7. Nikolai

7

NIKOLAI

A lek tried again to come along with us on this mission to steal the women from the Cartel. He'd asked me—since I was delegated as the head of this specific operation, his right-hand man—several times if I thought we could use his help onsite.

My brother wasn't an idle Pakhan . He fought just as much, if not more than, the Bratva soldiers. He'd personally sacrificed and had gone above and beyond to ensure we'd get rid of our uncle and cousin. He wasn't asking if we needed him on the frontlines because he thought he had to. His devotion to me and our brothers, our men, simply ran that deep. Unlike Pavel, Alek would always step up to take a hit. He'd never let us do his dirty work for him, but he had to accept that his central leadership role changed things.

Hard not to be in control, huh?

I shook my head and patted his back. "No, Brother. We're set." And we were. I'd checked each soldier recruited, and I had utmost faith that they'd succeed in this, the first show of power in a long while .

"You're sure?" he asked again, furrowing his brow as Ivan, Dmitri, and I split up among the vehicles. They were all kitted out and designed for fighting. The lower-lying vans weren't as fast, but the passenger space in them was necessary for removing the trafficked women.

I glanced over his shoulder, spotting Mila in the darkness of the night. We prepared to leave from one of our buildings, but she lurked and lingered, always nearby. At that second, she caught my eye, and I knew she worried that Alek would come along, thirsty for violence.

Dipping my chin at her once, in acknowledgment, I knew the main reason I had to exclude Alek.

"You need to be here," I reminded him, then smirked. "Trust me, huh?"

After I said it, I wanted to cringe. He had trusted me to keep an eye out at Harrow's and I'd fucked that up, going to see Amy. But tonight would be my penance. I'd show him that I was as dependable as ever.

Alek sighed, looking back at Mila, who quickly smiled at him from a distance. "I know." He regarded me carefully. "No disguise?"

I shot him a stern look. "No. I want the Cartel to know it's me. To know it's the Valkovs infringing on their business."

He nodded and stepped back, hands at his sides.

I checked my guns, and with a final sweeping look over the area, I raised my hand in a signal for Ivan to head out.

We were off, and the ride to the Ortez area was a quiet, tense span of too many minutes. Anticipating guts and glory, death and bloodshed, I focused on this lethal calm. Killing was nothing new to a man like me, but it was a challenge. In this criminal world we inhabited, it often ended up as a case of kill or be killed , and I was the superior actor in that style.

This mission was no laughing matter. We might lose some men. The Cartel would be surprised by our swift retaliation for their gunfire at our club, but they would defend their ground severely as soon as they realized why we were there.

This was my duty. Violence ran in my bloodline, and it would never cease. All I trained my body to do was withstand the adrenaline rush, the push to destroy, and physically endure the chance of injuries.

Ivan reached the gates first, firing out the windows at the Cartel members guarding that point. Because their acquisition of this building had happened recently, they didn't have too much security in place yet. Whoever and whatever they had planned on for a first line of defense didn't last. My brother was one of our deadliest killers, and he served well, punching through so Dmitri, then I, could follow him in.

Guns up and firing hot, we stormed the warehouse. Men came at us from every direction, shooting back and shouting orders for more to come and purge the threat of the Valkov power we were delivering at their door.

Thanks to Maxim and another hacker in the family, we were equipped with a rough map of the structure. Things weren't identical to what we saw in this poorly lit, abandoned manufacturing site, but we had the upper hand of knowing where the storage rooms might be located.

We fought every step of the way. Fanning out and spreading from one room to the next, our soldiers brought vengeance and anger. They aimed, fired, and removed the enemy. All these men had tried to bring us down first. These fuckers had made the first move, the first attack, and it wouldn't be their last mistake. I had no doubt this carnage and fighting tonight would be one episode of many. Their numbers were too large. Their grip on the trafficking and drug lines of business was too strong. They had too many backers and influential hands deciding how they could be more ruthless, more cunning. Crime never slept. No one would ever end it. All their international leaders and collaborators would make the fight against their organization a long- standing war. After tonight, they would think twice about fucking with us anytime soon.

"Upstairs!" I shouted to a few of Dmitri's crew. We'd delegated teams, organizing our men so we could fan out faster and search the building. Our goal wasn't to come in here and slaughter them all. That wasn't a bad idea, but we had to make our point here. The thugs we shot and fought were a dime a dozen. They'd be replaced with more stupid recruits.

We weren't leaving until we got those women and delivered the message of what happened when they tried to get in our business.

I pivoted and scoped the area. Many Cartel members were dead. Injured and bleeding out, or dead. I dismissed the signs of death and pain, too used to it and desensitized to the shock factor of mortality.

Their bodies littered the floor, but I remained alert, keeping watch while the soldiers and Dmitri found the first storage cell.

Women's cries filled the air, but within moments, after more gunfire as we killed the men, they were taken out. Filing out one by one, the Valkov force carried the bound women and loaded them into our vans.

"Move it," I yelled, ever aware that we would be in danger as long as we lingered.

Ivan replied, "Another room. Over here."

More men hurried in the direction of his shout, from further back in the building, but I remained in the central receiving center, looking out.

Once more, women dressed in white, sheet-like gowns were carried to our vehicles.

Dmitri approached, finished with overseeing a van filled while Ivan's team moved faster to do the same .

We both held up our guns, alert, but Dmitri shook his head. "I can't say I like this."

I scowled at him.

"We don't deal with this shit, man." He spat a mouthful of blood from a lucky hit to the face. The Cartel member who'd gotten close enough to strike him had lost his whole head.

"Trafficking women isn't what the Family does."

I exhaled long and hard. "We've already discussed this." At that meeting with Alek, we had. Dmitri was right. We didn't deal with selling women. We did a lot of illegal, unsavory shit. Drugs, arms, digital information, other means of corruption… But selling humans wasn't our thing.

"Which is why we'll get rid of them."

He grunted. "What, send them back home? They'll ID us, and they won't be calling us heroes."

I gritted my teeth. He was right. We had yet to figure out how we'd move these women, but they weren't going to stay with the Cartel as their product. That was a fact.

"We won't sell them. We can figure out how to get them back to their families. Or ship them somewhere to start a new life. I don't know what Alek will determine, but we have to finish this step first." I watched as Ivan joined us.

"That's the last of it." He lifted his chin at me. "Let's go."

Our plan, so far, was to simply relocate them at one of our buildings. They were still captive. We couldn't risk their running to the cops around here, not tonight. If the cops were allies with the Ortezes, and the women could identify us, we wouldn't succeed at all. This was intended to hurt the Cartel, not merely delay their operations .

Fucking Murphy. Dirty cops were the worst. If the law enforcement weren't likely helping the Cartel, then yeah, we could release the women and leave it at that.

"That's all of them?" I asked, needing to know for sure. Tension pulled my shoulders tight. My body wouldn't relax until we were out of here, but I had to know we were done.

A muffled cry sounded to the left. Now that the gunfire had faded, most of the men dead, we could hear other things.

Together, the three of us ran in the direction of that sound. I tried the door and found it locked, so I stepped back a bit and fired at the panel.

Once it fell open, creaking as it swung in, we hurried in with guns up.

Two Cartel members stood in here, firing as they protected the last few women. The stink of blood, piss, and vomit assaulted my nose, and I grimaced as I ended the last man.

I drew in deep breaths, gesturing with my hand for the soldiers to get the women out of this last, more hidden, room.

The one at the end captured my attention, and I scowled as I approached.

She was a girl. A child. Bawling and shaking with the extent of her cries, she tugged at her wrists tied to the wall.

"Nik," Dmitri said, noticing where I headed.

"She's a fucking…" I couldn't say it. A child. The Cartel's preference to sell women was gruesome, but enslaving someone underaged like this? A minor who hadn't even reached adolescence?

Rage filled me. Deep, sinister wrath consumed me, and I growled as I lifted my hand and brought my knife down on the rope in a swift cut.

She screamed, cowering back from me, but Dmitri caught her and held her .

"You're going to run home," I told her, unable to keep my fury out of my voice. "Run home, and don't tell the cops who you saw or where you were."

Her nods were broken with vigorous shudders. From head to toe, she shook with fear. I'd never forget the utter fear in her round eyes still shedding tears, but I hoped she'd listen.

"Go!" I roared, pointing at the door.

Dmitri helped her stand, but he didn't grip her or prevent her from escaping.

"Let me go!" one woman insisted, fighting the soldiers.

"You released her, so let me go too! I won't tell anyone. I won't say a word!" another begged, sobbing.

I tuned them out, stalking back to the door.

A grunt sounded, and I paused to turn back and watch a soldier bend over, wincing in pain. He cupped his nuts, and with her bloody leg lowering back down, I realized she'd kicked him.

"Let me go, asshole!" She wrestled to get free, turning her shoulders hard. With one more jerk to the side, more of her blonde hair shifted back.

I tensed, my abs constricting and my lungs seizing.

That voice. Firm and stubborn.

Full of fight.

My feet carried me over the floor as I ran over, half convinced I had to be delirious or dreaming.

It can't be.

The soldier lifted his hand to slap her back. Others had deferred to using force too. It was implied that we'd face struggles here .

Before he could release his anger over her fighting back, I caught his wrist and held on tight.

I knew that voice. I fantasized about hearing it again.

She lifted her face, glaring at me with scorching rage.

It was her.

Amy.