Andrei

 

Time was not on my side, but I had to do something. No. I had to do everything in my power to get Kelly back, and that meant playing dirty by involving the police.

 

No, I didn’t call them and explain the situation. I wasn’t stupid like that. And in case I was being tailed by one of Vasilev’s goons, I had to be very discrete. I walked into the mall and walked around until I found one of the men who participated in a few of the fights. I tailed him into a crowded store and made my move. I slid him a hundred-dollar bill and told him to deliver this anonymous file to the local sheriff station and that there would be five hundred more for him at the bar if he finished the job in five minutes.

 

Four minutes later, Darren, the guy I had watching the sheriff station, told me the guy had made the delivery.

 

Good. Very good.

 

If Mikhail Vasilev knew I had evidence of him embezzling money via Sanchez Trucking, he would’ve mentioned it on the phone. I had done more digging online, and had been able to collect enough facts and details; combined with the paid transaction I nabbed from his office, this should help the police out. As it turned out, the police in the city where Vasilev had been before moving back here had been mounting a case around him, slowly but surely. Hadn’t been able to make a move on him yet, and from a snitch in the police station who liked to gamble with my men — I had only two friends involved with the men in blue — I learned the cops in my city were sniffing around him ever since he stepped foot here and were in cahoots with the cops from his previous location. The intel I sent their way should be what they needed to be able to finally arrest him.

 

Going about this elaborate plan, convoluted as it was, to ensure the police received the info without there being a connection to me was necessary. No way did I want the fact that I was helping the police to get out. Didn’t want Vasilev to know. Fuck, I didn’t want anyone to know. Wouldn’t be good for business.

 

Should I have used my time differently? Should I have tried to gather up the ransom money instead? I knew from Aleksey through Vasilev’s daughter that Vasilev was stockpiling weapons. He owed someone a lot of money, and he was using me to get the money he owed instead of earning it. The fucking shithead. No wonder he hadn’t made a move on me, hadn’t tried to kill me. He didn’t come back to kill me. He came back to steal my money. Then he probably planned on finishing me off.

 

Wasn’t going to happen. I would make sure of that.

 

I gathered all of my men together, every last one. If Vasilev wanted to wage war against me, he would get war in retaliation.

 

“You know what Mikhail Vasilev did to me, did to us, to the Petrov mob. How he killed my parents, my family, your brothers and fathers. How he tried to wipe us off the map. Now he’s back, and he’s continuing to take. That’s all he’s ever done. Take. He’s a thief, a murderer, and a coward. He doesn’t deserve to live.”

 

There were a lot of cheers and grumblings about what they would like to do to Vasilev if given the chance.

 

I grinned. These were my men. Loyal to a fault. They felt my pain as much as I did. “Vasilev has crossed the line by returning here. He’s stockpiling weapons, and it’s not because he’s going after the police. No. He’s going after us. Are we going to let him kill our children, steal and rape our wives and girlfriends and daughters?”

 

“No!” they all shouted as one.

 

“Are we going to go down without a fight?”

 

“No!” they repeated.

 

“Aleksey was a good man. Vasilev had him killed. Kelly was…is…” I shook my head. I didn’t know how to describe her or our relationship. “Vasilev won’t stop with Aleksey and Kelly. He’ll keep on taking. Keep on coming. I say we give it to him. Give him slugs to the gut. Take his scalp. Reclaim what is ours. This city!”

 

The men cheered.

 

“Let’s move out and infiltrate his house!”

 

Their roar of approval and applause was deafening. Win or lose, we weren’t going down without a fight.

 

Only we couldn’t lose. I couldn’t handle that. Not again.

 

Never again.

 

We all piled into cars and formed a long caravan. Ever since Aleksey started sniffing Vasilev’s daughter’s skirts and he located Vasilev’s house, I had two men casing the joint. Luckily for me, I had the foresight to do that. Unluckily for Vasilev, he moved Kelly there. Why, I wasn’t sure, especially since I hadn’t found out where he had originally stashed her. If she had stayed there…it wasn’t something I wanted to think about. Bottom line, I knew where she was being held.

 

What if you’re too late? What if she’s already dead? a voice in the back of my head asked.

 

Then I would make Vasilev suffer as slow and as painful of a death as possible.

 

But if I knew Vasilev, and I was pretty sure I understood how his twisted mind worked, he would have Kelly alive. He had more need for her to be alive…for now.

 

But that didn’t mean she hadn’t been seriously injured.

 

We couldn’t reach his house fast enough.