Chapter 28 #2
"I—who the fuck are you?! I'll have you arrested for trespassing!" Xavier's trembling voice brought me back to the scene unfolding in front of me.
Vova chuckled, still smoking, still surrounded by armed men. They were like shadows, slowly moving on the deck, a few sitting down in chairs and chatting. One, two, three, ten. There were ten armed men on the yacht with us. Perhaps more somewhere else.
"No,” Vova said, his confidence contagious. “Vee go vhere you go. Like vizitors. Tell me Ksaveeyehr, do you use left or right hand more?" Vova puffed a big cloud of smoke and leaned on his knee again. "Hm? Vich hand you hold pen?"
As if this was a cue, two men stepped toward Xavier and sat down on either side of him, his face draining of all color.
I tried. I tried to be scared for him. Tried to find some mercy, some pity, some empathy. But I had none left for him.
“You tell me now, or I pick.” Vova’s voice dropped and shivers ran down my spine from that tone. Xavier stayed silent, too shocked to respond.
It all happened so fast—Vova only had to nod. The man sitting beside Xavier suddenly scooted away and pinned Xavier’s left hand to the seat, but that wasn’t all. A second giant came up behind Xavier and wrapped his arm around Xavier’s throat, while a third man held down Xavier’s other arm.
"You no answer,” Vova drawled. “I make decision."
"Wait, wait, wait, what the fuck are you doing?!"
My hands flew to my mouth when I realized something violent was about to happen. Something painful, irreversible, and…so well-deserved.
"It just… How you say?” Vova turned to me, as if I could contribute anything more than a terrified glance. “Pre-ven-ta-tive measure."
A blade flashed in his hands, and Xavier gasped loudly, in sync with me.
"No, no, no, wait! Stop! Don’t!" Xavier shouted out my thoughts, but it was too late. The dagger sparkled in the sun for a mere second before Vova put all his weight behind the blow and plunged it into Xavier’s hand.
Xavier screamed. It was raw, unfiltered, and so loud—my hands instinctively flew to my ears. Crimson drops rained on the cream-colored seat and Xavier’s white linen outfit.
It was a butchering. Vova twisted the handle of the dagger and all the men holding Xavier suddenly let him go, as if rehearsed.
Xavier’s entire body convulsed. He choked on his own screams, his eyes bulging out of his sockets, all of him red and sweaty.
I’m going to make it…
…painful.
My pulse hammered in my throat as I watched Xavier’s pain, the dark feeling pulling me in alarmingly quickly. It was wrong—so wrong—to enjoy it.
But I did.
Vova sat in the chair, calmly waiting for Xavier to regain some kind of composure. “You!” Xavier shouted, his voice hoarse, and his other hand shaking, also covered in blood. “Fucker!”
My legs had no feeling, but I couldn’t look away. Couldn’t rip my eyes away from the way Xavier fell to his knees, gasping and crying, staring at the handle of the knife sticking out of his hand. He was pinned to the seat. Bloodied. On his knees.
Hurt.
“Sorry,” a voice sounded right in my ear and I gasped loudly, jumping back and twisting in its direction. Vova was sitting beside me, putting his sunglasses back on.
“I-I’ll fucking kill you!” Xavier’s shouts continued somewhere in the background.
"It alvays hard to see zis stuff." Vova waved in Xavier’s general direction and withdrew his cigarette pack once more. “You okay?” He focused on me, looking genuinely concerned. I nodded hesitantly, afraid to admit that I was, indeed, okay.
“I’m Sasha’s uncle. Nice to meet you.” Vova stuck out his hand and floored me with his declaration.
Slowly, I shook his hand, unsure if I’d ever be the same after today.
“Alex call me last night. Say you his girl. Say you in danger.” Vova furrowed his white eyebrows, his care and concern alarmingly genuine.
“I live New York, but I come here too. You have phone? I give you my number.”
I shook my head to say no, realizing I'd only been staring and moving my head, physically too stunned to do anything else. “Okay, I write down number for you. You vant?” He turned the cigarette pack my way. “It help calm down."
Without knowing what I was doing, I reached for a cigarette with a shaking hand, never having smoked nicotine before in my life.
The first drag hit my lungs and plunged me into a dizzy fit instantly. I coughed loudly and Vova tapped me on the back. Helping.
"You no smoke. Dat goot. One time okay."
“T-thank you,” I choked out, feeling the weight of the cigarette between my fingers.
I placed it to my lips again, inhaling the scent and letting my mind wander to Alex. He smelled of cigarettes when I first met him. And then less and less. The more time he spent with me, the less he smoked.
So Vova and I smoked, and that’s how I slowly relaxed.
The yacht pierced through the waves for the next hour, and Xavier sat on his knees in front of his pinned hand, bloodied, gasping, whimpering, and out of energy.
My hands no longer shook and my legs held no fear, but dread was creeping into me with every passing minute because my father awaited somewhere on shore.
“Dzhayd,” Vova called out to me about half an hour before we were due to arrive. “Go inside. Relax. Cool down. And vee take care here.”
I looked around the deck, noticing that all the men were waiting. Waiting for me to leave so they could take care here.
I nodded and stood, slowly heading into the cool air of the cabin and knowing that nothing was the same anymore.
And the biggest change was me.