Chapter 5

Alexei

 

I light another cigarette as I lean against the outside wall of the house. There are far too many things racing through my head right now.

“I’m sorry for the way I reacted, Alexei. She didn’t seem to be as bad off as Alina.”  I glance over at my cousin and nod once.

“She might not be physically, but I fear mentally she may be,” I add. Lev moves to stand next to me, his eyes lingering on the flowers in the front lawn.

“I assume Alina will be as well. My отец doesn’t seem to be as concerned as I am. I fear I’m missing something vital here,” he says catching my attention. I shift and look toward him, gauging him.

“What do you mean he isn’t as concerned?”

“He just doesn’t seem to worry over her condition. Something else is weighing on him at the moment. Something I’m not privileged to know.” Those words set my nerves on edge. Why wouldn’t he be worried about his daughter’s well-being? Why wouldn’t he want to find out what happened to her and seek revenge? None of this sits well with me.

“I am a Vor. I am privileged to know these things and I think the time is coming for me to have a chat with my дядя soon.” Lev’s eyes widen slightly but I don’t back down. If something is going on and he isn’t concerned, I want to know what it is.

“I agree. Although I don’t know how far you will get with him. He’s been off more than usual lately and it’s becoming quite concerning.”

“I will see what I can do. I have a meeting with the Irish within the week but after that, I will be sure to speak to him,” I add. Lev nods his head before looking up at the sky.

“Do you ever get tired of this life, Alexei?” I blow smoke through my nose and shrug.

“I don’t know any different. This is what I was born to do. If that was ever taken from me, I would be nothing. I would have nothing,” I admit to him. He nods his head and holds his hand out for my cigarette which I pass to him. I watch him as he takes a long slow pull before he passes it back.

“I find myself wondering what life would be like if we weren’t in so deep.” His admission fuels something inside of me because Lev wasn’t raised the same way I was. It pisses me off that he thinks this world is so bad that he might want to leave it, but it also makes me smile. He wants more in his life than killing and being dragged through the mud.

“What are you thinking? Children?” He nods his head and I smile.

“I’d like to think one day that I will be a father,” he says softly. Slapping my hand on his shoulder, I reply, “You would make a great father one day.”

“As would you,” he says back. I chuckle and shake my head, bringing my cigarette back to my lips.

“That isn’t an option. I can barely stand being around people as it is, let alone a child,” I remind him.

“Your past doesn’t define you, Alexei.”

“Ah, but it does when you went through what I did. Are you staying? Should I have Vera get a room ready?” A change of subject is nice. I don’t want to talk about what happened to me as a child. I don’t want to relive that part of my life if I don’t need to. I do though, every single day of my life. The scars that litter my body are proof of what I’ve been through, only no one sees them but me.

“I think I will go home. Is Alina okay to stay? She’s safer here than home,” he says.

“Of course, she is. She is more than welcome to stay until she’s well and we figure things out.” Lev nods and slaps a hand on my shoulder before walking away. I watch him climb into his car and pull out of the drive before I flick my cigarette to the ground and head back inside. When I step in, I look around at everything I have. I was never poor. In fact, quite the opposite. You wouldn’t have known that when I was a child though. I was sent away to a training camp of sorts that my father deemed I needed. There, I was groomed and trained to be exactly what I am today.

“You have a visitor in the basement,” Dmitry says. I smirk and slide my jacket down my arms tossing it over the banister before rolling the sleeves of my shirt up.

“I was wondering when that package would arrive,” I say as I walk past him and toward the door.

“It was a fun time playing cat and mouse with him,” Dmitry says with a chuckle. We walk down the stairs and I stop when I see him sitting in the chair.

“You made mistakes. Vory v zakone is not happy with mistakes such as you have made. When we take our vows, we do so seriously. Anything to do with the government is unacceptable. You chose to work closely with a Chief of Police, yes?” I ask the man in the middle of the room. His friend isn’t far behind. Dmitry will find him next and he too will meet the same fate.

“You don’t understand. I was forced!” he pleads. It makes no difference to me.

“I don’t believe that to be the case, do you Dmitry?” He chuckles and shakes his head moving toward the table to grab the rope. The man in the chair, a nameless man as that’s the way I like to keep it, squirms in his seat.

“I didn’t know!” he screams louder. Dmitry walks to me, handing me the rope. I run it through my fingers a few times before tossing it up and over the rafters. I had the basement designed with this very thing in mind. Call it a sickness but since I was young, I’ve always been intrigued with ropes, and what you can accomplish with them. Grabbing the ends, I work it into a noose. The man wails like a child which only serves to piss me off further. If you didn’t want to end up here, why do things against the Vory?

“Your crying just shows me how weak you truly are. You were never worthy of being a part of this syndicate as far as I’m concerned,” I tell him as I finish up. I motion to Dmitry, so he can remove the bindings and bring me the traitor. He does so and leads him toward me all while he fights to get free. I smirk as Dmitry shoves him closer, holding him in place. I wrap the noose around his neck and lean in closely to whisper.

“There is nothing more beautiful than death.” I move back as he screams some more, and I motion for Dmitry to continue. He hoists him to his feet on the chair as I tug to tighten the rope.

“Once a traitor, always a traitor. In death, you will be nothing,” I say before kicking the chair out from under him. I wanted blood. The thought of seeing it coating my hands excites me, but I have other pressing issues I need to attend to. This traitor deserved to die quickly, and as I watch the life slowly leaving his body, it doesn’t bother me. His whole body shakes for a few seconds before it slowly comes to a stop. He swings slowly from the rafter as Dmitry smiles. If I thought I was fucked up, Dmitry is the devil himself.

“You can play with the next one,” I tell him grabbing his attention. He nods his head and walks toward the body.

“I’ll dispose of this. Have you figured out where the girl is from yet?”

“Not yet. She was awake as of earlier,” I tell him when I hear Vera screaming.

“Alexei!” I spin quickly, rushing into the hallway to find Vera running toward me. The pure look of panic crosses her face.

“What is it? Vera, calm down,” I tell her pulling her shaking body into me. She peers up at me with wide eyes.

“The girl. She has Filip’s gun!” I quickly shove her to the side and rush up the stairs. My heart is beating wilding in my chest as I climb the next set. I reach her room and find her standing with the gun in her hand and tears leaking down her face.

“What is this?” I ask looking at her and only her. Her small frame can’t be more than five foot two. Her red hair is longer than I noticed when we took her, hanging down to her waist. When she looks up at me, her big blue eyes are wild and unhinged.

“What is this?” I ask her, but I receive no response.