Page 29 of Unholy Tsar

“Maybe,” I murmur, raising my left hand to swipe at the blood trailing down my temple. While he’s distracted by my left hand, I discreetly move my right hand to my boot where my knife is always holstered—but it’s not there.

For a moment my mind blanks. Shit, my knife. Then I remember. I gave it to Cecilia this morning because I only brought one knife for Bree to practice with and she needed one as well.

She didn’t give it back.

I sigh.

“Now that you’ve got me on my knees, what are you going to do?” I ask the man panting in front of me.

He looks around at his fallen comrade. Only him and the leader remain. “I’m going to–”

“Byron—” The leader cuts him off, speaking for the first time. “Why don’t you tie up our guest so we can question him?”

Byron nods frantically, and as he turns his head—probably to look for a rope or something—I jump to my feet and seize the wooden block from his hand. Before he can even comprehend what’s happening, I smash it on his skull. Blood splatters against my face and neck as Byron crumples to the floor in a heap of limbs. Shit, I didn’t mean to kill him so quickly. There must’ve been a nail somewhere in the wood.

The leader’s eyes go wide and, as he starts to back away from me, footsteps rush in from behind. I don’t need to turn around to know it’s Dante and my men. Just in time too.

“Mr. Smolov—” Dante’s voice trails off as he takes in my bloody appearance and the dead bodies littered on the floor.

“That’s their leader,” I say, pointing to the man cowering in front of me. “He’ll answer all our questions if he doesn’t want to join his colleagues.”

“I don’t know anything!” he screams, his voice cracking as tears rush down his face. “I don’t know anything. I just receive a text from an anonymous person when the goods reach the border, and I go pick it up for distribution. Then I send him his own share of the money through an offshore account, I swear. Please. I have a sick mother.”

I click my tongue in disappointment. What a coward. “He’s telling the truth,” I tell Dante. “Take his phone from him. We’ll find this anonymous supplier.” As soon as Dante has the phone in hand, he shoots the fucker between the eyes.

For the first time, I take a good look around the warehouse. Where could they be hiding the rest of the drugs? I know there must be more around here somewhere. I should’ve asked that coward while he was still alive. My men work around me, cleaning up the dead bodies and preparing to take them to our cremation yard. Meanwhile, I make my way to the wall. There’s something off about this place.

I place my palm against the peeling edifice, trailing my fingers along its weathered surface as I navigate the warehouse. Halfway through, my hand comes in contact with a bump. Bingo. A hidden doorway. I turn the handle and the door swings inward. Walking inside, I’m greeted by towering stacks of drugs placed against the wall. But that’s not all.

There’s also a large desk with two computers. I walk around the desk so I can see the screen. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it’s not footage of three different elementary schools in the area.

My stomach churns as I realize the true extent of this operation. These sick bastards were purposely targeting kids. What the hell? There’s a folded map next to the mouse and I unfold it to see different schools marked. The schools they plan to hit, or that they’ve already hit?

Fuck, how long have they been doing this? And how did they stay undetected?

Dante’s whistle breaks through my thoughts as he enters the room behind me. “My men and I will dig deeper into the anonymous supplier and any other drug operations they may have in the city.” He waves the phone we confiscated in front of me.

I nod. My work here is done, but my blood is still boiling with adrenaline. The fight was not enough of an outlet. Fuck, I could’ve been in trouble if I had to deal with actual professionals without a weapon.

My knife.

The same knife that’s currently in Cecilia’s possession.

Fuck.

I believe it’s time to visit my little mouse in her tower. My heart thumps in anticipation and my pants tighten around my crotch.

“What should we do with the drugs, sir?” Dante asks as I walk out of the hidden room.

“Burn them.”

11

CECILIA

I expected things to worsen after I escaped from Roy’s clutches yesterday, and they have. Before I ran away, Roy only gave me uninterested glances, but now he’s full-on glaring at me. I don’t miss the shiner on his face. I feel bad because I know it must’ve been part of the punishment Maksim gave him.

“I’m sorry,” I told him yesterday during the ride back to my apartment. He only grunted in response.