Page 19 of Corrupted Heart

Fuck. I’m getting slow.

“I’m glad you called, Kratos.”

The man in front of me with the slight Eastern European accent, blonde hair, and haunted blue eyes is my age. And yet Lukas Komarov always comes off as much older. I never actually asked how he knew who I was the first time we crossed paths, because I’d already looked into him.

Suffice to say that by the time we finally met, he was more than fully aware of who and what I was.

Lukas’ father, Viktor, runs the Kashenko Bratva, which Lukas will one day helm himself. But until then Lukas runs the Free Them Foundation alongside his wife, Lizbet, an organization that focuses on eradicating child trafficking around the world. To the casual observer, they do this by working with local legislators and police forces.

Under the surface, though, they do this by harnessing the power of the Bratva, not to mention Lukas’ personal penchant for darkness and violence, to exterminate the cockroaches that would harm children.

“Although…” Lukas arches a brow, turning to level his gaze at the three bodies now covered by a tarp in the corner of the warehouse. “When you did call, I sort of hoped we might be working together on this one.”

“Hey, I did call you.”

“An hour ago, yeah.” He eyes me. “When did you get here?”

I lift a heavy shoulder. “An hour and…three minutes ago?”

He smirks darkly before he nods at my face, which is still covered by my mask.

“You know, I do know a thing or two about masked vigilantism myself, Kratos.”

Yes. Yes, he does. I’ve looked into Lukas. His “methods”. His savagery. His complete lack of mercy when it comes to the type of men I just killed. Really, you could call me an admirer of his work. A student of it. He might know this.

I might not care if he does.

“Look, Kratos, what you’re doing is admirable. You know I have nothing bad to say about anything you do that aligns with our own mission. But we’ve got resources, man. Sure, I used to do it solo, too. But we’ve got a whole organization now. Teams that can help.”

I know where this is going. It goes here every single time he and I cross paths.

He wants me to come work for the Free Them Foundation. Not sitting behind a desk and attending board meetings, either.

He wants me to be a hunter for them.

It’s not that I have anything against Lukas, or Lizbet, or their organization. Not at all. But that’s just not me.

“Why don’t I save you the breath,” I growl quietly.

“Kratos—”

“I don’t do team sports, Lukas,” I shrug. “Sorry.”

Behind him, I catch a glimpse of some of his people putting up some temporary cloth backdrops. Past them, a beautiful and powerful-looking woman who I know is his wife, Lizbet, smiles warmly and cautiously as she slowly approaches the now-unlocked cage full of terrified girls.

I don’t like calling what I did tonight “rescuing” anyone. I merely curb-stomped evil. Besides, it’s hard to sell it as a selfless act when it was at least half about calming my beast.

It’s Lukas, Lizbet, and their organization who’ll do the “saving” tonight. They’ll remove the girls from here, and either find their original homes or make sure they get good, loving new ones. They’ll also take care of the therapy and the healing these girls will need.

I’m not the savior. Just the weapon.

Lukas exhales slowly. “The darkness catches up to you, Kratos. The darkness is the house. And you know as well as I do that the house always wins.” His eyes lock with mine. “You have to know when it’s time to take your chips and go home.”

I stay silent. Because the thing is, the darkness is home to me. This is where I breathe. Where I live. Where I feel alive.

Lukas shakes his head. “Okay, I’m done pitching you.”

“Sure, for now,” I growl.

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