Irrevocably Shattered

by S. C. Ellen

  Nina makes a noise in the background, almost like a sob, grabbing ahold of Maks’s attention. His glare on her makes her physically shake in fear.

  “Please, Pakhan Vasilev, show mercy! I didn’t mean for it to happen this way!” Nina steps farther back into the cage, as if that is somehow going to save her.

  Maks circles the steel bars, growing more and more excited at the sound of her pleas.

  “Dmitri tells me you were hired to be the eyes and ears for him against the Italian mafia, yes?”

  She shakes with fear, “Y-yes.”

  “And you foolishly fell in love with one of them, didn’t you?”

  She looks at me first, before bowing her head. “Yes.”

  Maks tsks. “Stupid, foolish girl. You let jealousy get in the way of a job, and now look where you are. At the mercy of me because of it.” A sneer works its way across his face, as she backs away from him in deep fear.

  “I did everything Dmitri told me to do! I gave him all the information he ever asked from me, and I even turned their loyal solider Lance against them and had him work for us! Please, Pakhan!”

  I gasp out loud, Lance?! God, we should have known! He was willing to sell his goddamn soul for her, and he apparently did it with ease.

  Dmitri laughs a humorless laugh, “And now what? We let you go because you think your debts are paid off? Let’s not forget, little girl…. you are still bratva property as well. Without us you would still be a homeless crack whore if Dmitri hadn’t given you the job to be his rat.”

  “Fuck you, Dmitri! Fuck all of you! Especially you—” Her crazed eyes land on me. “I wish they would have killed you the moment I spiked your drink at the club!”

  My eyes widen; I knew it was her who roofied me! That bitch!

  “Tishina!” Maks shouts, causing everyone in the room to stand to attention at the frightening man. “I am tired of this nonsense! The Italians know it was you, and I for one don’t take kindly to those who are foolish enough to get caught.” Maks whistles out into the silence, and two terrifying large and hungry Rottweilers appear from the shadows.

  They snarl as they pass the men and stand on either side of Maks with drool hanging from their mouths as they stare hungrily at Nina from the cage.

  She screams again, as tears run down her face. “Please, Maks! Not them! Please, I beg of you!”

  Maks simply smiles. “Cerberus and Sphinx haven’t been fed yet, and they do enjoy the taste of fresh meat every now and again, yes?” He holds onto them as they jump and howl for release at his words. Their eyes are trained on Nina, and Nina only.

  “Open the cage, Alayna,” Maks commands, knowing exactly what he is forcing me to do. I hesitate slightly, not sure if I can do it or not. Of course, I hate the girl, and she nearly had me killed, but I can’t sentence her to death a like that. It’s just too cruel.

  The dogs grow louder and louder in their growls, causing everything to seem that much more real. “Now! Or I will send them after you next!”

  “Don’t do it, Alayna! I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry for what I did!” Nina pleads as I get up from the chair, feeling stiff and sore in every way possible.

  I look at her with the same look she gave me before she walked out of the room that night with Carson. “It’s because of you that I am here, and it’s because of you that myself and my unborn child almost died because of it. You knew what would happen to me, and yet you can’t even look me in the eye as you beg for forgiveness.” I open the cage, and her eyes widen in fear. “Goodbye Nina, I hope hell treats you well.”

  “Fas!” Maks commands, letting the dogs free as they barrel inside of the cage.

  I snap my head to the side to shield myself away from being able to see what is happening not even a few feet behind me. I hear the blood curling screams of pure agony, that I know are going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

  My eyes latch onto Maks who watches the scene without a blink. His face is dark and emotionless, like he’s watched the cruel murder of a person hundreds of times before, and this is nothing more than another day at the office.

  His harsh features take on an even more twisted glance once he realizes I’m staring. This man is the definition of sick, and I can only hope that no woman ever tries to love a man like him, because if I thought I was hopeless against Carson? God help the women who can stand to love a true monster like him.

  Bile works its way up my throat once the screaming is abruptly cut short, and it’s obvious as to why.

  Nina is no longer a threat, and Maksim’s bloodhounds are deadlier than half of the men in this room.

  But not deadlier than Maksim. No way could anyone or anything be deadlier than that cold and vicious man.

  His hounds stand by his side as he regards the men with a sickening glint. “Tonight, we finish the job your leader is too foolish to end on his own. I tried to make peace between our two rivals, but the Italians are too prideful and naïve. Tonight, we put an end to this war, and, an end to the familia.”

  All the men let out a cheer, and from the corner of my eye I see Maksim make his way over to me with something shiny in his hand. Before I can scream out in fear, Maksim injects me with a powerful fluid that has me falling into the hole of darkness with the realization that we all may just certainly die tonight.

  Alayna

  I am tied to a chair again, unable to see, with my muscles aching to be released. I don’t know how much time has passed, but I hear voices.

  Familiar voices.

  I can’t decide if it’s my mind playing tricks on me like it typically does these days, but one of those voices sounds a lot like Carson’s.

  “We got your message, Maksim. Now where the fuck is she?”

  Tears spring to my eyes at the realization that this is real. He’s actually here. I struggle in my seat, angered by the blindfold that was placed over my eyes, blocking out my path from seeing him. I must be hidden away if he hasn’t spotted me yet, so I attempt to shout out for him, but my mouth is taped forcefully shut.

  “Did you enjoy the message, Carson? Taped on the body of one of your whores? What was her name again? Nina?”

  A sense of nausea overcomes me at the graphic image that plagues my mind.

  “If you hadn’t killed her, I certainly would have. Far worse than the state you left her in.”

  A chuckle can be heard from Maks. “Like your solider, Lance? It’s always the ones you least expect it to be, isn’t it?”

  “Fuck you. Now, where is she?”

  I struggle in my restraints, trying like hell to free myself. Inwardly screaming, I’m here! I’m right here!

  “You didn’t think we’d give her back that easily? Especially now that she’s pregnant with the bratva’s next of kin.”

  “Bullshit! I did everything you said. I came here alone, I brought you the fucking money. Now. Give. Her. Back. To. Me.”

  I hear footsteps moving about the area. “Indeed, you did. Four hundred and fifty thousand dollars for some used pizda. Must be something good for a price like that.”

  A click of a gun sounds, and Carson’s menacing voice breaks through with more anger than I’ve ever heard in it before. “Say that again, I dare you.”

  Maks tsks, enjoying the stir he’s causing in Carson. “You know if we weren’t such spiteful enemies, I think you and I would have been great and powerful friends, yes?”

  Carson sneers, “You’re a selfish bastard, Vasiliev. Only a fool would want you as a friend.”

  “Yes, that may be true,” Maks speaks, “but only an even bigger fool would want me as their enemy.”

  Suddenly the sound of a door opening and someone putting up a fight pierces the air.

  “Let go of me, you bastards!” My heart drops at the sound of the voice because I am all too familiar with it. It’s a voice I dreamed of hearing again because it reminds me of home. It is home. It’s my brother Jase’s voice. A voice that sounds pissed off and ready for murder.

  “You think yo
u could outsmart me, Carson? You didn’t think we’d catch him sneaking around the back?” Maks speaks with an eerie humor, that isn’t very humorous at all.

  “You didn’t think I’d really come unprotected, did you, Maks?” Carson replies. It’s hard not to want to run out of my own skin and get to them both. I know I will have horrible rope burns with all the struggling I’m doing.

  Maksim’s authoritative tone breaks through the silence, “No, but I also didn’t think you’d fall so easily into our trap.”

  Another door, or maybe it’s the same door? Opens again, and this time it’s Dmitri’s voice that speaks. “We now have both links to the familia lineage right where we want them, in our version of the underground. Only difference is, we fight till the death. Much like how you both will.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Jase asks, struggling against whoever is holding him back.

  “I could not care less about the girl, what I care about is what’s growing inside of her. If you really want her back after she has given me my son, then you will prove it. You want her back? Then one of you will die for it.”

  I mumble loudly under my tape, hoping to God they can hear me screaming not to do it! It must have fallen onto deaf ears, because no one makes a move.

  “How do we know you’ll keep your word?”

  Maks spouts something off in Russian, and I feel the chair I’m sitting on move. “Maybe they need some convincing?”

  Suddenly I feel the chair that I am sitting on being moved, and my blindfold is ripped off. My eyes find Carson and Jase, who are murderous on their movements to get to me. Tears fill my vision as I’m finally able to see both men. They’re trapped in the holds of large Russian soldiers, unable to break free. They are so close, yet so far away, and I’m helplessly stuck in a heap of bondage.

  “Let me go, figlio di puttana!” Carson curses, violently thrashing in the arms of the large men.

  “You fucking bastards!” Jase shouts with such vengeance in his voice, it’s hard to watch.

  “So, what do you say, boys? Is it a deal?”

  More tears flow from my eyes, as I shake my head harshly, hoping to God they’ll understand. Don’t fucking do it! Please! I can’t lose you both!

  “Deal. Just let her fucking go!” Jase states with conviction.

  My tearful gaze finds Carson, and he bows his head, looking as defeated as I feel. “Deal.”

  A sob even the duct tape can’t mask breaks through me, and both men look at me as if it’s the only choice they have left, like leaving me here isn’t an option. One of them is ready to lay down their life, just to save mine, and I don’t deserve it. I’m not worth it, but I can’t voice it. Carson made an oath to my father that he would die for me if it came down to it, but my brother? My brother didn’t have to. He made the deal, genuinely out of pure and unfiltered love, and I don’t even get the chance to tell him I loved him one last time. And even with what went down between Carson and I, the thought of never seeing him again fills me with immense sadness because even after everything, I still desperately love him.

  It’s a moment like this that I truly feel helpless and wonder to myself how much easier this all would have been, if I had just accepted my fate and let the hands of my captors kill me instead.

  “Sir, the Italians infiltrated the unit! They are heading this way as we speak!”

  “Blyad! Enough with this! One of you better be dead by the time they make it in! If not…” Maks grabs ahold of a pistol, roughly pulling my hair back and setting the gun under my chin. “Quite frankly, I don’t give a fuck about a child or not. It does nothing for me. I will kill her if I don’t see one of your bodies bleeding out on the floor soon.”

  Dmitri looks like he’s on the verge of snapping. “Get them in there!” he shouts, barking out orders in Russian to the men holding onto Carson and Jase.

  I struggle in Maks’s grasp, nearly falling over. He yanks onto my hair even tighter. “You will watch,” he demands, and I have no choice but to watch the man I love and my beloved brother bow their heads in respect to one another, accepting the horrible twist of fate that was brought onto them because of me. Dmitri locks the cage, and it’s time.

  With a silent understanding passing between the two, Jase nods his head before Carson lands a quick and rough jab into Jase’s jaw, causing blood to immediately pour out of his mouth.

  My eyes bulge as I take in this horrible sight happening before me. Not even in my worst of nightmares would I have ever pictured this happening, yet here it is mercilessly twisting my soul that much more, until I physically can’t endure much more.

  Carson brutally rains down on him, punch after punch, and kick after gut-wrenching kick, and Jase does nothing to defend himself against him.

  Blood starts to form on my exposed arms and ankles at how hard I’m struggling against the rope, thrashing from side to side, screaming for Jase to defend himself, to stop his torture, to do anything!

  It’s a sick mind game. A mind game I know I will never be able to come back from. It’s a game between not wanting them both to die, but I can’t stand the thought of Jase being beat to death either.

  Jase is clearly getting unsteady with his movements, and he begins to weaken at Carson’s force. My muffled sobs do nothing to stop the men, not even when Maks rips the duct tape from my lips.

  “Oh God! Please stop this! Please! I’ll do anything, just please stop this from happening!” I hoarsely scream, but no one is listening.

  Jase is now on his knees, almost unrecognizable with all the blood that is covering his once-handsome features. My brother, my one and only brother. The goofiest, most lovable person on this planet, the brother who has always been there for me, who was my shoulder to cry on, and was helplessly in love with my best friend, is now dying right before me, at the hands of the man I fell in love with.

  I don’t know if it’s something I might’ve done in a past life that I’m now paying for, or maybe it’s my lack of selflessness that led me here, but one thing I know for sure is that fate handed me one ugly and evil card, and I am paying for it in the worst way possible.

  “Jase, please! Please, you can’t do this! Carson! Carson, stop it! Please, Carson! Someone help!” Jase’s wavering eyes find mine from the cage, and there’s a brief moment that passes that I feel a piece of my heart tear away, never to be found again.

  Even in his darkest hour, Jase’s eyes soften at me, with a tender, unconditional bloody smile appearing through the thick mist of blood, silently sending me the message that he’s going to be okay. That it is finally going to all be okay.

  He doesn’t know it, but a life without him will never be okay to me.

  It’s that exact moment when Carson delivers a strong uppercut, sending Jase flying backwards onto the rough mat, that I know, scarring deep down into my soul, that Carson gave the final blow, and my brother is gone, never to hear his laugh or see his smile ever again.

  I scream, I scream some more, and I scream again. For my brother, for my life, for my baby, for everything that has been touched and burned by the life that I live. Carson turns towards me with a look I can’t distinguish. Regret? Remorse? Relief?

  I can’t stare too long at it, as my eyes hauntingly zero in at the sight of my brother, now bleeding out on the floor next to him.

  My Jase.

  With sudden movement, Maks releases me, and the lights go out, causing all hell to break loose in the once-silent space.

  The doors of the warehouse are suddenly pulled open and a spray of gunshots ring out from every direction with men shouting out in Italian and Russian. Being in the direct line of fire, I have nowhere to go. All I can do is pray that my family is safe, and that I make it out alive.

  Strong hands grab me, and I scream from the assault. I’m dragged off to the side, with a hand covering my mouth.

  “It’s me, Alayna! Now sit tight while I cut you out of here.” Carson begins ripping away the rope that is wound tightly against me. Wi
th the lights back on, my eyes scan the horrific scene happening in front of me. My eyes find my father skillfully being guarded by Uncle Romario, taking out bratva member after bratva member.

  A Russian guard starts making an aim straight for us. “Hurry, Carson! They’re coming!” I shout, pulling the discarded rope from my body.

  The man comes for us, and Carson swiftly steals a gun from a lifeless Russian body, and sends a shot straight through the man’s skull. He never stood a chance.

  I look away from the sight and free myself from the heavy of ropes I’m under.

  “I won’t let anything hurt you ever again, mio angelo. Ever,” he whispers in my ear.

  God, I missed that voice, but now is not the right time to dwell on that.

  “Take me to my father, Carson. Please.”

  In no time, I’m embraced by my father. “Oh, Poppa!” I cry onto his shoulder.

  “Shh, mio tesoro. We are here now, we are going to take you home.”

  “But, Jase….” I sob.

  Carson and Uncle Romario stand on both sides of us as we move toward the door.

  “Leaving so soon?” Dmitri jumps out in front of us, with his own gun in hand, aiming it straight at my father. He looks deranged, like a man at the end of his rope, with shaky movements and twitchy gestures.

  Carson points his gun straight at his chest. “You don’t want to play this game, Dmitri.”

  Dmitri’s smile turns sickening, “Don’t I? He has taken everything from me.” His gun shakes in his hand. “My father, my bratva, and now her.”

  Uncle Romario steps in front of me. “Put the gun down or we’ll also take your life.”

  Dmitri lets out a humorless laugh. “Revenge is one hell of a thing, isn’t it, Vincenzo? It makes men do crazy things, doesn’t it?”

  My father’s eyebrows furrow, “What are you talking about?”

  Dmitri’s face contorts into an evil, ear-splitting grin. “You don’t think I could have done all of this alone, did you? Yes, I had Lance and Nina, but it’s always the quiet ones who play the biggest role.”