Chapter 58

Yaroslav

I ’ve lost track of how long it’s been since I’ve been held captive in my own home. But I know it must have been a while—my best guess is two days. When I’m not being tortured in all manner of creative ways I’m left alone with bright lights and loud music to keep me awake, to break down my resolve.

Perhaps the worst part about being forced to endure this torture is that Vova is one of the men inflicting it. Vova, my most trusted and closest man was working against me. I should have known Innokentiy wouldn’t be able to pull off a coup alone. But with Vova’s backing, many of my men turned their coats.

Today is different. Both Vova and Innokentiy turn up to my cell together.

“To what do I owe the pleasure gentlemen?” I ask, though given how my tongue is thick and I’m missing teeth, it doesn’t come out quite as scathingly as intended.

Innokentiy’s smug face smiles back at me, I’m almost glad I can’t fully see him, my one eye swollen from beatings.

“You can give up now, Nephew, there are no men loyal to you remaining. Those who didn’t have the sense to join the winning team were executed this morning, and the few cowards who ran away during the attack have come to their senses and pledged their loyalty. So, are you ready to give us the code to the safe?”

I’ve no way of knowing if what he says is true, but something in his tone makes me think it is. There’s no one left to come to my aid, I’m not making it out of this alive. I think of David and Kim and pray that they’ve made it to safety. I don’t know how much more time I can buy for them. I’m determined now not to give up the safe code, even though I know the information Innokentiy wants is with Kim, the longer Innokentiy thinks it’s in the safe, the more time they have to get away. He’s already had some of his men try and break into it without success, which is why I am still alive.

When Innokentiy realizes that I’m not about to talk, he sighs. “Very well, have it your way. Vova, I think let’s try waterboarding again today.”

Icy panic sets in as Vova busies himself, I barely survived the last time. I picture Kim’s beautiful face, imagining her safe and happy somewhere far away, raising our child with the help of their loving Uncle David. As Vova places the towel over my face and begins to pour the cold water onto it, I hold onto this fantasy and try to take myself there, anywhere away from here.

***

To every question Vova asks me, I ask him some of my own.

“What’s the password?”

“Why did you betray me?”

“Because Innokentiy pays better,” he says as he pours more water onto my face. “What’s the password?”

Sputtering, I retort, “I would have paid you more, what’s the real reason?”

Again, Innokentiy covers my face with the cloth, pouring water over it so it feels like my lungs are on fire and I’m drowning on dry land.

“Tell me the passcode for the safe.”

“Tell me the real reason you betrayed me, and I might think about it.”

He repeats the process again, and while he’s doing it, he finally cracks.

“Because I despise you. The golden boy, the alpha wolf, the man everyone looks up to. You’ve had everything I ever wanted handed to you on a silver platter, born with a fucking silver spoon in your mouth. Meanwhile, I had to climb through shit to be a fucking accessory to you, someone to do your dirty work,” he spits. “But most of all, because you’re weak. You never let me unleash and do what I want, always trying to be so damn honorable.”

I can’t believe that Vova would think this way. I know he had a tough childhood filled with abuse, in and out of foster homes when he was taken away from his violent drug-addict parents, then in and out of juvenile facilities, and then prison. But I was the one who gave him a chance. I saw more potential than a violent thug destined to be in and out of jail his whole adult life. I convinced him that the days of the traditional vory v zakone were numbered. That the real power lay outside of prisons these days, that we could build empires.

That he could feel such resentment toward me, that he could think my life is easy, that I had any more choice in my childhood than he did, hurts. Perhaps I should have opened up more, told him more about our shared childhood traumas, and let him see I’m human, not just his Pakhan. Perhaps I should have seen the signs that Vova was likely to defect.

But then by the sounds of it, Vova is using me as an excuse to hide the real reason. He wants to work for Innokentiy and Sharkozi because they won’t stop him from unleashing the monster he has inside. I knew Vova was a psychopath early on. When I found out he’d raped and killed a woman, I almost fired him. But I believed if I channeled his violent tendencies if I could let him have an outlet on people who deserved it, no more innocents would die by his hand. It seems Vova has little regard for honor and only for his desires.

There’s no point dwelling on what I could have done differently. I can’t imagine some male bonding, or a heart-to-heart is going to save me now. I don’t catch the last words he says as I realize this could be it, I’ve pushed Vova and he might not stop this time. I might die, right here, right now.

Ironically, I’m saved by the man who wants me dead the most.

“You can stop that now, I’ve got what I wanted,” Innokentiy barks at Vova as he walks into the room.

Vova doesn’t immediately comply and Innokentiy gets irate. “I said stop you giant fucking idiot, or can’t you understand simple instructions?” he shouts.

Vova relents, stopping the flow of water and removing the cloth from my face. I gasp for breath, my throat on fire. Innokentiy patiently waits. When I can finally see clearly and no longer feel as though my lungs are about to explode, my first words are to Vova, who looks royally pissed off at how Innokentiy just spoke to him.

“If you think this snake will treat you with more respect than I did, you really are as stupid as everyone says you are,” I sneer at Vova.

I can tell my words have hit their mark, that perhaps he’s regretting his choices. It’s too late now though. Vova will never earn my forgiveness. I should have seen him for the selfish monster he is. Innokentiy will treat him worse than a hired goon, he’ll treat him like a sideshow freak. Though perhaps Vova won’t care, as long as he can indulge his darker desires. I don’t feel one iota sorry for him, not anymore, he can’t blame a lack of guidance, role models, or anything else, he’s doing it because he likes it. Vova scowls and raises his fist ready to strike me, but Innokentiy holds up a hand in warning.

“I told you to stop. Leave us, I have the pendant and the flash drive,” he says, triumphantly holding them up. “It’s only a matter of time before we decrypt them and find out what secrets they hold. I knew that bitch of a sister would make sure it fell into your hands, I just had to bide my time. Our family held information on all of the most powerful crime families in Russia and globally going back hundreds of years. Passed on through the generations. When your sister stole the key and the information, it became my life’s mission to find it. This will make this family the most powerful in the world, yet your father chose not to use the information to its full advantage. I won’t make the same mistake.”

As he gloatingly makes his exit, confident that he’s won and my demise is imminent I can’t help but laugh, even though it’s painful to do so. Innokentiy thinks he holds all the cards. Little does he know he’s only holding the information that’s the key to his downfall, and it isn’t the only copy.