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“Your brother used them to attack us,” said Yakim. “They had to pay for their crimes against the Volkovs.”
“That small army was sent by them?”
“Those greasy bastards thought Callum’s money would help them buy more land and weapons to encroach on some territories in Chicago,” Leon said through gritted teeth. His amber eyes gleamed with malice. “If Yakim gave me another day, I’d have done the same to those bastards as the guards your brother bribed.”
“I couldn’t wait for you to deal with them,” said Yakim. “It was bad enough the Morellis thought they could attack us and get away with it. I had to send the message out to everyone who thinks they can fuck with us.”
“How did you kill them?” I asked curiously.
“Poison,” said Yakim shortly.
“That reporter said the police found no traces of any poison in the house.”
Yakim glanced at Leon and they both exchanged a knowing grin.
“We don’t give up our trade secrets,” said Leon, leaning in to lightly bite my bottom lip.
“Can I ask you guys something else?” I asked.
Yakim muted the TV and fixed me with his piercing blue eyes.
“How did you survive what happened to you?” I asked slowly, glancing between Yakim and Leon. “Callum was sure you guys were dead.” Gesturing over at Yakim, I added, “What he did to you...you could’ve died from blood loss alone.”
Yakim glanced at Leon and a concerned look came over him.
“I’ll tell you what happened,” said Leon. A dead, detached expression came over his handsome face. “Yakim and Mikhail were unconscious through most of it.”
Wariness spread over me. Did I make a mistake in asking that question?
Leon’s butterfly knife was back in his hand. He rotated the handles at blinding speed, turning the flashing blade into a blur. His facial expression remained neutral but I could tell he was affected by the memories surfacing in his mind.
“Callum’s men threw our bodies in a garbage dump outside town,” said Leon. “They beat the crap out of us, giving us so much internal and external injury, they were sure we’d die within hours. We would have if someone didn’t fish us out and operate on us immediately.”
“Thank God,” I breathed, looking between the brothers. “Who was he?”
“He was one of those people who searched the dumping ground for fresh dead bodies. It’s not uncommon for corpses to appear in a place like that. He was an organ harvester. People like him hunt for corpses so they can harvest the organs to sell on the black market for millions.”
Ice flowed through my veins. I expected to hear about a good Samaritan who saved the lives of those three young men but I should’ve known better. There were no knights or angels in their tale. Only monsters in human skin.
“He wasn’t even going to wait for us to die,” said Leon with an icy chuckle. “He was about to cut up Mikhail when I spoke up. Could barely do that though with a punctured lung at the time.”
“It’s not funny,” Yakim said in a grim tone.
“It kind of feels funny now,” said Leon. Shrugging, he continued. “I showed the man my family tattoo. Luckily, he recognized the Volkov mark.” He pointed at a small tattoo of a snarling wolf just below his collar bone. “The fucker was smart enough to make a deal with me.”
“What kind of deal?” I asked.
“I told him we’d kill every person he wants dead for free,” said Leon. “He just had to make sure we wereallalive and well.”
“Nothing’s sweeter than revenge,” said Yakim.
“So, you followed the deal and killed strangers for this man?”
“That’s what we do,” Yakim said in a low, grim tone. “We’re assassins. We kill for money, power, or favors. That’s the kind of men who possess you, Lucia.”
I gazed back at the TV screen where the news was still showing footage of the Morelli assassination. Morality had no place in the criminal underworld. You either killed or got killed.
The only thing that disturbed me was Callum’s involvement with these men. Dad never dealt with such people. Why did Callum need them on his side? Were the atrocities against Yakim’s family just the tip of the iceberg?
