Sasha: Chapter 6

Three days, and the whole thing went to shit.

I tailed the old Russo and couldn’t get his habits down. Why? Because all I thought about were the eyes of stormy clouds. I had asked Alexei, my younger brother, to keep tabs on her. I didn’t have to worry about him saying a thing to anyone. He just took it as another one of my odd jobs. Most importantly, there was nobody I trusted more than Alexei to keep her safe.

I, on the other hand, had to get my shit together and stop thinking about Branka Russo and worry about bringing this job to a close. In all my years, I had never lost a tail. Well, there was a first time for everything because I fucking lost the old Russo once.

Me. Sasha Nikolaev.

I fucking lost him as I followed him leaving his place because I was stalking his daughter remotely. If Vasili knew, he’d piss his pants laughing. So, I’d make sure he never found out.

God, that woman made me pussy whipped without even getting a taste of her pussy.

Jesus Christ!

Maybe the best thing I could do was to keep my distance from her. It was unhealthy to be so possessive.

I saw firsthand what it did to people. How it threw them into a spiraling madness until there was nothing left but death. A smashed skull and broken body.

The Russo compound on the docks of Alaska was enveloped in darkness and he had the scum of the scum with him. I planned for five guards. Tops. There were at least twenty.

Fuck!

I followed the old Russo from Montréal all the way to fucking Alaska. Jesus, I wasn’t sure which was worse for freezing your balls. So here I was in Juneau, Alaska, on the roof of a building across from the warehouse that the old Russo was visiting. Using my lens, I watched them through the single window as they moved around. It was hard to gauge where they were without being inside.

According to the data I retrieved, the old Russo owned a few warehouses near the docks here in Alaska. But not for much longer.

I entered the compound on foot. I couldn’t enter it in my car without triggering their security system and cameras. It was parked about a mile away, and if shit hit the fan, I was going to be hard as fuck out of luck. I lived for this shit, but fuck, I wanted to survive another few years.

Blyad, I’d have to get into that warehouse. One way or another.

I hooked the rifle on my shoulder, checked my handgun in the holster, screwed on the silencer, then checked the gun tucked in the back of my pants and my knife tucked into my boot. Then with a last glance at the warehouse and its layout, I headed back inside and made my way through the large empty space. It seemed all the men were in the other building where the old Russo was.

My information indicated that the woman Maxim wanted was kept there, but I had no proof. I was operating on pure instinct. With every yard I breached, awareness hit me. And the smell of blood. You never forget the smell of blood and dead bodies. Once you got a whiff of it, it remained with you forever.

I expected the compound to be armed and secured to the max. They were at war with the Irish. And with the Famiglia. And then there was the Corsican mafia that hated him and wanted to end him. And last, but not least, there were a few Bratva families that wanted to crucify him.

Why? Because the old man liked to screw people over. In more ways than one.

Despite my large frame, my footsteps were silent against the gravel-lined path between the two buildings. It was ingrained in me even before I joined the military, but special forces training beat it into me. It was the best thing that could have happened to me. It was the discipline my father didn’t bother training me on because he was too busy chasing his own dick.

The woman he loved. The woman he couldn’t live without.

And my mother–

I couldn’t even go there. That psychotic, madwoman ruined me before I even started living.

Not even Vasili knew the extent of Mother’s madness. Nobody knew what exactly happened that day. Nobody knew the words that were exchanged. Just Mother, myself, and a baby who had no memory of it. My little sister. Tatiana was so fucking close to dying that day, before even reaching her first month on this earth.

My brother tried the best he could to be our mother, father, and brother. He didn’t exactly fail, but it wasn’t the same.

Just as I turned the corner, I saw the small, side entrance. And only one man manning it. Before he could move and raise the alarm, I shot him, the silencer doing its job.

Running to the entrance, I sucked in a calming breath and then raised my gun. I pushed the door handle and went inside the brick warehouse. To my surprise, I found the whole fucking room pitch dark.

Where the fuck is everyone?

They were just here. I saw them. Yet, at this moment I couldn’t hear a single breath. Not a single movement.

Fuck, I hoped this wasn’t a trap.

If it was, I’d come back as a ghost and wring Maxim’s ugly neck.

I let my eyes adjust to the dark, then started to move. My hand was on the trigger of my AK-47 and I kept to the side walls. There was a room at the far back, a single indoor window between the two walls separating it. I rushed to it. With my back smashed against the wall, I peered in and saw an empty room. Except for a single chair.

With a woman sitting naked in it.

“Goddamn it,” I muttered under my breath.

She was tied to the chair, her hair glistening with the blood that soaked it. Fuck, it was her. Maxim’s woman. So fucking deformed, but I knew it was her.

Her mouth was taped shut. Her body was a mass of blood and bruises. I didn’t know if it’d be better if she was alive or dead. For her sake.

I moved to the door and entered the room, staying alert. The last thing I needed was to be ambushed by Russo and his fucking men. I’d rather not start a war with him. Vasili wouldn’t thank me. The old Russo wasn’t an enemy, although he wasn’t a friend either. All Nikolaev business went through his son, Alessio Russo.

She didn’t even move once I entered. Dead. She was dead. My stomach sank.

A quick scan around told me there was nobody else in the room. But there were corpses of more women stacked on the floor in the furthest corner that I hadn’t noticed before.

And there was the reason for the stench.

Fuck!

Maxim should not see his woman in this state. This had to go beyond a stray hacking job. What kind of beef did Maxim have with the old Russo that would make the old man kidnap his woman?

Pulling up my phone, I dialed up Nico Morrelli. If anyone had information, it would be that guy.

“Nikolaev,” he greeted me in his way.

I wasted no time with pleasantries. “Morrelli, I need to know what would cause a feud between the old Russo and Maxim Konstantin”

“Hello to you, too, fucker.”

I chuckled. “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot how much you Italians like to talk. How is life? Your cappuccino machine still working? Your–”

“Jesus. Stop talking, you annoying Russian,” he cut me off, humor lacing his voice. “Funny you should ask this because I just learned that the old Russo had an agreement in place with the old Konstantin. The Konstantin twin, Maxim, was to marry one of the Russo girls.”

Something violent and deadly spread through my veins. My jaw ticked and my chest twisted with something unfamiliar. Aversion to Branka belonging to anyone made me want to set this place on fire.

“When was the agreement made?” I questioned.

“It was part of the marriage contract. The old Konstantin and the old Russo came to an agreement through Benito King,” Nico explained. “The daughter’s name wasn’t called out but from the looks of it, the deal was probably to wed Mia to Maxim. Of course, that didn’t work out when she– “ He paused and we both knew why that didn’t work out.

She committed suicide, in front of me. I couldn’t save her. It seemed to be an ongoing theme in my life.

“Do the Konstantin brothers know?” I questioned.

“Yes,” Nico answered. My phone cracked with the force of my grip. “It was on Maxim to fulfill it, but he found a loophole in the agreement and made it null and void.”

So this was the old Russo’s payback. Motherfucker.

“Don’t tell me you got in the middle of that shit?” It was Nico’s turn to question me. I ground my teeth. It was exactly what I had done.

“Do you know what made the contract void?” I asked instead.

Something about the silence that followed told me I wouldn’t like the answer.

“The contract stated the woman would have no damage to her – physical damage.” My ears buzzed with blood rushing through my veins. The anger burned my throat and marred my vision with a red mist. “When Mia died, the contract became for Branka. I don’t know if I should do this, but I’m sending you a picture. Konstantin got his hands on a picture of Branka. She was scarred pretty badly.”

My phone beeped and I slid the message open. My breath cut through my lungs. My blood burned. The little girl in the picture had burn marks and cuts all over her. Black eye. Her auburn hair was more red than brown from blood staining it. Branka sat in a corner, her knees against her chest and fear on her face.

“I have to go,” I said coldly, while my blood simmered through my veins.

I ended the call and returned my attention to the body in front of me. Cigarette burns. I remembered them on Mia’s body. I hadn’t seen any on Branka’s, but it didn’t mean they weren’t there.

My eyes continued skimming clinically over the naked body. It was then that I saw it. Carved into the woman’s chest, amidst all the blood stains. .Damaged product

I sent a message to Maxim. *She’s dead.*

And then I set the entire building on fire.

I couldn’t wait to put a bullet into the old Russo’s head. One day.

Maybe not today or tomorrow. But one day, I’d kill the fucking bastard.