I stick my knuckle in my mouth, biting down. I need an anchor. Something to stop me from throwing this phone across the room. I’m not done with Siguard just yet.
“Where is she?”
“We’re on the top of your office block. On the roof. If you’re coming, be careful. It’s windy up here. It would be a real pity if Joy blew away.”
Bylat.I end the call, drop the phone and stare right into Niko’s eyes.
Igor is working with the man who framed his very own grandfather. And he doesn’t even fucking know it.
Unfortunately, my worst nightmares have come to light. We’re out of money. Joy is being held captive on top of my high-rise office block.
Igor and Siguard want me to hand over the Bratva to them.
And just as I suspected, they’re going to succeed by using Joy as bait.
I shoot up behind my desk, raking my hands through my hair. The world is spinning. Anger courses through my veins, turning my vision red. I can’t see straight. Everything is distorted. I look at Nikolai and see two of him.
I grab my phone, a second spawning next to the original. I can’t tell the real from the fake, no matter how much I squint my eyes and try to focus.
I slide the keyboard across the desk. It smashes into the wall, the keys raining to the ground, rolling across the laminate flooring. Still not feeling any better, I throw my burner phone into the wall. The plastic back pops off. Pieces shatter to the ground.
Nothing is fucking scratching the itch. Only one thing can contain my anger. I need to murder Siguard in the most inhumane way. Only then, will I be able to lower my pulse and get back to normalcy.
Niko stands perfectly still, watching me break stuff.
I curl my hands back into fists. My vision is blurred. I look at my desk, focusing my eyes. I’m wasting energy here. I need to channel every last drop of anger into strength so I can do my worst. I want my face to be the last one he sees before the lights go out.
I’ll watch his spirit leave his body. I’ll drive up to the San Bernardino mountains, scattering his limbs, leaving them for all of the vultures. An arm here. A leg there. One ball. Half of his cock. Every single fucking part of his body will be cut up for what he’s done.
I leave my desk, heading over to a chest of drawers over in the far corner. “Let’s get out of here,” I say to Niko, opening drawers, grabbing weapons.
I toss him a gun and some cartridges, and then we’re leaving the office.
“You knew this man?” he says as we march across the courtyard.
“Yes. It was a long time ago.”
I look across the grass, seeing the guards stationed at each side gate. I have another dozen on shift today. I could send them to Siguard. But it won’t satisfy me. I need to do this. He hides behind money and guards, gets others running around doing his dirty work. Maybe I’ve been doing the same.
But in the end, it boils down to survival of the fittest. And Siguard is nothing without his power, which I’ll be stripping away from him this evening.
“You never told me about this story.”
“It was in the past. It didn’t need to be told.”
“He’s the reason you came to the states in the first place, isn’t he?” says Niko as he follows me inside.
I head into the kitchen. This is where I keep my sharpest knives. “I was powerless in my hometown because of him. Everyone took his side. Nobody believed me. They all thought my father was a killer, but he’d never hurt a soul. It was Siguard. He was a famous politician who bought his way through everything.”
“A politician," repeats Niko as I’m rummaging through my knife collections. “Like your wife, Rachel. Her father?”
“She’s not my wife.”
“Dead wife, then,” corrects Nikolai. He stands to the side as I sort through the knives. “Her father was a politician.”
“It’s different.”
Niko grunts. “It just goes to show that they’re all the same.”