AllFreeNovel
Share Us
25
DMITRI
Three days later, I wait in the car on the outskirts of the city with Lorenzo. Whatever Doc gave me it offered me a few hours of sleep, and I was feeling a little more myself. It was everything I needed to resharpen my mind. My irrational outbursts were becoming a problem. I’d also started noticing I was becoming slightly weaker on my left side as well. I felt, in many ways, sluggish to my usual form.
But there was nothing sluggish or irrational in what I was about to do.
Hunt.
I’ve waited this out for three days now, more specifically, sitting in this car for two hours—waiting. At any moment, that piece of shit was about to waltz out like a king, and I was going to shove that crown down his throat.
I find it ironic that I was becoming increasingly like the man I despise the most in the world, The Lion. But for the woman I love, I was willing to be a madman. I just had to make sure no evidence was left behind.
I’d made an agreement with Luca to bring this guy in alive, and I would do everything in my discipline to finish the job. But if handing him over to Lorenzo inches me closer to my objective of protecting Elanee, I’d do it. We needed all the information we could get out of this piece of shit. Because maybe, just maybe, he knows about The Lion’s second business at play.
Lorenzo’s phone screen lights up, and I can’t help but notice the name ‘Lily’ with a heart and flower emoji beside it. He’s quick to switch the screen off, but it does nothing to lessen my intrigue. Lorenzo didn’t seem like the emoji type, so I imagine she might’ve entered her number in his phone. I wonder if her best friend, Ara, knows about their communication. But who am I to judge and warn a good girl from a man who is the furthest thing from safe?
The back door of the bar swings open, and the man, called Slater, stumbles out. From the intel I’d gathered, he was the replacement for the last guy, Connor, I killed and the same person who hurt my Elanee.
It’s two in the morning with only a few people around. I watch as he stumbles about the place, cursing at the bouncer who obviously kicked him out. Strange that he’s not at his own club tonight, but it makes it easier pickings for me. I watch him over time as he staggers through the streets, most likely on his way home. Something that I’d make sure he’ll never return to.
I step out of the car with a baseball bat in hand and quietly approach him. I prefer to fight with my fists, but today I wasn’t in the mood. I wanted nothing but cold, unrelenting pain. I sense Lorenzo walking behind me, but I’m already seeing red. Luca wanted me to prove that I could get my hands dirty. Most likely as collateral as well if going forward he wants to blackmail me. Fine by me. I’d do anything to ensure Elanee’s safety.
That’s when Slater notices me, but it’s already too late. When he twists and sees the bat, he instinctually tries to pull the gun from his jacket. He’s too sloppy… too slow. I hit the bat into his hand, busting it in the process against his chest. The gun goes flying across the street, and he screams, suddenly sobering. In the next second, I swing the bat into one of his kneecaps, relishing in his scream. Before he drops, I cave in the other one.
I grab his green hair and force him to look at me as he hits the ground. “What’d you say to her?” I click in front of his face. “Dance. Dance.”
My blood is boiling from the intel I’d received. Anyone can be bought for the right price and Elanee never told me what they’d witnessed that night. I’ve been raging ever since.
She might choose to fight her own demons, but I’d be the biggest monster of them all.
No one hurts my woman.
Fucking ever.
“Who the fuck—”
I knee him in the face, and he drops like a sack of shit, blood splattering everywhere. Adrenaline courses through my veins, but it’s not enough. More blood. He has to pay for this.
“He wanted him alive,” Lorenzo says nonchalantly over my shoulder, and it’s a cold shower on my parade. Because he won’t intervene if I keep going. I’d just fuck it all up myself by doing so.
Slater is gasping and gurgling with a broken nose and blood pooling from his mouth. I lower my ear to him. “He’s still breathing.”
Lorenzo leans over speculatively. “The cockroaches usually do.”
That’s all this fucker was good for. Vermin The Lion had hired and another piece taken out of his plan. I’d only killed a few people in my life but had always been willing to do what needed to be done. But I seemed to be relishing more in this new version of myself. Knowing it was a part of me that Elanee despised. And yet, it was the only part of me that could do at least this much to protect her.
Lorenzo sends a quick text, most likely to Luca, to advise we acquired the scum. Lorenzo looks up and casually says. “Now, let’s get him to the car. You can carry him since you were the one to break both of his legs.”
Scolding water washes over me as I breathe through the scathing, steamy shower. The red of Slater’s blood had long ago washed down the drain, but his face was a constant hindrance when I closed my eyes. I know Luca will torture and kill him. But it doesn’t make it any easier when it feels like he took the role I should have in protecting her. I battle against my wit that tries to carefully place the pieces and the part of me that wants to recklessly destroy everything in The Lion’s path to lead me to him.
I’d been calculated for so long when dealing with him, ensuring my family and now Elanee’s aren’t targets for the Bratva in its entirety. I didn’t care about all of that; I only wanted my father. Rage courses through me. Tonight wasn’t enough. That dickhead was only a small fry in the grand scheme of things and would be replaced.
I look at my busted and raw knuckles. This was the first time my body was undoubtedly fighting against me as well, and I don’t know how long it will continue and if it’ll get worse. The Doc said it will. Head spins, inability to sleep, wariness, my body sluggishly responding, outbursts–the list seems to only increase as time goes on. But I put all of that on the back burner as I honed in with only one focus. It was taking too long for the pieces to come together. And although I had someone watching Elanee, I hated that I wasn’t there, and couldn’t hold her or claim her when I wished.
But what right did I have?
I push the invasive thought away. If she saw me like this right now, she’d be horrified.
