Chapter 9
Knockout
Alex
But I didn’t stop.
And it was bad.
I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. My mind held no other thoughts except her. The itch was consuming me.
I tried to focus on the man in front of me, bloodied and tied to a chair in one of our warehouses. He was the informant. Andrei and I had finally put it together, but the truth was that my involvement was minimal. I threw the punches and busted my knuckles, but I wasn’t the one who brought him in.
“Vasya, you gotta tell us, man.” Andrei stood to the left of me, imploring the man who had worked with us for the last five years. One we trained, trusted, and paid very handsomely.
He muttered something under his breath and Andrei sighed. He never liked this part. Andrei liked counting the money and calculating the risk. I liked counting the money and enforcing the rules.
Rules were paramount—that’s how we managed to grow an entire empire.
We weren’t street thugs stealing cars for parts; we were a logistics powerhouse.
We had the connections, the infrastructure, and the manpower to outperform the state’s legitimate businesses.
Moretti didn’t care so much about the thefts; he was more focused on beating Goliath and parading us through the town as trophies.
Fuck him.
Mindlessly, my hand reached inside my right pocket, and I was about to do it again. I was about to unlock my phone and swipe right three times, where I would click the green app in the top right corner of the screen. I’d be able to find that app in my sleep.
Jade was there, the cameras in and around the house showing me every angle of the property, but I was only interested in one.
I couldn’t fucking stop checking the footage of the living room of the house Jade now owned.
Jade walking by and giving the camera the finger.
Jade lounging on the couch and flipping through a magazine, her dress barely covering her juicy ass cheeks.
Jade reading a book with a cup of coffee.
Jade on the yoga mat, doing downward dog or whatever the fuck it was called—I didn’t fucking care, I only cared that she was there.
I also cared that she positioned the yoga mat in such a way that her ass was facing the camera straight on.
Was she doing it on purpose? Did she know I had become obsessed with that delicious part of her?
Jade was practicing handstands and getting damn good at it too. I knew, because I’d been watching her practice. Every fucking day.
“Sasha?” Andrei’s voice pulled me away from my phone screen, where Jade was brushing her hair while standing at the sliding doors and looking out at the ocean.
I lifted my eyes to Vasily and pressed the trigger, the bullet piercing his chest. His head slumped down as he took his last breath, and I sighed with relief.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Andrei turned to me, his frustration boiling over. “We didn’t fucking get anything out of him! What the fuck’s the matter with you, Sasha?!” He stepped closer, his blue eyes wide and indignant, but I couldn’t concentrate on reality.
Andrei’s lips were moving and he was saying something, but my gaze fell to the phone in my hand again, like I was hypnotized.
“Alex! Put the phone away, man! What are you even—no!” Andrei moved closer and saw what was on my screen.
“No! Fuck no!” He stared at me as if I’d betrayed him.
Turning red in the face, he took a second to calm down before hitting me with the question I knew was coming.
“Have you been watching her all this time?”
Not only watching. Visiting too.
“No,” I lied, slightly swaying. I had to fucking sit down.
I couldn’t remember the last time I actually closed my eyes and slept for longer than an hour.
I walked over to a chair by a wall and slumped into it, all my limbs thanking me.
Andrei stood in front of a dead Vasily, watching me like a hawk.
Andrei wore beige khakis and a white shirt, and he got on my fucking nerves. Who comes to an interrogation in light colored clothing? Him, because he wasn’t the one getting his hands dirty.
“This was my mistake,” he said quietly. “I should’ve taken her to the drug store myself. Whatever happened that day,” he gestured vaguely in my direction, “got your mind all fucking twisted.” He pressed something on his phone and brought it to his ear. “Privet, Maksim.”
All my senses were suddenly awake. What the fuck did he want with Maksim now? “When was the last time you saw Sasha?” Andrei asked, waiting for Maksim’s answer and staring me down. His face dropped three seconds later. “Three days ago, huh?”
Andrei didn’t usually get angry. He was anxious and neurotic and sometimes annoyingly careful, but now, his face was blazing up. I found it difficult to care.
Jade headed to the beach, so I switched the camera view to see the way she descended the steps and put a towel down on the sand. That girl loved the beach. The image was grainy, but I zoomed in—
“Two more of our guys were arrested last night, right in the middle of a job. That brings the total to four in the past thirty-five days, Alex.” Andrei came to stand right in front of me, giving me a number I was well aware of.
“We have more than one informant—you know that. You just killed the only link we had—hey! Are you listening?!”
“Yes, man, what do you want?” I spat back, lifting my head to look at him, but involuntarily, my head rolled back. I steadied my neck, mildly worried I wouldn’t be able to drive home in this state. “I know about the arrests. I know we have rats. I know. What do you want me to do?”
He took a second to breathe in and out, as if he needed to center himself before talking to me. “I want you to be open with me, that’s number one. You look like death. What the fuck’s wrong with you? Are you on fucking drugs?!” he accused me, disgust twisting his lips until something dawned on him.
He leaned closer to me, but I was too tired to retort anything coherent. “You better tell me everything right fucking now. What’s wrong with you?”
I wasn’t going to tell him shit.
“Nothing, man. I just can’t sleep, that’s all. I’m just tired. Is the shipment leaving earlier? Like we decided?” I brought the conversation back to work, actively fighting with the images of her inside my head.
“Yes. It’s leaving tonight.” He straightened out and then said her name, sending an electric shock through me. “Please don’t tell me you’re this fucked up over Jade. Please.”
I couldn’t stop myself from laughing at the way he said it: please. I was so far gone, no request—polite or otherwise—could bring me back.
"I'm going to go home now—” I tried to make a logical sentence, “—and sleep. I haven't slept. I don't know why. I just can't."
I stood up, but Andrei blocked my path. He tilted his head, his next words sharp and unusually cold. “We’re on the cliff, Sasha. Don’t drag us down.” God, he was so over the top.
I brushed his words off with a chuckle. “Re-lax. Everything’s under control. So we have a rat or two, so what? Who doesn—”
“I’m not talking about the rat.” He caught my gaze, and I hated him at that moment. “If you lose your head over this chick—”
Chick. She wasn’t just a chick.
“Jade. Her name’s Jade,” I corrected him, but evidently that was the wrong thing to do. Andrei’s suburban-dad mask slipped for a mere second. He blinked slowly, straightening out his shoulders and giving me his undivided attention.
“If I see you at that fucking house,” he began, stepping so close, I could smell the coffee on his breath.
“I will fucking kill you. Do you understand?” he inquired, but I didn’t think I understood anything.
“If you show up there again, you’re voluntarily placing every single one of us into the grave. Including my wife and kids.”
Ugh. He could be so dramatic.
“Even if I show up at that house,” I said, knowing he was a second away from a heart attack.
I lifted up my hand to stop whatever he was about to say.
“It doesn’t change anything, brother. The shipment’s leaving in a few hours.
We have one rat less. Moretti is slowly but surely changing his tune.
” It was taking everything out of me to keep my mouth moving.
“Jade’s still locked up. We’re on the same team.
Everything’s fine. I’m fine. You’re fi—”
“Just shut the fuck up and go sleep.” Andrei looked me over with pity, like I was sick and he felt sorry for me. “If you show up at the house, Maksim will let me know. And I will come there and drag you out.”
This was beyond exhaustion; I couldn't even think straight. I just had one thought on repeat: I wanted to see Jade. She was trapped all alone, and this would all take such a long fucking time.
I stumbled out of the warehouse and into my car, driving home on autopilot. I just needed sleep.
But fate was testing me that day because Gianna’s car was in my driveway.
She was relentless and I was losing all patience. I swung my front door open and stepped inside, only to be greeted by the sight of her in my living room. How the hell did she even get in?
With her legs crossed, she was sitting on my white couch, which, most unfortunately, reminded me of her since she picked it out for me when we were still in a relationship. As always, she looked like she was about to step on the runway. Good for her, it just wasn’t for me.
"Breaking into my house is too much. What're you doing here?" There were no more pleasantries left inside me. I placed my keys, wallet, and phone on the console table and strolled a few steps closer to her.
"What a lovely way to greet your girlfriend, Alex. I didn't break in, your cleaner let me in."
"You're not my girlfriend. Please stop saying that! Gianna!" I snapped, raising my voice for the first time. I never raised my voice. I never shouted, never yelled, barely ever showed anger, but I was ready to fucking rip her apart. “Get out. Just get out. Everything between us is over."