Maximus
Iam still, quiet. Unnaturally so.
“Gavriil, this is Dante,” my enforcer says into the phone. His gaze flickers to me like it has several times over the last twenty minutes. The disconcertment in his eyes mirrors that of Leone’s. I must be very far gone if two of the most ruthless members of the underworld are watching me with such caution. “What did you find out?”
I’m not able to hear what’s being said on the other end, but it’s not hard to make out the Russian’s accented baritone voice. Even his curses reach my ears. I would be amused if I weren’t so focused.
Nothing matters until I find Emilia.
Dante lowers the phone and offers it to me. “He wants to talk to you.”
I bring the mobile device to my ear and wait.
“Maxim,” Gavriil says, using his country’s version of my name, “I’ve told your man where we can find the girl, and I’ve called all my contacts in France. Those closest to you will meet you at the location she’s being held.” The sound is muffled as he shouts in his native tongue, and then the distortion lifts. “My apologies, old friend. Dante told you they are en route and my allies will help you find her. Is there anything else?”
“No.”
He sighs. “Ah fuck. I’ve never seen you this quiet. She’s important,da?”
Gavriil has known me since the beginning of the empire my brothers and I rebuilt after losing it all. It was his connections that enabled us to create enough capital to invest in illegal arms. Now, after all these years, we are business partners as well as friends. He is one of the few people I trust. And though I don’t want to discuss Emilia with anyone, I will with Gavriil because without his help I may not be able to get her back.
“My wife is…everything, Gabriel.”
“She is alive, because if she weren’t, thatUnione Corsecunt wouldn’t have given you time to shut down the negotiations, nor would he have texted you the address. He would’ve just killed her and sent you her body as a memento. This is a warning, albeit a foolish one.”
Breathing becomes a challenge at the very thought of what Gavriil’s saying, the vision he’s creating. Ican’tlose her. Not before and certainly not after learning who she really is to me.
“This warning will be the first thing they speak to me,” I say, my tether to humanity gone, “and the last will be their screams of agony after I find them.”
Gavriil mutters something in Russian akin to blasphemy. “Happy hunting, Maxim. Leave none alive.”
I hang up and return the phone to Dante. Then I go back to the darkest part of my mind, where Emilia’s scream plays on repeat.Ragazza solare. The sunshine girl, who couldn’t have been more than twelve years old when I met her, is all grown up and a victim of something that has nothing to do with her. I curse myself, using every foul word I can think of. That young girl was a beacon of hope for me in one of the hardest times in my life, and I always prayed she’d become a woman whose spirit was never broken and that the light in her eyes would never dull or fade. Because of me and Caruso, both have happened.
I can’t decide which of us is more to blame.
When Emilia was a young girl, she asked me to marry her, since her father threatened no one would, due to her outspoken and rebellious ways. Those things I admired about her long ago are the very things I tried to destroy recently. Emilia may not be as talkative as before, but her defiance reared its head, and instead of encouraging her fiery spirit, I wanted to suffocate it.
I pray to God above Emilia still possesses that strong inner fortitude so she can survive whatever’s been done to her.
If I allow my mind to go down that road, I’ll be no good to her, consumed by insanity.
The entire journey to the warehouse, I clean and reload every weapon I can carry without being encumbered. With the amount of adrenaline pumping through me, I could kill everyone with my bare hands. And I still might. I’ve done it on several occasions, and I truly understand why serial killers choke their victims if they have an emotional connection to them. It’s so fucking personal. And it’s not just ending their life; it’s watching their life force slowly leave their body while under your power.
It’s a shame I won’t be able to kill all these men.
And not more than once.
Earlier, when the phone cut off and I lost access to Emilia, I might have gone temporarily insane. There’s nothing except blackness in my memory, but when I came to, I was seconds away from taking Fontaine’s life. Needless to say, I may have ruined the negotiations.
I can’t summon the energy to give a fuck.
“We’re here,” Dante says quietly. His announcement is followed by a series of weapons being cocked, mine included.
The warehouse isn’t too far outside the city limits of Paris, yet every second that came after hearing Emilia’s voice has been torture. I gather that feeling and use it to fuel my movements when I get out of the vehicle. Then I walk briskly to where a group of men stand off to the side of a large building with cardboard boxes littering the ground nearby.
“Zvinite, ya ne govorju po-russki1?” I say in Russian. The likelihood of coming across a random gathering of Russian killers isn’t high, but it’s not impossible either given our being in Europe. However, I’ll know the second someone answers the message with a specific Italian phrase. This is something Gavriil and I have done for years to avoid trusting those not vetted by one of us.
A tall, bald man wearing cargo pants and a plain shirt under a leather vest steps toward me. “Non parlo Italiano, mi dispiace2,” he says in Italian. Then switches to English, saying in a heavy accent, “Silvestri, I’m Vaughn. We go now.”
