Chapter 10

Viktor

CHAPTER TEN

We walk out of the shop with a few bags. She sits in the passenger seat beside me, doing some kind of magic to her mane of hair and applying lip gloss she found at the checkout.

“What’s happened with your brothers?” she asks.

I don’t want to take her to where I’m about to go.

But she needs to see. She needs to know.

“There’s a secluded warehouse that’s one of our secure locations. Only family’s allowed there. We need it quiet and off the grid.”

Nodding, she looks out the window.

“And why am I coming with you?”

“Because I can’t trust you at home.”

The cars zoom past us as we take the exit that leads us to the warehouse. “So I accompany you everywhere you go, then? That’s your big plan?”

“Until I can teach you to behave yourself.” The truth is, once we’re married, she’ll be a lot more secure than she is now. The Ledyanoye Bratstvo will have less of a claim on her, and even our rivals would know she’s off-limits.

“Indefinitely?”

“Yeah, Lydia. Indefinitely.”

She drums her long fingernails on the dash. “I need a phone, Viktor.”

“I know. I’m on it.”

We drive in silence. We’re only a few minutes out.

“What if I promise you I won’t try to escape again?”

I shake my head. “Talk is cheap. I don’t give a shit what you tell me. I won’t let up until I know you’re not going anywhere.”

She frowns, shaking her head, and curses under her breath.

“You’re a fucking liar,” she finally says. “You know that, don’t you?”

I’m not a liar. I tell the truth even when it hurts. She’s baiting me, trying to get some measure of control back—a last-ditch effort to rattle me.

I won’t be baited.

“I don’t. So why don’t you fill me in on why you think I’m a liar?”

Her eyes flicker with surprise, momentarily thrown off. She shifts, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. The air between us is thick with tension, unspoken words, and unresolved anger.

“You keep telling me you won’t hurt me. You keep hinting at the fact that you know me. But if you really knew me, you’d know that the number one way of hurting someone like me is trying to control them.”

Ah. Well played. But she’s still missing a piece of the puzzle.

“Mmm. When someone makes choices that could endanger them, sometimes the only option is to ensure their safety by exerting control. You ought to know that.” I give her a sidelong glance as I exit the highway and make a quick turn toward the warehouse. “Your parents sent you to boarding school for that reason, didn’t they?”

They sent her to boarding school because she was a danger to herself and her peers. They sent her to a place with strict rules and an authoritarian structure in an effort to give her the guidance and supervision she needed. Like most attempts at controlling defiance, it didn’t work well.

“You don’t know the first thing about me,” she seethes.

“Settle down. We’ll pick this conversation up later. For now, we have a job to do.”

The secluded warehouse is grim and shadowy. There’s only one other car here—Mikhail’s. I know Nikko, Mikhail, and Lev are all waiting inside for us.

I don’t want her to see what I’m going to have to do, but I have no choice. The only way forward is through this.

She hesitates when she sees the heavy iron door and dim setting.

“What if I promise to stay here? You can lock the doors or… or something.”

I shake my head. “No. I won’t take the risk, and I need you to know what’s at stake here.” When we reach the doorway, I turn to her and place my hands on both of her shoulders. I massage them with my thumbs and hold her gaze. “These men here have information that we need to have. They will not willingly give it up. They might even be willing to die before they do. But we must have it. Your mother’s life is at stake and so is yours. We need to find out what they are planning to do. I want you to understand the gravity of this situation. You don’t want to admit it yet, but Timur Yudin is an evil man who had the intent to kill you. We don’t have him in our possession, and we’ll stop at nothing until we do.”

The door opens, creaking on its hinges, and Lydia’s breath hitches. I reach for her hand on instinct. It feels small and warm in mine, and my heart swells in my chest.

I will protect her no matter the cost. No matter the risk.

I take a moment to quickly observe what’s going on. Mikhail stands in the corner of the room, his hands on his hips. Several men, bound and gagged, sit in folding chairs, obviously bloodied and beaten. Nikko wears nothing but a tee. His hair is slicked with sweat, and his fists are covered in blood. Lev stands in front of one of the men, staring dispassionately at them. He holds a baseball bat in his thick fists.

Lydia stifles a gasp. “Holy shit,” she whispers. “Viktor.”

I squeeze her hand. “You’ll be fine. You’re a strong woman. Remember who they are. They’re pieces of shit unworthy of the bottom of your fucking shoe.”

Her eyes widen, and she stares at me. She licks her lips and finally nods.

“Alright.”

“Here. I want you to stay here. You’re going to see me do some fucked up shit, Lydia, and I won’t pretend otherwise. You’ll stay here. You’ll watch me, and you’re going to survive just fine.” She nods. I lean in closer. “You were raised by Petr Ivanov. You’ve witnessed shit no woman should ever have to see.” I know she has. I was there for some of it, only she doesn’t know that yet. “And here you are. Strong. You’re a survivor, Lydia. A fucking survivor.”

“How do you know that?”

“You’ll see.” I bend and kiss her cheek. The touch of her skin to mine lights a fire in me. Rage courses through my veins like molten fire. I’m going to fucking kill these sons of bitches, and she’s going to watch me.

I’m on deck.

I turn and lock the door from the inside, underscoring the confinement and gravity of the situation. I turn and face them.

“What have we found out?”

“Absolutely fucking nothing,” Nikko says.

“Not totally true,” Lev responds, shaking his head. He jerks his chin at the one in the middle. “This one has a thing for Lydia. I’ve got video evidence of him stalking her. I even found videos he took of the two of them?—”

“Stop.” I take in a deep breath through my nose and let it out slowly. I do not need to talk about her and Timur fucking Yudin together. My breathing’s heavy, my rage at a low simmer. “Do you mean to tell me that he’s a fucking creeper?”

“Ohhh, yeah,” Lev says, his jaw tight. I can tell he wants to beat the shit out of this guy for me, but he won’t. He’ll leave it to me. “Caught him jerking off to the video.”

Motherfucking asshole.

I stand before the men, my gaze assessing each of them in turn. One of them is already breaking, tears streaking down his face, and I haven’t even laid a finger on him yet. Whatever Lev and Nikko did was only a prelude—the scolding before the storm. Their fear is palpable. They understand this is their endgame and that if they don’t cooperate, they’ll die right here.

I take a step forward. “So you’re prepared to die for your cause?” I ask, stroking my chin. “You do know that if you don’t cooperate, you’ll never see the light of day again?”

No response.

I slowly walk over to the most visibly frightened one. I lean in and whisper in his ear everything I’m going to do to him, right here, right now, if he doesn’t cooperate. He closes his eyes, and tears fall.

I’m unmoved, but Mikhail wants to drive this home.

“Remember, they’re loyal to the man who would fucking destroy her, Viktor. Remember who they are.”

My brothers like to… encourage me with a reminder of the depravity of the men I punish. It helps.

I reach out and grasp the chin of the man in front of me. He’s terrified, but I don’t fucking care.

I snap my fingers at Lev, who hands me the baseball bat.

“We’ll start slow. You’ll tell me where your leader is, or I’ll break both of your knees with this baseball bat. Are we clear?”

He shakes his head from side to side. “I can’t do that. I don’t know!”

“He knows,” Nikko growls. “He’s lying.”

I snap the bat against one kneecap with a vicious swing. Bone cracks. He screams, pleading for mercy, but he won’t get it here. Lydia stifles a scream.

Good girl.

The other man, the fucking son of a bitch who defiled Lydia, will get special treatment. He glares at me defiantly, daring me to touch him.

“Tell me. Where is he?”

The man beside him curses at him in Russian, daring him to defy their orders. He promises him he’ll burn in hell if he divulges anything, and his family will suffer a brutal, vicious death.

It’s a bluff, though. Neither one of them will ever leave here again.

“Do you understand the gravity of lying to me?” I ask, my voice a low rumble in the quiet warehouse. I capture his attention. “Imagine a slow, excruciating pain that only starts with the warning. Broken kneecaps.Let’s discuss facts, gentlemen. The human body is a masterpiece in its capacity to withstand pain. Take, for example, your broken kneecap. It isn’t just the broken bone, is it?” I tap his kneecap with the tip of the bat, and he screams until he’s hoarse. “The pain is about a nine on the pain scale. Severe enough to cause shock or even cloud your vision.”

I lean in, allowing him to truly process this. Sometimes, the threat of torture and pain magnifies the effect of a brutal beating. “But the true agony is what comes after. The way every movement causes unbearable pain to shoot up your leg. How a simple act like a cough or a shift in weight becomes unbearable.” I stand up straighter. “And I’m about to break your second. So I urge you to consider your next words very carefully. Are they worth so much pain you pass out until I cut you into strips and you bleed out on this floor? You know we chose this place deliberately because it’s so easy to mop up the blood and mute any noise.”

I tap my palm with the bat. Lev watches me. Nikko’s eyes are burning into our enemies’ with the heat of a million suns. Mikhail watches all of it go down, unmoved. Lydia is a statue.

I slam the bat into my palm, welcoming the burn. The man tied up cries out.

“Alright, then.” I lift the bat and rear back.

“Okay!” he screams. “Alright, okay, I’ll tell you! God!”

I lay the bat on the floor and look over at him. I nod to Nikko.

“You got Aleks on the phone?”

“I’m here,” Aleks says. Nikko nods.

The man beside the traitor rocks his chair, doing his best to get at his pussy traitor of a brother. He writhes and squirms, screaming at him in Russian.

“Manhattan!” He says, weeping. “He’s at Midnight Wharf.”

“Did you get that?” I ask Aleks.

“Yeah. I know where that is. Privately-owned port on the East River.”

The other one curses, spittle flying out of his mouth. I nod to Nikko. “Give him his rewards.”

Nikko presses the gun to the man’s temple and pulls the trigger. He slumps in his restraints.

His companion meets my eyes, unmoved.

I look at Mikhail.

“I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want her to see what I’m going to do to him.” I don’t want her recoiling from my touch. Reliving what I’m about to do.

Mikhail nods. “We’ll leave you to it, brother.”

“Viktor,” Lydia says, her voice choked. “You don’t have to do this. You’re still fucking human. Just… just end it quickly.”

I meet her eyes and shake my head. “I’ll get there. Take her out, brother.”

Her eyes water, and for some reason, she looks like she’s going to cry. I don’t understand.

I walk over to her and brush my finger along her cheekbone. I draw it back, wet with her tears. “Why don’t you want to leave?”

“I don’t know,” she whispers. “I don’t know, but I—I have to stay.”

Fuck.

I don’t want her to see me and see a monster. But I have to honor her request.

“Alright. I’ll allow it. But you stay behind me,” I concede, a heavy reluctance in my voice.

As Mikhail steps aside, Lydia takes a deep, shuddering breath, steeling herself against the violence she is about to witness.

And there… in the dark, cold warehouse with her eyes staring into mine, her commitment not to walk away or shield herself from who I am and what I do—something shifts between us. I know who she is. I’ve seen her demons. I know the darkness she battles and the darkness she revels in.

She’s about to see mine.

I turn back to the man bound before us, his fate sealed by what he’s done. I whip the baseball bat against the wall with all my might. It splinters into pieces. I won’t need weapons for what I’m going to do next.

I flex my hands.

Lydia doesn’t flinch.

“Get behind me.”