And fighting, usually, got one killed.
If he were dead, there would be no reason for Fatos and the others to remain in New York.
Someone brandished a gun, and Luka didn’t bother looking into the face of the man who was going to kill him. He didn’t matter.
“Wait!”
Luka tensed at the sound of Fatos’ voice, craning his head around to get a visual of him.
As he stepped into the room, he moved leisurely, as if he had all the time in the world.
…Like he had known Luka was coming.
“Is this any way to treat an old friend?” he asked as he shook his head, as though disappointed in Luka’s actions.
He held up Luka’s phone for him to see, giving it a little shake. Almost, as though she could sense the trouble he was in, the phone started buzzing again with Alex’s name appearing.
Shaking his head, Fatos silenced the call. “Tell me. Who is there to protect your little doll now that you’re here with me? There could be men waiting for her outside that studio even now…”
When Luka jerked toward him, multiple pairs of hands grabbed him, forcing him to his knees.
“What do you want, Fatos? Why won’t you just kill me and end this!”
“I don’t want you to die. I want you to live. How many times have I offered you a place by my side? All will be forgiven…eventually.”
“I don’t want it.”
Fatos frowned. “You would rather give your life for these Russians? What have they given you that I didn’t? That I won’t?”
“Everything.”
“Fine.” He pulled out his own gun, leveling it at Luka’s forehead. “Then you can die as you wish, and after I’m done with you, I’ll have that little bitch of yours killed too, but not until after I fuck her bloody.”
Luka didn’t lose his temper. There was no point. “What do you want, Fatos?”
“If you don’t want to rule beside me, brother, then you can answer for what you’ve done against the Organization.”
Luka scoffed. “Mishca won’t—”
“Mishca? The Russian that you’re holding so much stake in sold you out. How do you think I knew you would choose today to strike against me? Even without your frivolous acts, I’m free to drag your ass back to Albania and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
Words failed him as Fatos spoke. That couldn’t be true. Not after everything…
“He wouldn’t.”
“No?” Fatos looked all too happy as he produced another phone from his pocket, clicking a few buttons on it before the sound of Mishca’s voice filled the room.
“He did all this?” Mishca asked.
“Why would I lie?” Fatos asked in return. “If a part of you didn’t believe me, I doubt you would still be sitting here with me, no?”
“And you want me to hand him over to you. Why wouldn’t I keep him? Have him answer for what he did to my brother?”
“Because, Russian, only I know what will truly break him. You don’t understand. Valon can withstand the harshest of tortures and nothing that you can think of will hurt him the way I can…the way being home in Berat will. This, too, you know.”
Mishca was quiet for some time, then came back and said, “He won’t go without a fight, and I doubt he will leave without first striking back against you for what you did to my sister.”
“She was never harmed…not really. But you did strike out against a number of my men, you and your mercenary. I believe that all is forgiven on that front?”
Mishca seemed to ignore this. “Two days from now, my sister will have an audition. I suspect that Luka will come for you then. That’s your only chance of taking him alive. But, before you leave with him, I need to hear the words from his mouth. Bring him to me. After he tells me what I want to hear, you can do whatever you want.”
The recording ended, Fatos looking at Luka smugly. “Loyalty is hard to come by, no?”
“Even if you did take me, there’s no guarantee that any of them are safe from you.”
Fatos shrugged. “True. Seems your Russian failed to remember that.”
Luka stared at him, making sure Fatos could see how serious he was. “This isn’t about him. This is about me. You want to take me? You, more than anyone, know what I’m capable of, and I promise you, I won’t make it easy.” Luka licked his lips. “But…you give me what I want, and I’ll go with you…willingly.”
“What, exactly, do you want?”
“First, no one affiliated with the Bratva will be hurt by you. Especially Alex.”
“You can’t possibly—”
“Agree or don’t.”
“Fine, agreed.”
“And I talk to Alex. Not Mishca.”
“You want her to know how you tried to kill her brother? Sure, by all means.”
No, he wanted her to know the truth.
Even if he didn’t think she would be able to handle it.
42
____
Full Circle
Alex was panicking.
Never mind that everyone seemed to be on edge, even Mishca who was rarely frazzled. Whatever it was, she doubted it just ended with what happened to her. She knew something serious was happening if only because of the fact that Mishca had called in Celt, a friend of Klaus’ who worked as a mercenary. He seemed nice enough, his Irish brogue a delight to hear, but Alex was more worried about Luka than what was happening here.
He hadn’t answered his phone, and she’d been calling it dozens of times after her audition. She’d been so excited, especially when they’d asked her to come back for another performance. He’d told her earlier in the week that he would come by and pick her up afterwards and they’d go out to celebrate, no matter what answer she got. This morning, however, he hadn’t mentioned anything about it. She had noticed how he’d seemed drawn into himself, but she had ultimately accepted his word that he was fine. Now she wished she had pushed.
The men were off to the side, far enough away in Mishca’s office where Lauren and she couldn’t hear them. The pair of them was sitting together, and Lauren was rubbing her very swollen belly. She looked worried, her gaze focused on her husband across the room. If he hadn’t told her, then there was no chance that she was going to get any information from him.
And worse, in her gut, she felt like whatever was happening had something to do with Luka.
Hunting through her contacts, she clicked Luka’s name, bringing the phone to her ear and listening to it ring. And ring. And ring. When he still didn’t answer, this time she left a voicemail. Maybe that would prompt him to call her back sooner.
The sound of Mishca’s phone ringing cut through the silence in the room. From the second he connected the call, Alex was watching him, waiting for any sign of whom he was talking to. He always had a tell when something bothered him. That tick started in his jaw whenever he ground his teeth. Whatever the person on the other line was saying, Mishca didn’t like very much.
For a beat, Mishca was quiet, and then his eyes cut to Alex and stayed there. “Bring him to me.”
Her stomach dropped to the floor. “Was that about Luka?” she asked before he could even hang up the phone.
He didn’t answer, pulling open one of the drawers and grabbing the nine-mil he kept inside, checking the clip.
Now, it was Lauren that was struggling to her feet, looking at her husband in alarm. “Mish, what’s happening?”
The man in question looked at Klaus. “Take her out of here.”
Lauren, who had never done well with taking directions, glared over at Klaus. “Touch me and I’ll make you regret it.”
But Alex was still focused on her brother, realizing exactly what he wasn’t telling her. “This is about Luka, isn’t it.” It wasn’t a question.
“Alex—”
“What are you going to do?” she demanded, becoming all too aware of the sheer firepower and the level of skill present in the room. “What did he do?”
Mis
hca didn’t offer an explanation, but Klaus did…the last person she expected. “There’s a lot of shit you don’t know about that Albanian.”
“Like that his name is Valon? He told me. He told me everything.”
Shock crossed his face for a second, his lips parting though no words came out. Strangely, he touched his chest, rubbing over his shoulder, but once he realized what he was doing, he dropped his hand.
“Whatever he told you probably wasn’t the whole of it. If I have to drag you out of here—you, too,” he said with a jerk of his head in Lauren’s direction, “then so be it.”
He made to grab her arm, his fingers barely brushing her skin before she slapped his hand away and took a step back.
“What the fuck is going on!”
But whatever she might have gotten was lost because there was a loud commotion out in the front room. Before anyone could stop her, Alex was out of the room first, ignoring Mishca as he yelled her name.
Until she came up short, seeing the man who had happily stood above her as he buried her alive. There was a sliver of fear that raced through her at the sight of him, but she knew Mishca and Klaus, and even Celt, wouldn’t let him do anything more to her.
No, it was the sight of Luka next to him that knocked the air from her lungs.
Something about Luka’s expression worried her—never mind the guns trained on him, most of them assault rifles. It was both reassuring and worrisome that they feared him so much they needed to make sure he couldn’t blink without someone’s finger twitching on the trigger.
His face was bruised in some places, across his cheek and the underside of his jaw, but that was nothing compared to some of the others that were behind him. Somehow, they had bested him, but it was obvious he didn’t make it easy on them.
At Alex’s sudden appearance, one of the men turned their gun on her, yelling something at her that she didn’t understand. Before she could register the threat however, Luka threw his elbow back, knocking the man in the eye, disarming him easily, as if it was second nature.
Now in control of the weapon, he aimed it down at the man’s forehead. “Not her.”
His display didn’t confuse her. It was the fact that everyone else just watched it happen. Why didn’t they try to stop it? If he was their captive, why did he move about freely?
Everything about this was wrong…
There was something happening, a bigger picture that she wasn’t getting.
“Now, now Valon. No one is going to touch your pet. We know how you like the blondes.”
“Fatos,” Mishca said stepping forward, Klaus at his side. “You came here for a reason.”
From the way Klaus was eyeing the man, it was clear that he knew him, but from where, Alex didn’t know. It seemed that the only person who was lost as to who this man really was, was her.
Alex was struck by a memory, one of her and Luka back at his place during one of their late-night conversations when he’d revealed pieces of his past to her. Fatos was my best friend, he’d said, but he wasn’t who I thought he was.
No…
It couldn’t be…
But as she looked to Luka, his gaze now on her, she knew that he knew what she was thinking, and the answer to her question was yes.
His best friend had buried her alive.
And when he saw it, that realization clouding her eyes, he’d looked remorseful, an emotion she didn’t think she had ever seen on him, not even when he’d come to her covered in someone else’s blood.
“Luka, what’s happening?”
Fatos, who was looking back and forth between the pair of them, his frown growing ever more present, spoke up before Luka could. “As agreed, you can question him, Volkov, before we take him off your hands.”
So Mishca had known about this? Had actively helped them?
“Tell me,” Mishca said, this aimed at Luka.
Except, it wasn’t to him, or really anyone else that Luka directed his answer. No, he explained himself to the one person in the room who he wanted to know the truth.
“Six years ago, I was offered a job. Come to New York, kidnap the son of Mikhail Volkov, torture, and then kill him if he didn’t give me the information I wanted.” He said this all without blinking, without hesitation, as if he was merely reciting a list he’d memorized. “Problem was, we didn’t get the right Volkov. Klaus and a girl, Sarah, came to New York. Wrong place. Wrong time.”
Alex was aware that she was shaking, but she didn’t feel connected to herself. This was happening, actually happening, and no one seemed surprised by what he was saying. Maybe Lauren, but Alex wasn’t about to turn around to see. Until the second he finished speaking, she would give Luka her undivided attention.
“I spent three days torturing the hell out of him. I did everything I knew how to make him talk, but he didn’t. Refused, actually, said that he wasn’t who we thought he was. Turns out he was right, but I didn’t bother to check that until after Jetmir Besnik lit his girlfriend on fire.”
Even Alex flinched at that, becoming aware of how tense Klaus had gotten.
“His stars were missing. It was the easiest thing to check for, but I didn’t look until after, and by then, the damage was done. He was barely alive, but in the end, he was innocent. So, I made a call to one of Mishca’s people.”
Now, to that, Mishca and Klaus both looked at Luka wearing matching expressions of surprise. This, apparently, was something neither of them knew.
“He lived. I killed a few people—”
“You murdered nineteen of our men,” Fatos interrupted with a roll of his eyes.
“—And I left everything behind. Anyone who knew of me died that day with the exception of Jetmir and Fatos.”
“Six years ago,” Alex said, finally finding her voice. “I met you six years ago. You were…so after everything that you’d done, you came…I don’t understand.”
And she didn’t. Why would he willingly come to them, of all people, accept a job, work his way into their folds if he knew that if any of them had learned the truth, he would have been killed?
“At first, no one was looking for me. They would have left it buried, but I killed Bastian last year.”
She remembered that name, remembered what he had told her of his former…well, she didn’t really know what to call him. It had been the night before she’d went to Anya, when they’d been outside smoking a cigarette, and blood had covered his hands.
Protecting her had cost him…
“Once was forgiven, twice cost me a blood debt.” His mouth was still open, as if he was trying to find the words, some kind of explanation to give her, but in the end, he just said, “I’m sorry.”
Those two words, more than anything else that he’d just revealed to her, broke her heart.
“Now you have what you wanted, Volkov,” Fatos spoke up. “He’s ours.”
Alex tried to go to Luka, needing to touch him, make sure this was actually happening, but Celt grabbed the back of her shirt before she could.
“Let her go,” Mishca and Luka both said simultaneously, but there was only one person Celt actually listened to.
“Yes,” Fatos said as though this was all one big entertaining event to him. “Let them have their moment.”
She paid none of them any mind as she crossed the floor, her hands balling into the front of Luka’s bloodied shirt as she held onto him, afraid to let go. She saw everything he couldn’t say bare for anyone to see, and she didn’t care about anything around them. Because Mishca would fix this. If he knew how she felt about him, what he meant to her, then he wouldn’t let this happen to Luka.
She hadn’t realized she was crying until he pressed a hard kiss to her lips, and he pulled away just far enough that she could hear him say, “Don’t cry for me. Don’t ever cry for me.”
“Please don’t—”
But he silenced her with another kiss, and this one told her what the other one hadn’t. He knew this was goodbye and he wasn’t fighting it.
“All right, that’s enough.”
Fatos gestured for one of his men to grab Luka, forcing him backward.
She knew as soon as his eyes went to Fatos then back to her what he was going to say and she couldn’t handle it. “Don’t say goodbye.”
Luka shook his head, even as Fatos laughed.
“Don’t say it!”
“Au revoir, Alex.”
“It’s time to go. Pleasure doing business with you, Volkov. I hope to never see you again.”
When two of the men grabbed Luka, one on each side, both Lauren and Alex made a sound of protest, but Alex was already trying to go after them, an arm binding around her waist preventing it.
She screamed with everything that was inside of her, fought as hard as she could, but she couldn’t prevent them from taking him from that place. Not even after they’d cleared the door did the person restraining her let her go. No, they waited for at least a minute before releasing her, and the moment she was free, she swung around, her fist already flying before she’d completed that turn. The force behind her punch forced Klaus back a step, but he recovered quick enough and didn’t look angry in the slightest that she’d hit him.
Before he could grab her again, she was racing through the doors, out onto the street, looking in both directions for any sign of Luka, but even in that short amount of time, he had vanished, and she had no idea what kind of cars they’d left in.
Desperation squeezed her chest as she went back in, could hardly see with tears blurring her vision. Mishca remained in the same place, but Lauren was out of her chair, her face wet from crying, trying to talk sense into her husband.
“What are you doing? They’ll kill him! You know that!”
Mishca had never been cruel, not to Lauren, but the look he gave her was colder than anything she had ever seen. “Leave it.”
But Lauren was undeterred. “It’s Luka, have you—”
“His name is Valon Ahmeti. A former enforcer for the Albanian Syndicate. One that plotted to kill me. That offense alone would have gotten him killed here.”
Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva Book 4) Page 31