“A sick young kid,” Nik mutters as he inclines his head towards the chair as he looks at Jade. “Come take a seat. Alexei might take a while, and I’m sure Haley will like the company.” Jade nods as she walks around the bed to come take a seat just as there is a knock on the door. I tense, groaning as the pain shoots through my body from my feet.
The door opens, and there stands Paige, Andrei behind her. “Paige.” I would never have expected to see her today.
“Haley.” She rushes in. Her features pale when she sees me on the hospital bed. The last time she saw someone on a hospital bed was my mom before she died. “Oh my word, you look terrible.” Yep, that’s Paige, never mincing her words.
“I’ve missed you,” I say.
“I’m so sorry,” Paige says as she leans down, hugging me. “This is all my fault.”
“No, Paige, this isn’t your fault. This is about a madman.”
“But if I hadn’t gone to the cops, you wouldn’t have been here, and this asshole wouldn’t have gotten to you.”
“It’s okay, Paige. Really, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not okay. Vlad told me about what he did, about you not once telling him that it wasn’t you but me,” Paige says, surprising me as she sits up. Vlad has known that it was Paige all along? Then why has he kept me away from her, and why has he kept me with him?
“When did he tell you this?”
“Last night,” she says. “He phoned me.” Is he going to let us leave? Do I have to go back home now? But he just told me he loved me. “He told me what was done to you. Are you okay?”
“Yes, sweetie, I’m fine.” Actually, the pain is starting to become more pronounced, but I want to know what is going to happen. I’m worried about what Vlad might do when he finds Anatoly.
VLAD 19
That son of a bitch. I knew there was something off about him. When I get my hands on him, I want him to show me how much better he is before I break him like he broke those women. I will make him suffer like he made Haley suffer. He likes to see others in pain; well, I’ll give him pain. I don’t take the lift to the ground floor, instead taking the stairs to the garage where all the men are still all together. When I asked Andrei earlier how they were all taking being in one place, he told me that they were taking it well, as they also wanted to know who the son of a bitch was.
Well, they are going to find out, and Anatoly will have a chance to show everyone how clever he is when he is in front of everyone. Walking into the garage, I hear the men. Turning, I make my way towards them, my eyes scanning all of them, looking for that fucker. I hear the door behind me opening, and I know that it must be Alexei.
The men start to quieten when they see me. They must realize that I am looking for someone when they see my expression. I see some of them looking around, trying to guess who the perpetrator is, but I am sure none of them will ever guess at his name, as he has hidden himself among us with his young age as a cover for his perverseness.
I finally see him at the edge of the group. I’m not surprised to see a sick smile on his face. This kid is pure evil. How we never saw it before is beyond me. “Anatoly, come forward,” I call. All the men look around until they find him, a surprised look on their faces as he separates himself from the group, walking towards me.
“Behold, everyone, a coward who had to kill women to try to feel like a man.” His smile slips, and I see anger fill his eyes. The men’s voices rise in anger as they swear at him. Some rush him, but others hold them back, as they know that he is mine. I see the first victim’s husband is one of them, and the father of the other. I will give them a chance with him too, but first, I want to know what made him kill these women and how that links to me.
When he is but a few feet away, he stops. “Do you want to tell all of us why you would prey on our women?” Alexei asks from just behind me.
“I wanted to show him,” he says, pointing at me, “that he isn’t all mighty. He hides behind his fighting, but he can’t even catch a young kid, as he calls me.” I can feel the anger rushing through my veins, but I have an obligation with all these men to let them hear why he did what he did.
“You killed those two women to get my attention?” I ask. It is an effort to get my voice out with the anger I am feeling at the moment, as all I can think about is how I found Haley, the pain she was in, and the state he had her in.
“I killed those women and would have killed yours to show all of you that I am better than any of you.” The men are angry, their comments reverberating through the garage. I want to rush him and beat him until I see the breath leaving his body, but there are two men who have been wronged more than I have.
“You think you can fight me and win?” I ask.
“You would have known the answer to that if you would have trained with me, but you only let those you know you are better than fight with you.” I hear grunts of amusement at his statement, but I don’t acknowledge them, as I want to understand his goal.
“Is this what you wanted, to have my full attention?” I ask.
“I want you to acknowledge that I beat you. I was smarter than all of you. None of you suspected who the killer was.”
“You weren’t that clever. We have you now,” Alexei states.
“Come, boy, you wanted to fight me. Show me what you have.” I want to feel his bones cracking under my fist. If he is so desperate to fight me, then I will give him that wish. Before I can lift my arms, he is screaming and rushing me. I see him raising his arm to punch me. Just before he can connect with me, I step to the side, making him lose his balance. I swing my arm around his neck, holding him up before he can fall.
I don’t need to see his face to know it is red from the neck lock I have on him, and will soon turn purple if I don’t loosen up. “Do you all see this kid?” I call him a kid on purpose, knowing that it will anger him even more and let him know that his actions have not made me see him as a man. “He thought he could fight me and win when he can’t even get a punch in.” I slightly loosen my hold just to give him enough leeway to breathe, but not enough for him to get free.
“He is a coward who attacked our women, hiding from us, too scared to show his actions.” I can see the anger in all the men’s faces as they participate in his capture. “He wanted to be seen as a man, but in the end, he hid in the darkness like a kid.” I let go of the neck lock and push him forward, which has him falling to his knees before everyone.
“He will now know what real men do to those who betray them, who betray the Bratva Fury code. He killed two women. Those women will be avenged by the husband and the father.” I turn to see Alexei standing right behind me. He nods at me in approval. “He’s all yours,” I state, and take a step away only to hear Anatoly’s cry of rage. I see Alexei’s look of surprise, which is warning enough. Being a fighter has fine-tuned my reactions, which has me turning in a split second to see him charging me. My fist connects with his jaw before I even know what I am doing. He lifts off the ground with the force of the punch and crumples back with his eyes closed.
The idiot really thought he could get me; I should have expected his sneak attack. I look down at him, feeling a semblance of revenge. I want to tie his wrists and ankles the way he tied Haley’s to make him feel the pain she was in, but I know that the other two men have more of a right to their vengeance than I do.
“He is yours when he wakes up,” I mutter, once again turning and making my way back to the infirmary. The killer has been caught; the women can once again live in peace without having to fear every single shadow. He wanted to be a man; well, he will suffer like a man who commits those crimes against the Bratva Fury. His death won’t be fast; it will be dragged out so that he can feel the pain and hopelessness that the women must have felt at his hands.
“You did good,” Alexei says from behind me as I turn toward the infirmary. I stop and turn to look at him.
“He did all of it because of me.”
“No, he did all of it because he w
as crazy, and if it wasn’t you, it would have been someone else.” Alexei lifts a hand to squeeze my shoulder. “At another time, you would have killed him without a second thought.”
“Da.”
“She is good for you, Brother; she has calmed that rage that has always been plaguing you,” Alexei says. “When you find a woman who does that for you, you hold her close and don’t ever let her go.”
“I basically took her by force, treated her badly when I thought she had betrayed me. I stopped her from talking to her sister, made her lose her job.” The thought of the way I treated Haley before has been plaguing my mind ever since I found out that she wasn’t the one who betrayed me. “You say I shouldn’t let her go; after what I have done, how can I not?”
“One thing I have learned with Jade, and if you ask Nik or Dimitri, I am sure they will tell you the same, is that women are stronger than men in most cases, that they have a different way of looking at situations and seeing the good in them.” Alexei drops his hand. “She will forgive you, and you will see that you will be stronger with her by your side.”
He takes a step around me and makes his way down the corridor. I remember a time when Alexei was all about vengeance, a time when everything was black and white, and then Jade came into his life, and he started to look at things in tones of grey.
“Your woman has made you soft,” I mutter, but I can feel the smile lifting my lips, as I love Jade and would do anything to keep her and their children safe.
“You tell her that and I will kill you,” Alexei quips with a straight face as he opens the door for us to enter the room where Haley is. The first person I see is Paige sitting on the bed next to Haley. My heart starts to race when I realize that the moment of truth has come. Everyone’s eyes turn towards us as we step inside.
“What happened?” Jade is the first to ask.
“I’ll tell you on the way up,” Alexei says as he holds out his hand to her. I see her looking at him as she takes his hand and stands. Nik is already making his way towards the door. When he is about to step around me, he stops.
“You okay?” His words are asked in a whisper and in Russian so as not to bring attention to anyone else. I glance over at him and nod. He doesn’t ask anything else, just proceeds on his way.
“Nice meeting you, Paige,” Jade says as she takes Haley’s hand. “If you need anything, just tell Vlad to let me know. I will come see you soon.” The fact that Jade and Haley like each other pleases me. I see Haley smile at Jade and thank her. I can see the strain on her face, which tells me that she must be in pain but is acting like her strong self again.
Alexei and Jade leave, closing the door behind them. “I’m going to call the doctor. It’s clear that you’re in pain,” I say as I turn to go call the doctor.
“No, Vlad, wait,” she calls out, which has me stopping and turning. “He was here a few minutes ago and gave me something for the pain.”
“Is it going away?” I ask.
“Yes, it’s starting to lessen. Now stop stalling and come here and tell me about what happened.” I would rather not talk about that asshole ever again, but I understand that Haley needs to know.
I look at Paige and see that she’s trying not to meet my gaze. Since our conversation in which I told her what her sister had done to protect her, I have wanted to see her. I phoned her last night, knowing that Haley would want to see her when she woke up. What I must tell Haley I want Paige to hear, but first, I will appease Haley’s curiosity and tell her about Anatoly.
“When we heard that you had been taken yesterday, Dimitri called all the men into the garage area, not letting anyone leave until you were found.”
“That’s why he left,” Haley whispers. I bring the chair closer and sit down, taking her hand in mine.
“We were with associates of ours, and they accompanied us here, as we knew none of them would be responsible. They helped search for you. They were the ones who found you.”
“Yes, I could hear them,” she murmurs. “I thought they were going to leave, but there was one who kept insisting I was in there.” Yes, last night, when Andrei came in to see how Haley was doing and if I needed anything, he told me that he would have just left, as he didn’t see anything, but Brandr insisted that Haley was in the storage room as if he knew for a fact. He said that he nearly jumped out of his skin when the trolley fell over. I don’t know what it is about the Elementals, but something is different with them. Either way, I’m thankful, because if it weren’t for them, I might not have found Haley yet.
“We didn’t let the men disperse until just now when you told us who the killer was.” I lean forward to look into her eyes. “I’m sorry he got to you, babe; I should have given you access to the apartment earlier.” She takes her hand from mine. Lifting it to my cheek, she gifts me with a tender smile.
“We’ve been through this. It’s okay.”
“By now, you also know that I know that you weren’t the one who betrayed us.” I look over at Paige and see her tense features as she looks at Haley. “Your sister has stayed here to protect you from what you did. She not once told us about you being the one who went to the police to tell them about the shipment.” She nods as she lowers her head. “You cost us a lot of money all because you were jealous.”
“Vlad, I—” I interrupt Haley’s words, as I know that she will try to appease Paige, but it’s time that Paige confronts what she has done.
“No, Haley, she needs to hear this,” I state.
“It’s okay,” Paige says.
“You are now working for us, and from what I have heard, you’re doing very well. As I said to you before, you will pay off your debt, and when you have paid it off, you can decide what you want to do, if you want to continue working for us or if you want to leave, but until such time, you will remain. If you want to study and work part time, that is fine, but I think it is time that you take responsibility for your actions and stop hiding behind your sister.”
“I’m sorry for what I did, and I’m sorry, Haley,” Paige says, and then she looks directly at me. “I like being here. I feel like I am part of something, and the others are great. I have made friends in the time that I have been here, and I have my own place, which I don’t know when I would have been able to afford when I was at home.” I also know that she has been talking quite a lot to the son of one of our men, which I think is the main reason she likes it here, but I won’t mention that.
“You can come visit your sister anytime you want, but you will respect her. I don’t want to hear you talk to her like you did that night. She has tried to give you the best life she could, and you have been ungrateful.” I see her cheeks darken in embarrassment. “Now that you work, you can see how difficult it is.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you knew?” Haley asks. It’s time to have the talk, but I would rather have it when I’m alone with Haley.
“Paige, how about giving your sister and me a moment? You can come back later if you’d like. She also needs to rest.”
Paige looks down at Haley and then nods. She leans down and kisses her on the cheek. “I will come see you later, Sis. You look like hell. You better rest.” I see Haley smile as she shakes her head. Paige jumps off the bed. “Bye, Vlad,” she calls, making her way out.
“Okay, enough stalling,” Haley says.
“Not stalling. Just wanted to be alone with you when I apologize for being an ass.” She raises her eyebrows in surprise. “Yes, I was a jackass, and I should have realized that you’re not the type of person to betray anyone. Haley, I’m sorry for the way I acted and for everything I put you through since coming here.”
“You believed I betrayed you? I understood your anger. I was upset that you thought I could do that to you, but I understood that you were hurt with me. People who feel betrayed lash out.”
“When he took you, I felt like my heart had been ripped out, that I would never be able to tell you that I loved you.” Her eyes fill with tears. “Don’t cry, Ha
ley. I don’t want to ever see tears in your eyes.” I stroke my finger under her eye to wipe away a tear that has escaped. “You have brought a calmness to my life that I didn’t know existed. My life has been filled with violence and betrayals ever since I can remember. I think that is why when everything pointed to you, I believed that you were the one who betrayed me, as it has always been like that.”
“I know,” she whispers. “Where to now?”
“What do you mean where to now?” I know what she is asking, and this is the question I have been dreading, as I don’t want to insist she stays, but I don’t want her to leave.
“You brought me here because you thought I had betrayed you, but now you know it’s not true. Does that mean I go back home now?”
“I have known it wasn’t you ever since the day we went to the club. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to leave.”
Her eyes widen at my confession. “I knew something changed when we were there,” she mutters with a frown.
“Yes, I had asked someone for information on who gave the police the information. That evening, while you were in the bathroom, I read the e-mail that was sent to me with the details. When Paige went to the police, she gave them her name. It was on the report.”
“Does that mean that I will live here with you?”
“Yes, Haley, but only with one condition.” She frowns in confusion. “I want you to be mine in every way possible. What I am trying to say is that I want you to marry me. Will you marry me?” I feel a knot in my stomach, and each second that passes without her answer, it tightens. What if she doesn’t want to marry me because of who I am?
“Yes.” At first, the word doesn’t register, but then when it does, a feeling of relief overwhelms me.
“If you weren’t in that bed, I would be kissing you silly right now,” I mutter, frustrated that I chose the worst time to ask her to marry me.
“I guess you will have to make up for it when I’m back at your apartment.”
“No, Haley, not my apartment, our apartment. It is now your home. It has been your home for a while now.” She smiles at me. That smile has been able to calm my soul, calm the fury that has resided there since the day my mother died. It has vanquished all the sorrow and filled it with a light that only she can give me.
Fury: (Bratva Fury) Page 15