“Fuck.”
“Yep. This is the justice that’s owed to him. Dumb fuck must have forgotten that his boss was one of our foremost experts with a whip. He’s been at this for hours, at this point. It’s tricky not to take off too much skin, or they’ll pass out from blood loss or dehydration.”
We watch as justice continues to be served, and I finally ask the question I’m dreading the answer to.
“Why am I here?”
Misha sighs before grabbing something off the table behind us.My gun.When I had proven myself enough to “graduate” beyond the entry-level classes Misha and my sister gave me, I was rewarded with a personalized firearm.One fancy enough to benefit the prestige of being our Pakhan,as Misha had said.
It was a whole damn thing, with a select few of our men present, and it was one of the first times I realized that for these people, ceremony and tradition matter. Since I didn’t grow upin the business,as everyone calls it, my learning curve is still steep. But if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that Misha would never let me flounder when it comes to earning the respect of our men. My success is crucial to the continued success of what my sister and my…father worked for for so many years. Lots of families depend on us.On me.
Misha hands me the piece, and I take it, checking the safety and then the chamber like the expert they’ve already trained me to be. “When we offered the estate to Yakov for his justice, he asked if the Pakhan might honor him with his presence. I then offered him the extreme honor of you finishing the job.”
Dammit, Misha.By having the other men in the room, I’m forced to react calmly and coolly, and not freak the fuck out like I want to. Like heknewI would want to. With a few deep breaths in and out of my nose, I manage to sound nonchalant, if a little squeaky, when I reply.
“Would he,” I cough. “Would he not prefer to end the man’s life himself?”
“It would be prestigious, actually, for the Pakhan to grace him with his presence and to give such a final judgment to the man who violated one of the women of our family. Rarely in the course of your career will you mete out another’s justice. It is an honor to Yakov that you choose to do so now.”
Well, when you put it that way.
“Anything else I need to know?”
Once Misha has given me the, thankfully short, ceremonial words to say, I brace myself and step into the room. Yakov immediately lowers his whip and bows from the neck as I reach out a hand.
“Thank you for being here today, Pakhan. You honor my family.”
“The honor is mine, Yakov, that you allow me to join you and rid our family of this traitor to the standards we uphold.” Leaning in, I speak quietly so that only he can hear me. “How is your daughter?”
He sniffles, but stands proudly as he replies, “She recovers valiantly.”
Nodding and releasing his hand, I move to the pitiful creature before me. Misha was smart to give me a completely irredeemable crime as my first kill. There’s no guilt for what I’m about to do. The world will be better off without this sorry excuse of a man. As per tradition for his crime, I don’t name him as I state his orderof execution.
“You have violated the sanctity of our organization and our family, and I, Theodore Taranov, Pakhan of the Taranov Bratva, declare that your penalty shall be your life. Your name shall be stricken from our records, and your grave will be unmarked and unhonored. You dishonor yourself in life. Enjoy hell.”
With that, I raise my gun to his forehead, and even though he still has life in his eyes as he looks up at me, I don’t hesitate or flinch. There’s no hint of a tremble in my grip as the shot goes clean through his forehead, and he slumps forward in his seat.
A glance at my watch warns that I’ll need to leave for the arena soon, as soon as Doc pumps me full of meds one more time. But as Yakov, Misha, and the other men toast to a planet rid of another bad man, I think of Sasha, covered in tattoos. I never determined how I would keep track of my kills, and I’m not sure I should. Even though I have more “real estate,” as he called it, I have a feeling that even that won’t be enough.
The count might stay unknown. Visible only on my soul.
Chapter 33
Torrential rain rendersmy umbrella useless as I make my way from the parking lot to the elevator of Teddy’s condo. It’s an unusually rainy night even for a Florida summer, and mixed with the ocean breeze, it’s fucking cold. I tried my code to get into the parking garage, but of course it’s been deactivated. He’s made it quite clear that he wants nothing to do with me after my betrayal…but he doesn’t know.
He may hate me for the rest of his life and rightfully so, but I would never forgive myself if I didn’ttrygiving him a chance to know his child. And this is my last chance to get to him.
My brothers aren’t the only ones in the family who know how to track someone. I’ve basically turned into a full-fledged stalker now. I don’t have the skills to hack into all his shit, but it just so happens that our family IT guy has always had a soft spot for me. I stuck a tracker on Teddy’s car before my brothers kidnapped him, and it didn’t take long for him to get into Teddy’s phone. I’m honestly surprised his sister didn’t put up some shields on his tech.
Mila.
The Bratva Pakhan news was one thing, but another woman was too much. The thought of him with someone else is what put me over the edge in the first place, and when Nikki confirmed that Mila was, in fact, Teddy’s sister, I lost it. Every guarded emotion came flooding out at once when I realized my mistake, and they all pointed straight to Teddy. To my love. The father of my unborn child and the man I had just condemned to death by my brothers’ hands.
I should have told him when he was rescued that we were having a baby, but in my defense, a lot was going on. I went through a hundred scenarios of how to reach him, but every one had him too heavily guarded to gain access. If I’m going to say my piece, it has to be now. He’s getting the last of his things from his condo. After this, he’ll be behind the gates of the Taranov compound and completely out of reach.
It feels like both forever and only a moment until I’m standing in front of his condo. I raise my hand to knock, but the door swings open before I succeed. My eyes are level with his heaving chest. He’s just as wet as I am, allowing me to make out every cut of muscle through his white cotton tee. Memories of his chest slick with sweat from our lovemaking flash through my mind as I finally gain the courage to meet his gaze. Slowly, I make my way up to his face, appraising every inch of man along the way.
Damn, he’s sexy.
