Prologue (Gunner):
I burst through the door. No warning. The wood splinters from the force of the blow, sending chips flying everywhere. The older of the two men, the one I know as Anatoli, immediately whips out a gun and points it at me with no hesitation. Interesting. I don’t flinch as I fight to keep my face impassive. The younger of the two, the one I see a hint of my old self in, just watches me. Even without a gun in his hand he’s lethal. He’s the one I know would kill me if I don’t play my cards right.
“What do you want?”
Anatoli’s narrow as I make my way further into the room.
“You know an Alexa Ray?” I cock an eyebrow. I see his eyes flicker with shock and recognition. “I thought so. Knowing her you probably know a Pytor as well I presume.”
I lean against the wall casually.
“There’s something I need from him.” His life. “You two are going to be the ones to help me.”
The young man narrows his eyes. The look he throws me is deadly. I can almost feel the fury running through his veins, but I’m not focused on him. I’m focused on the man whose gun has lowered ever so slightly. He’s trying to act tough, but I see he cares. I know the whole ‘I’m pretending not to care’ for survival act all too well. If anyone’s going to help me, it’d be him.
“Alexa?” he asks.
I can hear the worry in his voice despite his stiff posture. I can tell this man is a trained killer. Both of them are. The younger man is a whole different breed though. He wants to kill me. I can see see the desire in his eyes. The way his body stiffened when I walked in the room, and his eyes follow my every move. Something is stopping him though. I see him flick his gaze over to Anatoli several times, as if gauging what he should do. How he should react. Again, Interesting. He’s searching for Anatoli’s guidance despite the fact he could easily kill him. He could probably kill me too.
“You probably knew her as Alex I guess,” I reply, sounding relaxed.
“What the fuck is she involved in now?” Anatoli snaps. He fails to hide the concern buried under his anger.
“She’s not. She’s happy.”
Anatoli’s arms slips a little. “What? She is?”
I have him where I want him, but the younger man isn’t convinced. Whether or not he cares about Alexa is irrelevant to him. It’s dangerous to get involved. Bad business. I understand this all too well. I like this guy. I’ve never met someone so like myself. It’s like seeing the ghost of Gunner’s past, except this guy has seen more than I ever have. It’s clear by the scars running along his torso. All he’s wearing is black sweats and tennis shoes. He’s shirtless and it’s clear he wasn’t expecting anyone.
“Your name?” I say to the younger man.
Anatoli takes a step forward protectively. I’m just not sure who he is trying to protect; Me from killing Tobias or Tobias from killing me. Either way his intention is to protect. So fucking interesting. These two clearly aren’t brothers, but they sure act like it.
“Tobias,” the man says coldly. I nod.
“You don’t want to get involved. Why?”
I totally ignore Anatoli at this point. I can feel the offense coming off him in waves, but he’s not the hindrance to my mission here anymore. Tobias is. I glance down at his scars again. The second Tobias notices his whole body stiffens. Which was my intention.
“You want to kill Pytor. I’m not fucking stupid Gunner. I know all about you. You made quite a name for yourself back in your day.”
“Yes I did.”
“Yeah well. I’m not planning on going on a suicide mission for some stupid girl.”
“Stupid? I believe Alexa escaped him, despite his oh so impressive attempt at keeping her caged up.”
“Yeah,” Tobias scoffs and glances over at Anatoli. “Not alone.”
I finally turn my gaze back over to Anatoli, who is eyeing me suspiciously. He is conflicted.
“She lost the kid right?” There’s pain in his eyes. “I know Pytor was out to kill it, but... that’s around the time we left. That’s all I know, but it’s enough. I know he does not fail.”
“Yeah, she did. She lost her. Her name was Anna.”
There is a flicker of emotion in his cold eyes. This man may be a trained assassin, but that gets him. Knowing Alexa followed through and did in fact name her child after him. I see it, and the brilliant thing is Tobias see’s it too. He knows he’s fucked. He is loyal to Anatoli for some reason, and he knows Anatoli won’t drop this. Not when Alexa named her fucking kid after him.
“Fuck,” he says, but his voice is soft. “I didn’t do anything to stop him, even though I knew what he was planning, so I have no right to be mad.”
I roll my eyes. I hate this guilt shit. It hinders people. “That’s a pussy excuse for not doing anything. He’ll keep going after her. You know that. He killed someone else she loved. He’ll kill her.”
Anatoli flinches, but Tobias jumps, clearly losing his battle for emotional control. “Yeah, and why are you fucking involved in this?!”
“Alexa is my girl’s friend. And I retrieved the body of one of his victims. A skinny, young girl. No older than 25. I may be a heartless criminal, but to pick on defenseless young woman is pathetic.”
Tobias nods. “He’s never been about killing them before. He lost his mind. Hence us leaving.”
“Just trapping them into prostitution.”
“He fucking fed her. Gave her a place to stay.”
“Geez, I’ll begin his application into sainthood.” I roll my eyes. This is a pathetic conversation. I’m disappointed. Tobias has to know how weak he sounds.
“Your girl?” I’m surprised Tobias has just picked up on this, but it pisses me off to hear him talk about Dana.
“Don’t talk about her.”
I step right about his face. The corners of Tobias’s lips turn up. He’s happy to have found my weakness. He doesn’t understand that Dana is the furthest thing from my weakness.
“I don’t care if you’re riddled with scars. I will kill you.”
Tobias eyes darken in a way that even makes me think twice. I don’t move or give him any fear to go off of, but my heart is alive in my chest. A steady rhythm pounding away, reminding me how easy my life would be to take. Anatoli sticks an arm between us.
“Okay, back the fuck off,” he growls. Tobias gives me one last hard look before stepping away. I decide right then I need to understand these guys respect for one another. They are both independent dudes. It makes no sense. I shake my hands to get rid of my urge to beat the shit out of him.
“Tell us what you want Gunner,” Anatoli asks with his arms folded over his chest.
“I want to kill Pytor.” I lean against the wall. “I want him out of the picture.”
“That’s not possible. You have no idea how far his reach extends.”
“But you two do.”
“Leave us the fuck out of it!” Tobias seethes.
“Fine.” I turn around, smirking to myself. “I’ll tell Alex you said hi Anatoli.”
I feel fingers curl around my shoulder, halting me. I know it’s Anatoli before I’m even all the way around.
“Don’t play me for a fool наркоторговец.”
“Fucking stand up then,” I snap. “Enough with the games. You fucking care about Alexa. Do something about it.”
“Do you have a plan?” Tobias asks, cutting me off. My eyebrows raise. I didn’t expect him to intercept.
“I always have a plan.”
Tobias looks over at Anatoli who gives him the slightest nod. Tobias crosses his scarred arms over his chest.
“Then talk.”