CHAPTER nine

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LUCCA

NORMALLY, I ONLY ever go home when I don’t have any jobs. It’s my time to unwind and spend time with Anita.

I glance at Evie, who’s sitting up straight while staring out the window. Even in her frazzled state, she’s still beautiful. The gates slowly open, and I drive up to the large house.

“This is your home?”

The front door opens, and Anita smiles when she sees me. Her gaze travels to Evie, and her smile falters only slightly. Instead, I see a lot of questions on my sister’s lips.

Once I stop the car, she’s marching down the three steps toward the car. Her skin-tight leopard-print suit is my sister’s signature clothing.

Evie hasn’t moved, and I don’t look at her. Most women are very intimidated by my sister. She’s a bit of a force, but she constantly looks out for me.

I don’t get the door open because she beats me to it.

“You’re home?” She raises both eyebrows like I might explain to her why I’m home with a girl. I climb out, and she moves back. The passenger door closes, and Evie steps around the car.

“Hi there, kitten.” Anita walks around to Evie, who holds her hand out.

They shake, but the amusement in Anita’s face has her brows still raised.

Her bracelets jangle as she takes Evie’s hand.

“Hi. I’m Evie.”

“Evie, this is my sister, Anita.” I introduce them as I close my car door.

Anita links her arm with Evie’s. “She’s beautiful,” she mouths to me silently as she leads Evie into the house.

I want to tell her not to get attached, that this is work.

“You have Lucca’s eyes,” Evie says to Anita.

The way she says my name is like we’re familiar with each other.

“Our mother was a looker. I’m sure yours is, too. Or is it your father?”

I close the front door. “Anita,” I warn. She had to turn everything sexual.

She waves me off without looking at me. “You hungry, kitten?”

Evie is the one who looks back at me. “You go with Anita. I’ll join you shortly.”

Evie nods and leaves. I crane my neck from side to side before removing my jacket and going back to the car.

Dima is awake and back to rattling the trunk. I drive the car around to the back, close to the basement doors.

Once I’m near enough, I unlock the basement doors and get Dima out of the trunk.

He’s ready to jump, and I land a solid punch into his face. He cries out, and I use the moment to drag him from the trunk and push him toward the door. He stumbles down the steps and misses the last three. The door closes behind us, but the sensor lights turn on in the basement one section at a time.

A large pole in the center is where I drag a disoriented Dima to. I shove him against it, keeping my hand on his chest. I clip the chains around his waist and chest and don’t release him until they are locked.

“Dima, this is your chance to save yourself,” I tell him as I roll up my sleeves and push over my trolley, which holds my bag of tools. I roll the kit out slowly and let him see all the objects. “Like everything in life, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. It’s up to you.”

He spits but doesn’t say anything. I take it he isn’t talking.

That’s how these things normally start out. They end a different way.

I take out a small knife. “That’s okay. I don’t like to rush in either.” I grin as I throw the knife. It grazes his ear and embeds itself in the pole he’s tied to.

I pick up another knife and throw it into the air before catching it. I’ve used these knives since I was a kid. They are like an extension of me.

“I grew up in Camp Cempt.”

Fear grows steadily in Dima’s eyes. It isn’t a known fact about me. I only tell that fact about myself to the people I know will never reveal this about me.

Dima will never get to tell anyone. He will never leave this basement, no matter what he says.

“We were taken into the woods. It was always freezing, not that our beds were warm.” I point the knife at Dima. “But they gave us something that the wooded landscape couldn’t.”

I let the knife fly, and it clips off some of Dima’s hair, which sails past his face and lands at his feet. Sweat drips down the side of his face.

“Ask your questions.” His voice still holds too much control.

I return to the trolley and pick up another knife. “They gave us an escape from General Obshcheye.”

Once again, Dima’s fear grows.

“We had to move through the woods without making a sound and hit the targets on the trees with our knives that he had set the night before.” I had lived for those moments in the forest.

Dima is glancing around the room.

“I feel insulted, Dima. Here I am sharing something personal, and you look bored.”

Dima’s gaze returns to me as I release the third knife, which grazes his other ear. Blood trickles down his face.

“I never missed a target. General Obshcheye was a great teacher.”

I return and pick up another knife. “Some of the boys were so cold that they weren’t able to hold the knives. The noise of the knives hitting the ground spelled their doom.”

He broke a boy’s arm for dropping his knives. He killed a few during my time at camp.

I release the knife. Dima tries to shift against his chains before a scream of pain pours from his mouth.

The knife sticks out of his calf.

“How long do you think it will take for you to lose enough blood to die?”

Now more fear fills Dima’s eyes, and that small amount of anger and control is nearly gone.

“All we had to do was make sure all the security were in one area at a certain time, and all the girls were taken safely off the ship. That was it.”

I pretend I don’t hear him as I return to my throwing knives.

“What was that boy’s name?” I toss the knife a few times into the air. “Maksim.” That was it.

I face Dima, whose skin is paling further. “The general had broken his arm only a few months before. This day, it was colder than all the rest.”

I grin at Dima. “I’m not going to lie, even I felt the cold.”

I toss the knife into the air. “So when Maksim dropped his knives, instead of staying and taking his punishment, he ran.” I release the knife, and it embeds itself in his thigh.

His screams feed the beast inside me.

“I swear that’s all I did. I have no idea where they took those girls.” Drool pours from his mouth; his chin rests on his chest.

I pick up another knife, and he sobs. “The general chased after Maksim, and I remember feeling like I was watching a lion chase a deer. I got a front-row seat, and I couldn’t look away.” I take a step toward Dima. “I couldn’t look away, even as the general grabbed Maksim by the scruff of his neck. The force rattled him like a rag doll.”

I reach Dima now and shake him as violently as I can. When I stop, I hold the knife to his eye.

“The general took out his hunting knife.”

Dima’s eyes grow wide, his face turns gray as he stares at the knife only a millimeter away from his eye.

“I want a name now, Dima.”

His breathing is harsh as he stares at the knife. “The Torpedo. That’s who we handed the girls over to.”

When I don’t react, he glances at me. “I swear on my mother’s life.” He’s telling the truth.

“I believe you.” I grin, and he starts to half cry but doesn’t move. The knife is too close to his eye.

“When the general held that knife to Maksim’s eye, I knew he wouldn’t drive it all the way through. He would just make him suffer.”

Dima’s breathing grows more erratic, and I do what the general did. I pierce Dima’s eye. His roars are louder than Maksim’s were.

The general turned to us all and made us come over one by one to look at the wound. Some boys threw up. I remember when I had stood up to Maksim, so I couldn’t help but want to see the wound fully. I forced him to open his eye, inflicting more pain on him.

I ate up the pride in the general’s gaze that day.

Dima continues to scream, reminding me my knife is still embedded in his eye. I push the knife all the way in until his screams cease and the air leaves his lungs. Pulling it back out, his head rests on his chest as its final resting place.

I wash and clean my knives as I think about the information Dima has just given me. I don’t want it to register, because the outcome isn’t looking good. If The Torpedo was behind this kidnapping, and he was in Igor’s office the same day as I was, it isn’t a stretch to think that Igor had something to do with this also.

The water cleans the blood away from my knives, and I dry them and place them back into their holding places.

Maybe that’s why he called me in and not someone else. He knew this wasn’t something I had ever dealt with before. But he hadn’t counted on all that Evie had seen, all that she was able to tell me.

Without her, I would have been suspicious of Sacha, especially after the autopsy, but I think I would have hit a lot of brick walls.

Once I’ve cleaned up everything, I release Dima’s body from the pole and turn up the furnace, which has been smoldering, and that’s where I throw his body. That’s how I make every single person disappear. No traces left at all.

 

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Anita is questioning Evie about her neck when I step into the kitchen. Evie doesn’t answer because she becomes aware of my presence.

“I’m going to take Evie to her room. She’s had a long day.”

Anita wears a permanent grin like she knows I’m full of shit. “You don’t look so good yourself.”

“Thanks.” I don’t care as long as I have no blood on my clothes.

“We’ll talk more later, kitten.” Anita winks at Evie, who gets up and smiles down at her.

“Thank you.” Evie’s appreciation is expressed with the hand she touches my sister’s with.

I let them have their moment before I lead Evie upstairs.

I’m ready to take her to a guest room, but instead, I pass all the closed doors and lead her to my own room.

The minute I enter, I start to strip off my tie.

“I got a name. I know who has the girls. I don’t know where they are yet, but I have a name.” I’m not facing Evie when I tell her this. I pause in unbuttoning my shirt and turn before I resume doing it.

“How?” She’s smiling at me. Her smile is the reason smiles are created, to show someone that you are happy. It makes me feel unsettled with her.

“I got the information out of the man in the trunk.” I peel off my shirt, and her smile falters slightly as she takes her time and admires me.

“What if he tells the people on you?”

“He won’t.” I kick off my shoes.

Evie tilts her head like she’s trying to add that up, but something else fills her eyes. I can’t tell what it is as she steps up to me.

“Thank you, Lucca.”

“I’m being paid to do this, remember?”

I step away from Evie, not liking at all how she’s looking at me. Her small, warm fingers grip my wrist.

In spite of knowing better, the longing in her eyes has me turning to face her. She makes me curious.

“Still, thank you for finding my sisters.”

I don’t think she will be thanking me when I’m handing them over along with her.

She lowers her lids but keeps an innocent smile on her lips. For a split second, I think she’s trying to manipulate me into something, but the thought flees as she rises up on the tips of her toes and gives me the sweetest kiss that has ever touched my lips.

She presses a second kiss to my lips, and this time I grip her shoulders. “What are you doing?”

Her cheeks heat up, but her gaze doesn’t waver from mine. She shrugs. “I’m just…” She licks her lips, her small pink tongue too enticing to ignore.

I drag her into me and kiss her like I really want to. My hand grips her waist. She doesn’t move under my lips for a millisecond, and then she responds.

I’m moving her back to the bed, my cock growing harder at the thought of being inside a virgin.

A kiss won’t satisfy me. It won’t quench the thirst Evie leaves in my throat.

I break the kiss and reach down, tugging her top up over her head. Her large breasts fill the black bra, just like I pictured.

Her eyes are wild, and I see the hesitation, so I kiss her again while gripping her large breasts and squeezing them slightly. She gasps at the contact, and when I lay her on the bed, she tries to push me away.

I don’t get off her, but I do break the kiss reluctantly.

“I can’t…” she starts, and I grin at her.

“I know I can’t fuck you, Evie, but we can do other things.”

I want to fuck her, but I don’t think she’s ready for that, or I’m not ready to face the consequences of doing that to her.

“What other things?” she asks while I press a kiss to her lips before getting off her.

I pull her skirt off, and she looks even more glorious than I remember. The memory is pretty good, but the real thing has me pulling off my trousers.

Fear enters her eyes, and instead of comforting her, I pull down my boxers too and let her see my erection. Her running now isn’t a bad idea. I just said I wouldn’t fuck her, but I’m not sure if I can really hold back. She shifts on the bed, and I think she’s going to leave, but instead, she reaches back and removes her bra, allowing her large breasts to fall free. Her nipples are hard, and before she changes her mind, I dip my head and capture one in my mouth. Her groan is instant, and I reach to pull her panties off. Her small hand covers mine.

I continue to suck her nipple and run my teeth along the delicate skin until her hand slips from mine, and I grip the small piece of fabric and tug it down.

I release her nipple to remove her panties and take a look at her neat pussy that nestles in perfectly between her thighs.

More fear and uncertainty fill her gaze, and I don’t wait for her to reconsider again, so I capture her other nipple in my mouth while reaching down and touching her bud, which feels swollen with want under my fingertips.