Page 42 of Kaid's Empire

“I am no one’s fucking errand boy!” Oleg screams.

“I'm trying to fucking drive, will you calm the fuck down?” the guy driving snaps.

“Don’t you tell me what to fucking do! You follow my orders, remember that,” Oleg warns. I tut and shake my head. Oleg’s pissed off gaze turns to me. “What? What now?” he snaps.

“Look, I'm just saying that you had my respect, I never made you my lap dog. I would have never taken someone speaking to me like that. They would be fucking dead; you want respect in your new job then you have to send a message or people will just walk all over you,” I lie. He never had my respect, and he would have never made it up through my ranks.

I watch as Oleg mulls over what I just said. The thing with Oleg is that it’s always been questionable whether he was all there. Mikhail used to keep an eye on him when he could, but truthfully, the kid should be on medication––or at worst, in a mental hospital.

He lifts the gun and hits the butt of it over the driver’s head, causing him to swerve the car. “Ow! What the fuck was that for?” the guy driving yells.

“That is for disrespecting me in front of the prisoners.” Oleg huffs.

“Don’t fucking do that again,” the guy driving warns.

“I will do what I fucking want. Next time I will fucking shoot you,” Oleg threatens.

“You fucking idiot. If you shoot me the car will crash,” the guy points out.

I can’t contain my laughter, and neither can Mikhail as we both laugh. Oleg is tamping. “You think you're funny, do you? You won’t be laughing when I shoot out your fucking kneecaps,” he seethes.

I smile. Some people are born to be dangerous leaders, and some are just born fucking stupid.

Thirty

Theia

Staying curled up, I don’t know where I am. I'm guessing a basement from the concrete walls and floor I can feel. Although, it is hard to tell when you can’t even see your own hand in front of your face for how dark it is.

I hear footsteps above me, and my eyes follow the sound. I hear deep voices, shouting. A door opens and light shines down the stairs. It’s definitely a basement. I watch as a body gets thrown down the stairs. The overhead lights come on and I squint my eyes, adjusting to the sudden bright light. I look over to the guy groaning on the floor––it’s Mikhail.

“Mikhail,” I call, and he looks over to me. He looks like he is about to say something when another body gets shoved down the stairs. I don't need to squint my eyes to see who it is, I can tell just by his build and his suit that it's Kaid. My heart lurches as I see blood pouring from his head. “Kaid?”

He groans, rolling around and holding his side as he slowly moves, sitting up. His eyes come to mine, and I see them flare with anger.

“Kroschka,” he growls. My eyes fill with tears and I smile at him.

“I'm okay.” I sniff.

He moves to me, cupping my face with his hands. He reaches up, touching my forehead and he looks at his fingers covered in blood. “They will die for what they have done to you,” he growls.

Footsteps are heard walking down the stairs and Kaid turns around to see who it is. His body tenses and I can feel the fire of anger burning through him.

“Vitali,” he growls. The son of the man that betrayed his father stands, smiling and holding out his arms.

He looks older than Kaid. He’s balding and has a potbelly––he doesn’t look dangerous. He looks like an uncle; he looks like a harmless man.

“It good to see you,” Vitali greets. Kaid protectively stands in front of me, blocking me.

“I wish I could say the same. You're a traitor and a piss poor excuse of a man. Your father backstabbed his best friend––his brother! And now you try to carry on in your father’s footsteps… have you not learnt from your father’s mistakes? Do you see your father here? No! Because I fucking killed him, and you’re just like him, you're nothing but a fucking leech!” Kaid seethes.

Vitali smiles and shakes his head. “I see you have your mother’s temper. You're wrong, I am better, stronger than my father. I simply just wish to take back what he built. All what you have, all the clubs, the money, the drugs and the women he helped bring in. He helped all that grow, and did he get a thank you?

Did he get all that money that should have been his? Did he get the fucking respect from our brotherhood? Nyet!” he yells. “He was always number two, and now I am making myself fucking number one! I was supposed to get that fortune! My father was supposed to be Pakhan. Why else do you think he killed your father? But nyet, it goes to his kid son! His kid son who doesn’t have a fucking clue on how to run a Bratva!” he spits.

Kaid’s fists clench so tightly I think they’re going to break. “Your father killed my father?”

Vitali laughs. “Of course he did! He just hired some Albanian hitman. He knew you would all just assume it was to do the Albanian mafia.” He pauses.

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