Chapter 14
I pressed bullets into the magazine of my favorite pistol when Nikolai barged in, draped in a belt of weapons like a wannabe warlord. For once in his life, the smirk was gone. “The Vallens are moving their shipment to the North Docks.”
“Tonight?”
“Yup. Same crew as planned. Trying to throw you off, I guess.”
I smiled, sharp and cold. Sometimes, he was just so predictable. Men like Julian Vallen never failed to underestimate the power of men like me—a mistake that would cost them.
Julian Vallen was head of the scum of the Earth known as the Vallen family.
Though he was my prize, I knew I had to take out the rest of the organization before reaching him.
His parents were off traveling the world, which made them regrettably too much of a hassle to target.
For now. And the daughter, Anne-something, was somewhere off at school.
I was hesitant to involve a woman and a child who seemed to have no true ties to her family’s darker dealings.
So, unless she decided to stick her neck where it didn’t belong, I would leave her alone.
Julian, though… I would break him piece by piece, watch him beg before he even thought to breathe.
“Prepare the rest of the men. I guess we’re going north,” I said, adjusting my suit jacket as he slipped out of my office.
It wasn’t necessary to dress so cleanly for a night like tonight, but I figured I should look decent. After all, my face was going to be the last several men saw tonight. Might as well give them something nice to look at.
Plus, black hid the bloodstains well.
I was about to head out the door when my phone buzzed from atop my warehouse desk.
The picture on it made me smile. It was a selfie Evangeline took from the front seat of my car as we were on our way to our first date.
She looked stunning in her satin pink dress and fluffy white shawl. A true prima.
“Hi, baby,” I said, holding the phone up to my ear. “How was your rehearsal?”
It would have been over a few hours ago, but I knew she was staying with her brother tonight, which helped me breathe a little easier as I walked into a danger zone. Knowing she was somewhere supervised and protected, away from any potential Vallen retaliation, made my beast somewhat relax.
But only somewhat. I knew that I was the only one who could truly protect her.
“It was good,” she said, breathless in that way she got when she was excited. “We worked on the balcony pas de deux.”
I leaned back, letting the world fade. Her voice—always soft and careful—made the edges of my rage dull. Everything about her reminded me that she was a delicate thing in a brutal world. And I would be the one keeping that perfection alive.
“And how was that?”
“Good! Rapha thankfully has had some experience as the male lead, so he’s been giving me tips, which I really need.”
I gritted my jaw, hating the fact that another man got to touch her intimately, even if it was for show. But I knew how important this role was to Evangeline, so I kept my mouth shut, vowing to destroy the man if he ever hurt her or made her uncomfortable.
“I’m sure you’re even more wonderful than you think, solnyshka.”
Nikolai walked into the room, spotting me on the phone. He rolled his eyes before tapping his watch and mouthing, “Time to go.”
Eva giggled, one of my favorite sounds she made. That and her soft moans as she came around my fingers and tongue. And soon, my cock.
“You always say that.”
“Because it’s always true.”
There was a pause, the faint sound of her moving around her brother’s home. I pictured her curling into her bed, lining the blankets just right, smoothing back her pillows. Making her small, precise order in a world that had never given her enough of it.
“I got your flowers. They were perfect.”
“You deserve perfect, Eva.”
“Did you know gardenias are supposed to mean secret love?”
“I do now,” I replied. I didn’t know flowers meant anything at all, honestly. I just saw them and thought of her, of the little smile she got whenever I gifted her anything.
She hummed, pleased. “I wish you could’ve been there today. Watching rehearsal, I mean.”
I was, I thought, hidden behind one of the curtains, unable to stay away from her all day. But aloud, I said, “Maybe I can come sometime soon.”
“That would be great!” Eva paused before saying, “You sound tired.”
“I’ve… I’ve had a long day.” I hated lying to her, but she didn’t need to know I wasn’t tired. I was simply thinking through all our logistics one more time before I walked in and introduced several men to the angel of death.
“Oh,” Eva said quickly, her voice tightening. “I can let you go. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
I softened without meaning to. It was automatic with her, the way my body responded. The way the sharp edges dulled. “Eva. You can call me anytime.”
Her breath caught. “Okay.”
Glancing at my watch, I cursed under my breath. “I’ve gotta tie up some work things, baby, but I’ll text you.”
“Sounds good. I’ve got to shower anyway.”
Fuck.
It was crazy how two little words could make me so fucking hard.
Eva. Shower. That wasn’t something we’d tried yet, but it was on my very long list of places I wanted to consume Eva.
The vision of her with her hands pressed against my tiles and her wet hair wrapped around my fist while I thrust into her from behind made my balls tighten.
“Send me a picture.”
“Sorry, you’re working, so I can’t,” she said, and I could hear the grin through the phone.
That little minx.
She loved to toy with me—until her punishment came back to bite her in the ass, usually in the form of edging because I loved listening to her beg me to let her come.
“Eva. Picture.”
“Sorry, what?”
“Eva—”
“I can hardly hear you, Alek. Bad signal or something.”
“Eva,” I growled.
“Bye, Alek.”
The hanging up sound echoed in my ears as I stared at my phone, no longer seeing my girlfriend’s picture lighting up the screen like she should have been.
“You done pretending to be human?” Nikolai asked, raising an eyebrow.
I glared but said nothing. I picked up my gun from my desk, checking the weight of it, its familiar comfort settling into my palm.
Nikolai drove us to the North Dock, his stupid pop music playing too loudly. Normally, I would have turned it off and insisted on silence, but I was too focused on the mission tonight to care about his terrible singing.
We were finally moving forward on my plan for vengeance against the Vallens, slowly destroying their foundation brick by brick until the whole family fell.
My family had been trying to take them down for decades, but we also had to elevate our own status, which meant not enough focus went to our enemies.
That all changed when I took over from my father several years ago.
We had a long way to go—killing higher-ups, finding out where Vallen actually lived (not that stupid fucking fake apartment he tried to throw us off with), and destroying their connections.
But tonight, we were sabotaging one of their important shipments, placing seeds of doubt between them and their supplier.
Whose men were compromised? Who was at fault? How many were dead? These were the questions I wanted Julian Vallen to ask himself tonight when he went to bed. And one more, too.
When was Aleksandr Drakov going to strike next?
The city passed by in streaks of light and shadow. The noise coming out of Nikolai’s mouth was grating, and before I could smack him upside the head, my phone buzzed with a text.
Evangeline
Have a fun night at work!
Oh, and…
*Evangeline sent 1 photo*
“Fuck,” I muttered, teeth clenched, trying not to crush my phone in my hand. I resisted the urge to adjust my rapidly growing hard-on right in front of my cousin. She was so fucking sexy it was unreal.
It was a simple picture: Eva in a towel that pushed up her breasts, her wet hair crawling down her spine, her pussy barely out of view from the camera. But it was the teasing nature of it—the fact that I knew what was under that towel, yet she hid it anyway—that made me fucking desperate for more.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
Eva was lucky she was at her brother’s, because I would have turned this car around and climbed through her window to see under that towel myself. Right now, my control was thin at best.
Aleksandr
Such a good girl.
“Dude, focus,” Nikolai grumbled under his breath. “You can flirt with your girl later.”
The warehouse in the North Docks was easy enough to breach.
The car in front of us had five of my men inside—this was a small operation that probably didn’t need Nikolai and me at all if it weren’t for our pride—and they’d gone ahead and killed what few guards Vallen had.
The arrogant fuckers probably didn’t think we’d figure out their little plan.
They had no idea how deep my claws ran in this city, how far my beast had gone to avenge my little sister.
They would learn. Far too late.
It was over too quickly for my tastes. My men entered first, taking out any extraneous Vallen guards with a few quick, well-aimed shots.
Their blood slowly stained the concrete floor, their lifeless eyes fixed on the ceiling.
I waved at their supplier to leave, wanting someone to spread the word amongst his people.
After all, how could trust be broken if this were a slaughterhouse?
Julian Vallen needed to know that he had a fucking rat. My rat.
I walked up to the Vallen man, the one who was the head of tonight’s operation. He’d been with the Vallens for at least twenty years, according to my research.
He’d be valuable.
“Fucking Drakovs,” he snarled while Nikolai pinned him to the ground, bloodlust evident in my cousin’s eyes. “I knew you would find a way to get your greasy paws everywhere.”
“Oh, you were thinking about me?” I purred, nudging his cheek with my boot before bending down, grabbing my switchblade from my pocket.
“Never.”
I ran the blade down his cheek, the monster in me humming in satisfaction at the bead of blood that formed beneath my touch. Such a pretty sight, this violence. Almost as pretty as my girl.
“I’m going to have fun with you.”
The man spat, the disgusting liquid getting on my lapels. “I will never tell you anything.”
“Such sweet lies from such a sour man,” I whispered, carving the blade even deeper when I pressed into his skin. “You will scream my name before this is all over. And your cries will be music to my ears.”
By the time we left, the man was already singing. I smiled.
Because it wouldn’t be long until every goddamn Vallen in the city would sound the same. I would destroy them.
Every last one.