Chapter 25 - Arseny

I should have told Elena what I was doing. She would have wanted to know about this decision and probably coach me on what to say to her father, but I feel like this is something I have to handle myself. I don't know if this is the right decision, but if this feud goes on, someone's going to die, and I'm terrified it will be Elena.

If Elena dies because I love her, or even if she just gets hurt, I will never forgive myself, and I would probably start a war because of it.

That laundromat burning down was the reality check I needed, and if Elena is right about her father being an upfront man, then this should go well.

I received an email from him last week stipulating the place and time. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and letting him choose the location: a bunch of warehouses near the outer rim of the city.

I arrive early to scope it out. I turn my phone on silent so that nothing distracts me.

I park quite a distance away, get out of my car, and walk around the warehouse. There's one car parked there, and I don't see anyone around. I can see someone is in the car, though. I scan for a possible ambush, but I don't see any guards or any additional people, so I go back to my car and get a little closer, but still not close enough to be jumped.

I circle around the area. It takes me about an hour, but there's no one here, just the empty warehouse and the car parked outside. Of course, there's always the chance that there's someone inside the warehouse, but I have to trust Elena that her father is the straight shooter he claims to be.

I drive onto the property and park in front of the other car. I get out of my car and stand in front of it, crossing my arms. "I'm here, Sokolov. What do you want to talk about?"

"How you are fucking my cousin?" a young voice says. I stand up straight as Elena's cousin climbs out of the car.

"Darren? Darryl?" I muse. "Oh yes, it"s Darius. Elena has told me about you."

"I'm sure you know Elena very well, considering you're sleeping with her," Darius says. He leans against his car. "She's a little blood traitor, and she'll get what's coming to her next."

"If you harm her…" I growl.

"You'll what? Kill me? I'm afraid we're past that, Milov. You are going back to your family in pieces."

"I'd like to see you try that," I say arrogantly. "So you're the one ordering hits on my family. Wait until Elena figures this one out."

"She already has. I'm sure she's running around panicked and looking for you. Tell me, do you think she would be stupid enough to approach your Pakhan about it?" What would he do?" Darius cocks his head to the side. "Not much, I reckon, since his enforcer is a little tied up."

He pulls the gun so quickly that I can't match him. He shoots at me, and a dart hits my neck. I pull it out and look at it. "What… is this?"

"Goodnight, lover boy," Darius says before I pass out.

My head feels heavy when I come to. I'm strapped to a chair in a rather uncomfortable position. I groan softly when suddenly a bucket of icy water is thrown over me, and I gasp, now awake.

I look at Darius standing in front of me with the bucket. "Hello, sunshine." He grins happily. "Like your new accommodation?"

I look around. I'm in a house, no, not a house, a garage.

"I need to take a leak. Feel free to look around until I'm back." He walks out of the room, and I look around. The garage door is closed, but I bet it's in an abandoned house that no one lives near. It's what I would do.

I think about Elena, about how much trouble she's going to be in when Darius is finished with me. How heartbroken she's going to be to find out I'm dead. I know I love her. I don't want anything bad to happen to her.

I wish there were something I could do to stop this shitstorm that I started, but at the same time, I don't regret it because it brought Elena and me together. She's the sexiest fucking Mafia bitch I've met, and I'm damn lucky she's been mine for this short time.

I hear footsteps, and Darius walks back into the room and takes out his cell phone. "Smile, dickhead."

I look up and smirk. "You're lucky this isn't hand-to-hand combat, or I'd wipe the floor with you."

"You're not going to goad me into releasing you, Arseny. The truth is I beat you. I pulled one over the best enforcer in the business. The precise, the perfect, the anally-retentive Arseny Milov. I am better than you in every way."

He takes out a knife and holds it to my throat. "A part of me just wants to off you now. I could say you attacked me, and it was an accident. I wonder if your brother would buy it. He's become so weak since he's become a father. Your whole family is pathetic."

"Leave them out of this," I murmur. "They're twice the man you'll ever be."

"Oh really? Because I don't have some fat bitches by my side."

"The only fat bitch I've seen is your little brother. What is he, three hundred pounds? And a short shit."

"Leave my brother out of this," he nicks me with his knife. I feel the blood dripping down onto my shirt.

Lesson learned. That's what the new scar means. Lesson learned. I won't be taken by a fool like this again. If there is another time, that is.

"What do you think your Uncle Emery will do to you when he finds out what you did?" I ask, looking up at him with my hair hanging in my face.

"He'll reward me. In fact, I plan to give you to him as a gift. The man who kidnapped Elena."

"I didn't kidnap her. She came willingly. Again and again." He punches me, and I spit out some blood. "Sorry, I didn't realize it was a sensitive topic."

"Don't talk about my cousin like she's some little whore," he says.

I smirk. "Your cousin isn't a little whore. She loves me, Darius. And when she finds out that you have me, she is going to tell your entire family to kill you."

"She hasn't got it in her," Darius says, but I can see I have him spooked.

"Believe me, you don't know what she's got in her. How did your hand get hurt?" I ask, looking at his bandaged hand. "Was that her? Was it the knife I gave her?"

He glares at me and takes out his phone again. "I'll consult my uncle before she has time to get back to him. You'll be dead before she can shed a tear to my uncle for your life."

I watch him pace back and forth. "Hi, it's Darius. Can you come to Long Street House? I need all of you here—Uncle Emery, you, Kyle, and Sevan. I have a gift for the family. Okay, okay, I'll call him, but get Kyle and Sevan here. Okay, bye."

He turns to look at me. "That's three out of four. Let's see what my uncle has to say."

"Does he trust you? Your uncle? Cause he's not going to when he hears you've been putting out hits using his name," I chuckle darkly.

He puts the phone to his ear. "Uncle Emery, hi. It's Darius. Can you come to Long Street House? I have a gift for you. I have the man who kidnapped Elena in my custody. Yes, it's definitely him."

He hangs up and leans against the wall. "It'll take them half an hour, but they'll be here."

"So, not too far out of the city then," I say. "I assume you left my car because Kervyn can track it."

"I'm not an idiot. This isn't my first kidnapping."

"Elena wasn't my first either, but she'll be my last after I kill you." I spit more blood out. "I think you loosened one of my teeth. I'm going to have to make you pay for that."

"Ooh, I'm terrified." He walks toward me. "What are you going to do, Arseny? Stare me to death?"

As he gets close enough, I kick out and make contact with his nuts. "That, for starters," I laugh manically.

He groans on the ground, and I shift to see if I can get out of my binds. It's cable ties. If I flex enough, I can probably snap them. I start to try to pull my arms apart, but the air is knocked out of me when Darius kicks me in the abdomen. I keel over backward, knocking the air out of me a second time. I try to catch my breath.

Darius gets me up again and cable ties my legs to the chair. "Clever little shit," he grunts, limping slightly.

I snort and spit up blood. "Sorry, when I see an opportunity, I take it."

"You're not that different from me, Arseny. That's why when I figured out how much you loved those butchers, I just had to acquire them. I'm so tired of the Milovs thinking they're the bigger players. They're not. They're nothing compared to the Sokolov family. You're just too blind to see it. You and I were not destined to fall in love, be fathers, and do things typical people do. We are the enforcers. Ours is a lonely life."

"Speak for yourself. I have Elena," I grunt. "Just because no one likes you doesn't mean I'm unlovable."

He punches me in the face again, and now my tooth pops out. I spit it to the floor and glare at him. "I'm going to have to take one of yours now."

"I'd like to see you try," he goads me.

I hear cars pull up outside, and Darius fixes his hair. "They're here. I hope you're ready to meet your fate."

Am I ready? I've always thought that death doesn't scare me, but now that I have Elena, now that she relies on me, I'm terrified of leaving her alone in this bloody mess of a world.

The garage door starts to open once Darius presses a button. Standing outside are Emery, Ethan, Kyle, and Sevan Sokolov. All armed. All dangerous.