by V. F. Mason
The perfect serial killer obsessed with his victim.
“The hotel. Now!” I shouted, running out of the office and praying to be there in time to save my woman from John’s madness.
I wasn't afraid he’d harm her in any way, because for him, she was probably a goddess who shared his eternal love.
But he wouldn't give her up, because at this point, death would be more acceptable to him than life. And I feared what it would mean for Vivian.
God, please save her.
Radmir
Five huge, black Range Rovers braked to a hard stop by the hotel, blocking the entrance as the security studied us with their mouths hanging open. Michael rushed toward them to explain the situation, and they listened, nodding and then murmuring something in their headphones. He got the needed information, jogged back to us, and it took everything in me to keep my cool, maintain control, and not lose my head with my woman in danger.
She didn't need me reckless; she needed a sovietnik who could save her, and I would never fail my woman.
“They’re on tenth floor, room number 10345. They have informed the staff, who will give us quick access to the floor and the room, and they won’t call for the police, to prevent panic.” He paused and then quickly added, “But they called an ambulance, just in case.” I cracked my fingers but didn't comment while Melissa joined us. She grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me so I would look straight in her eyes.
“Radmir, please don’t kill him. We’ve been searching for him for years! The victims’ families deserve to know where he buried them,” she pleaded, but it did nothing to me.
“My woman is there. I’m barely holding on here, Melissa,” I gritted through my teeth, and Yuri wrapped his hands around her middle, bringing her closer to his chest.
“No, malishka. FBI has no jurisdiction in Russia. This operation will not go according to your rules,” he said and then nodded, as I removed the safety from the gun and took off my shoes, so the fucker wouldn't hear any commotion outside in the hallway.
“Konstanciya, tenth floor,” Vitya spoke on the phone, as she waited for directions on where to set up her vantage point for the best shot. “Radmir, I’m going with you. Michael, stay here. Yuri, control the public and keep the headphones in case we need backup. Gleb, you are going with us.” Then he turned to the pakhan. “Dom, you need to stay here.” I squeezed Dom’s shoulder and his muscle tightened under my hand, because he wanted to be with me but couldn’t.
He had to be here. He was the pakhan of the Bratva.
“Let’s go. We have no time.”
“I’ll go with you,” Alex said from the back, standing next to me as Vitya barked.
“We have no time for fucking civilians, Alex. Step aside.”
He got into Vitya’s face. “Tina is there, and fuck if I’ll stand by and do nothing.”
Not caring in the least for his personal drama when the love of my life was there, I motioned for everyone to follow as we barged inside and took the stairs, because elevators were too risky.
Krasivoglazaya. Hold on.
Vivian
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, while running his fingers from my shoulder to my neck as tears slid down the bridge of my nose. “Like an angel who has come here to save me after all this suffering.” He slid his hand lower to my breast, and I couldn't take it anymore. Wincing in revulsion, I stepped backward, only to be brought harshly back as he dug the gun into my stomach, fanning his disgusting breath in my face. “Where are you going? You don’t try to escape his touch. You welcome it. And you don’t even love him!” he shouted and then mashed his mouth against mine. I slapped his chest as he bit my lips painfully, but I wouldn't open my mouth for him.
Never, he would never get any taste of me.
Fucking psycho.
Frustrated, he threw away the gun and pushed me backward hard. I lost my balance and crashed to the floor, where he plastered his body on mine, pressing me to the floor, his hands roaming over my bare thighs and hiking my dress up as he rubbed his hard-on against me.
“My love,” he kept chanting, but I shook my head, screaming wildly, scratching his face and kicking him, even though he managed to block it.
“No, don’t do this.”
He wouldn't listen, ripping the shoulder of my dress quickly as if in a frenzy. I slapped him hard across the face and he paused, stilling in place as I tried to slide from under him, and surprisingly, I managed to do it, and he didn't stop me.
Breathing heavily, I covered myself up with my arms while he rubbed his cheek, which had an angry red print from my fingers.
When he raised his eyes to me, they were clearer than before and reminded more of the guy I used to know.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized, swallowing a ragged breath. “I didn’t mean to hurt you or Tina.” He unbuttoned his shirt and offered it to me, but I just sobbed harder, hoping to disappear, and almost hit the wall with my back.
“Don’t touch me.”
Regret showed on his face. “No, no. You are talking like my mama.”
What the hell did his mom have to do with it?
“Your mom?” Licking my dry lips, I tried to think of how to get out of here and call for help. The hotel phone was located a few feet away from me. If he was distracted enough with his little sob story, he wouldn't notice my movement. I just had to act interested in this conversation.
I reined in my flip-flopping stomach and dizziness from the fall, focusing on surviving and the fact my sister and I would both die if I didn't do something.
John sat down on his ass, hugging his knees, his eyes glassy as if he was in some kind of trance. “My mama was beautiful. Golden locks, blue eyes, elegant posture. People loved hanging around her, and she always baked delicious muffins.”
I slid to the side carefully and slipped my heels off so they wouldn't clack against the floor. I had no clue about his parents beyond the fact they’d both died in a car accident when he was fifteen. He inherited their enormous wealth that had been passed from generation to generation.
“She sounds lovely,” I noted, and went to slide again when he turned his angry gaze on me.
“It was all an act. Once guests left, she’d slap me around all the time, because she had to marry my father. He wasn’t any better either, only he preferred a belt.”
Although my heart hurt for the small boy he had been, who wasn't loved by his parents, it didn't excuse his violence toward us. He could have risen above it, instead of it defining him. Just look at most of the Bratva members or other survivors of abuse.
As he shifted his attention to the window, I slid once again, ending up closer to the phone.
I almost touched the handle to put us on speakerphone, when he pounced on me, cornering me between the wall and him as he said, “Miss Reynolds, my first nanny, was nice. She was twenty years old and loved reading to me. Dad got her for me when I was twelve. I would bring her flowers every day, but she didn't like it. She liked my daddy, so I had no choice but to poison her so he wouldn't hurt her too.”
Oh my God.
He killed his first victim at such a young age?
“Then my parents’ accident happened, and it was like a gift from heaven. They put me in an asylum for a short time, but I was grateful. The pills led me to you.”
Who would let him leave? The guy was mental and belonged in an institution!
Then his eyes softened as he moved some strands of my hair. “I met many women who fell in love with me with just a glance. I had to kill them all, because I didn’t like it. And I’m glad, because you came along.” I barely managed to suppress my gag reflex, imaging what he could have done to them all. At least he didn't mention the details of those killings. “They would always scream,” he murmured. “Their voices were scratchy and hopeless.” He snarled, “What did they expect? Whores!” His mood changed in the span of a second, and I couldn't come up with a tactic to calm him down. “But then I met you… in the ballroom, and you p
leaded with me to save you. And you remind me so much of Stacia, my first love. I easily got lost in you.”
I couldn't even recall what he was taking about. He probably had a stalking syndrome, where a person thinks you love him or something, creating an entire relationship in his head.
“When was it again?”
“The Parker’s charity gala, remember? One day before you flew to Russia and met Radmir,” he snapped. “When he stole what was mine and had to be punished for it.”
“You killed that man, the one they thought Radmir murdered, just because you loved me?” I said quietly, but he shook his head violently.
“He had learned my identity and wanted to tell Radmir about my fascination with you. I couldn't allow it, and an added bonus, it helped frame Radmir and keep him away from you. Win-win situation.” He shrugged as if all this was not a big deal.
He had ruined so many lives, but he didn't consider it the least bit important, because they were obstacles to his goal.
Me.
I rubbed my forehead as the headache assaulted me. I had no clue what to do but count time in my head. We had been here around twenty minutes, which meant Tina had less and less time to survive, because who knew how fatal her wound was?
“I don’t love you,” I whispered, and he blinked at me, not comprehending my words. “Please let my sister and me go. I wouldn't tell anyone about you, but we have no future.”
“You looked at me that day,” he insisted, playing nervously with his fingers, hectically reaching into his pocket, probably for pills, which he obviously didn't have because the bottle he pulled out was empty. “We had a connection.”
“I don’t even remember that day or the gaze. You were never part of my life, John!” I screamed, hoping someone would hear it and come inside. We weren't in the woods or on a secluded island. It was a hotel, damn it.
I refused to give up. I had a son and a man I loved.
I deserved a life full of happiness, not to die at the hands of a psychopath who lived in his delusional world.
“Stop saying that.” He shook me till my teeth clacked together and then pulled us up, tugging on my hair painfully. “You are just like everyone else! Not appreciating me!” He picked up his gun, and the cold metal touched between my eyebrows. “You don’t deserve my love or devotion. It was me who paced the hospital during your labor and me who made sure you weren’t alone during your doctor appointment during pregnancy. Even if you had no idea I was close, I provided much needed support. Doctors wouldn’t have taken advantage of you because I was always there to protect you.’’ This crazy man had lost his mind! “I even tolerated your sister for you!” He removed the safety of the gun. “First, I will kill you for betraying me, then rape you, and then do the same to your sister. Whores like you two don’t deserve to live.”
The door burst open as Radmir rushed in with his gun pointed right at John while Vitya and Gleb stood behind them in the exact same position.
“Let go of her, fucker.”
John laughed hysterically, swirling me around so he gripped me from behind, pressing my back to his chest.
“I should have killed you too on that fateful day, when you checked on Cliff. He shouted repeatedly for help, the only man I had ever killed actually. I liked the challenge,” he said, happily. “Now your woman will die.”
Radmir’s jaw ticked while he gritted his teeth. Then he lowered his gun and lifted his hands in defeated. “You hate me, right? Kill me instead of Vivian. I’m the man who stood in your way.”
“She just said she doesn’t love me,” he snarled, rubbing his chin on my hair, and goose bumps ran through me, hating it.
Ignoring his words, Radmir pushed him harder. “I’m the man who had her all this time, who made a baby with her. I’m the man in whose arms she cried out in pleasure each night. I’m the man who stood in the way of your happiness.”
John pushed me aside as he aimed the gun at Radmir and fired. Someone groaned in the back as Radmir jumped on John and started beating the shit out of him, while I fell to my knees, gulping air from shock and not paying attention to the men.
Finally, I rushed to the bathroom and checked on Tina, who still breathed, and shouted, “Ambulance, we need an ambulance!”
“They are here, Vi,” Gleb reassured me, and in a minute, the paramedics rushed in, helping her while gently saying to me, “Miss, please go to the next room. We need as little noise as possible to check her vitals, and you shouldn't stand in the way of the gurney.”
“Of course.” I hastily dashed toward the living room, where Gleb and Vitya held a raging Radmir as John lay at his feet nearly beaten to death.
“Man, you would kill him!”
“He deserves it!”
“No, he doesn’t deserve an easy death after what he has done.” Gleb’s reasoning didn’t stop him though.
“Radmir,” I called, and he froze, and then quickly, I ended up in his arms as he hugged me close, his smell and strength overshadowing everything else as I listened to the beat of his heart. “You came.”
He kissed the top of my head, my cheek, my lips, while his hands examined my body. “I will always come for you, my krasivoglazaya. Did he hurt you?”
“No, he tried to but stopped in time.”
He squeezed me tighter and pressed my head to his shoulder, as we both needed to be close to each other in that moment. We belonged nowhere but with each other, and to think that someone tried to take it away from us. Along with fear came crushing relief that it was finally over, and we could move on from this.
That John wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else ever again.
“I love you,” he whispered, and I pressed myself deeper into him.
“I love you too.”
All the pain was worth it, as long as he was by my side.
Alex’s loud voice snapped us back to reality. “The fucker shot me!”
What the hell was he doing here?
Vivian
Folding my arms, I exhaled loudly in the empty hallway as my eyes studied my sister from the ICU room window. Various wires were attached to her, her head bandaged in white, while the machines beeped loudly, indicating a normal pulse according to her doctors.
Tina got lucky.
The minute the nightmare with John had ended, the ambulance took us to the nearest hospital, and thank God, it had the best surgeons in the country or she might not have made it. All the way there, the paramedics kept injecting something in her so her heart would keep beating. They lost her once for a minute as I sat quietly, too stunned to react. Once we had reached the hospital, they immediately rushed her into the operating room.
While she had some minor injuries like cuts here and there, the blow he delivered to her with the metal hockey stick could have been fatal, because it caused bleeding in the head. The neurosurgeon operated on her for seven hours, while a nurse updated us regularly on the progress. Finally, the surgeon came out himself, greeting us with a tired smile and assuring us she’d make a speedy recovery in a month or so.
I still couldn't accept the fact that her fiancé, the man we had trusted so much and who it seemed loved her like crazy, turned my and Radmir’s life to hell, just because he was obsessed with me from a simple glance all those years ago.
How could none of us see the madness in John? He caused so much unhappiness and pain to the people around him, and he felt no remorse about it, because, in his sick mind, it got him closer to me. I rubbed my arms as revulsion ran through me at the idea of his hands on me, or what his sick mind made of our meeting at the ball so long ago.
The fresh smell of coffee tickled my nostrils as Michael brought the cup up to my mouth. “Here, krasotka. Drink up.”
Flinching, I wrapped my hands around the steaming cup and said, “I hate coffee.” But it didn't stop me from taking a long sip, welcoming the warmth spreading through me.
Michael snorted. “Coffee works best in these situations.” Then he hugged me close, wrapping his arm aroun
d my waist. Resting my head on his shoulder, I sighed heavily. He would know this. Lately, all of us girls ended up in the hospital so often we should get a discount from the world medical association. Honey should research it to see if it was even a thing, then we definitely needed to apply.
At the moment, Rosa was recovering in the same hospital, and Dominic went to check on her once he made sure we were all right.
“Your sister is going to be okay, darling,” Michael whispered and then kissed my hair. “Especially with that one looking after her,” he pointed at Alex, who occupied the only single chair in the room, as he stared at my sister, his bandaged hand resting on the armrest. Thankfully, the bullet brushed past his arm and only grazed him. He refused to stay at the hospital, and Michael promised, God knows why, to take care of him during the night. Otherwise, the doctor wouldn’t have prescribed painkillers for him.
The minute he was done, he rushed to wait for her and then ended up in her room before I could even blink.
He refused to leave Tina’s side until she opened her eyes, and even though the nurses begged him to go home since it might take a lot of time, he just gave them the death glare, and they left quickly.
His actions tonight surprised me so much as the truth was revealed. I had no clue how to even react to all this stuff. It’s not every day you learn your ex-husband, who you couldn't stand, had a crush on your sister all this time and couldn't care less about you.
“Yeah, I never saw it coming.” Michael rubbed his chin on my head.
“I don’t think anyone did. Poor guy.” Well, he had some explaining to do, considering his secret life, but my mind shifted to something else.
“Where is Vitya?” They showed up here shortly after us. Radmir probably called them on the way. Those two were like mother hens of the brotherhood, I swear.
“Handling shit with your man. Melissa is up their asses regarding this case, since John is a US citizen. She even requested Interpol to give the guy to her. FSB just laughed it off, although they are thinking about it.” His chest vibrated with laughter. “Which is quite hilarious, considering Yuri is right there with them shouting at her for even being in the operation in her condition.”