Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Alexei
My jeans were coated in blood and gore but I needed to send a message. I was sick and tired of people coming onto my turf, my family’s turf, and thinking it was okay. I was tired of being taken advantage of. I could only be so nice and accommodating.
Roofies. In my establishment. Meant for one of my girls.
I was absolutely seething. I could hardly see straight.
Dimitri lurked in the shadows like he usually did. He was always finding ways to lurk and come to these things with me, even though they didn’t have anything to do with him. But backup was nice, considering I couldn’t count on any of my other brothers to get their hands dirty like this.
Ace liked his guns. He said it was easy to send a message with little bloodshed and minimal mess on his actual hands.
Dimitri was up for anything, especially if it involved someone disrespecting women. That was the one thing that stuck with all of us that our mother taught until she was blue in the face. It didn’t matter what a woman did to you, you didn’t raise a hand to her, and you never raised your voice. I was sure my father had done both to my mother but there was no proof besides how much she pushed those principles onto us.
“Who else?” I pivoted on my foot and watched the man sway in his chair. His face was bloody and already beginning to change colors. He wasn’t going anywhere though, he was duct taped down.
Through his swollen lips, he muttered, “T-there’s no one else.”
“Bullshit!” I roared. I was getting extremely tired of this dance.
He flinched back into his chair and more blood dribbled down his chin. “I work alone.”
Red-tinged water flowed down the drain as I scrubbed my hands at the sink along the back wall of the warehouse. I was getting exceptionally tired of this. I didn’t have the patience for the long game that torture required. I rolled my head on my shoulders and cracked my neck. I motioned for Dimitri.
My brother stepped out of the shadows and grinned. “I would love to finish the job, brother.” He spoke in Russian and I swore the man pissed himself. I didn’t care to speak in my ancestor’s tongue like our father insisted and wanted from us but Dimitri thought it was the best way to scare people. I didn’t disagree with him so instead of rolling my eyes like I wanted to, I waved my hand forward and walked out of the warehouse to where the driver was waiting in my blacked-out SUV. Screams from the man followed me all the way out.
Ace sat in front of me with his fingers steepled. “There’s still blood under your nails.” His blond brows lifted on his forehead.
I glanced down at my hands on the white, linen tablecloth. I shrugged. “It happens.”
“I don’t know why you don’t resort to less gruesome techniques.”
I shrugged again. I didn’t know why we were talking about this. Ace had invited me to dinner to discuss business—probably Father’s business.
“What did you want to talk to me about?” I got straight to the point. There was no reason for us to be here any longer than we needed to be.
“Have you looked in the folder I gave you for future marriage prospects?”
Oh , it was this shit.
“Not really.”
“Are you going to have a date for the wedding?” Ace leaned back in his chair like he had all the time in the world.
“Did Father put you up to this?”
“I’m merely curious.”
Right.
“I don’t want to have a date for your wedding.”
Because the only one I wanted to dance with was Audrey. The only one I wanted to touch was Audrey. If I had to fuck around with those other women, it would make me look unavailable to Audrey and that was the last thing I wanted.
He nodded. “All I ask is that you don’t fuck around with Audrey.”
There it was again. I was getting sick and tired of people trying to tell me how to live my life. Didn’t we already have a conversation about this?
“What now?” I took a sip of my water, watching him over the rim of the glass.
“I know you have it bad…” He clenched his jaw before he ran a hand through his hair. “But Carina’s afraid you’ll hurt her, and she’s already been through so much.”
My eyes followed the water in my glass as I swirled it around. I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to show Audrey the real me but I was struggling with this. I knew Ace and Carina were coming from a good place.
“How about this?” I set my water down on the table and leveled my brother with a serious stare. “I won’t mess with her unless I want something from her that’s more than sex. If she wants me, she will have to come after me.”
“You’ll promise to be on your best behavior?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Absolutely not.”