Miroslav was good friend to my son, Ziv. Looking at him brings pain, but I need him. I don’t have choice. For now, I have to suck up and deal.
“He still lives?” I ask as he moves into the room.
“Da, Misha and his men all survived. They burn down complex and killed your men. They took Aaron, Dom, Levi, Boris, Vladimir, and Bela,” he murmurs the last name so low I almost don’t hear.
“What did you say?”
I stumble forward and grab the chair to keep upright. Bela was the last of my sons. I was willing to walk away after Ziv got himself killed.
I told him not to help that traitor. She does nothing but get everyone around her killed. It is who she is.
“They were taken and tortured to death. They killed every last one of them. Even your people who set them up,” Miroslav says.
My sisters didn’t listen to me. My son didn’t listen. Now he has paid the price and so has his brother.
“My son, my baby boy,” I sob brokenly. “They have taken everything from me. I live like rat underground in this disgusting place. Net, no more.
“This time I finish what no one else could. I hide not here, not in Russia, nowhere. Misha wants to find me, I will reveal myself so he can come face to face with me and death.
“Bring her to me. She will die with him. This all her fault. It was stupid to help her. I should have killed her the moment she appeared at my door.”
“Are you sure? Bringing her out in the open will expose you if not careful. I don’t like it.”
“I don’t care. Ziv and Bela didn’t deserve this. I do for them, no one else. I didn’t start this, I finish. Enough,” I scream.
“I have had enough. Bring. Her. To. Me. Now.” My chest heaves as pain sears through me. I will show Misha what pain is like.
He and that traitor will understand what I have endured. I had planned to walk away from it all. While others have asked me to finish job, I had planned to lick my wounds in peace. Bela was going to run small business we have been reduced to.
He has lived in America since he was small boy. In the last two years, after the loss of my oldest son, Ziv—I have taught Bela all about our business and how to get things done.
“I told him not to be there.” I sob into my hands.
I knew Misha was coming. I had set the trap in hopes I would finally be able to join my last living son. I thought I had lost too much before; now I know I have lost everything.
There is nothing left. I will run from no one. They will all pay.
“Da, I finish. For my sons, I finish. You all die.”
I take out phone and make call to last card I hold. He will step up because he wants what Misha has. This will be a simple ask. I have people too.