Page 46 of A Monster Is Coming

Pain sliced through my whole body.

I hoped Peter had gotten away, but then the memory of him with a gun … I didn’t know why that bothered me so much. Guns didn’t scare me, I was used to men holding guns. I’d been around them all my life. I even knew how to fire a gun myself. One of my father’s men had shown me. I think he took pity on me and the fact my own father didn’t love me enough to care what happened to me. Either way, guns didn’t matter to me.

Peter and a gun, did matter. It meant something, but I didn’t know what.

Until I watched as Peter walked into the room with another man, who for some vague reason I recognized. Then, there was my brother, who looked like our father. He considered it a curse to look exactly like Finn Byrne, but he loved being the oldest son.

I looked at Peter, and I knew he must be part of the Volkov Bratva. That was the name that kept going on repeat. I wanted to ask him what this was all about.

He didn’t have a gun in his hands, but gone were the gym sweats and jeans I’d become accustomed to. Before me stood a man of business. A man I knew to avoid. The ink on his arms and chest all made perfect sense to me now.

I’d been lied to.

****

Peter

Niamh was on her knees, on the dirty floor, and I didn’t need to be a doctor to know she’d lost the baby. The blood on her thighs and coating the edge of the dress was a clear sign of that.

The bruises on her face and body already showed what she’d been through. Parts of the dress was torn, which could only come from a belt buckle, and one glance at Finn Byrne’s buckle, even in the low light, I saw the staining from it. He’d whipped her with the belt. He’d beaten her. The urge to grab my gun and end that son of a bitch increased.

“Hello, Finn. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Ivan Volkov—”

“Let go of my son.”

Ivan stopped and he sighed. “You know if there’s one thing I cannot stand, it’s rudeness, and you’re being so very rude.” He gave another tut.

Niamh cried out as her father’s grip on her hair tightened. “I want my son, or she is going to have her head blown wide open.”

Ivan clapped his hands. “I do love it when the theatrics are thrown about, but I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Now, this is what I loved about Ivan Volkov. Nothing ever went down without him being one hundred percent aware of the danger, and he always made sure he had a Plan B, Plan C, and Plan fucking D.

Red lights played across Finn Byrne’s chest, as well as the other men who were in the room.

Ivan tilted his head to the side. “Red looks good on you.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Finn asked.

“Oh, it’s quite simple really. Do you think I didn’t for a second figure this was going to be a trap?” Ivan laughed. “You chose the location, but you see, I’ve been keeping busy with all those bounty hunters you had finding your daughter. I searched the location, already figured out when you had started to get the clear understanding of where your daughter was, and I’ve had this warehouse prepared for weeks. One click of my fingers, and you all go down.”

I didn’t have to move. So, Ivan had been busy while I’d been doing what I needed to do, but that seemed useless now.

“I’ve had eyes on you for a long time. It was why young Finn boy here was so easy to find and take. You might want to consider a little more training in that regard.”

“What do you want?” Finn Byrne asked.

“Well, for a start, I want your daughter, and I think for a time, I’m going to take your son as leverage, and then we might start our negotiations.”

“Do you seriously think I’m going to negotiate with you?” Finn asked.

“Not right now, but in time, I have a feeling you’ll come to your senses.”

“No,” I said, speaking up. “He dies tonight.”

Finn turned his gaze toward me and then, even with all the evidence of the guns pointed at him, he smiled. “I take it, that was your baby inside her?”

I reached for my gun and was already taking aim at the smug little fuck. Tensions rose and I felt more guns had been drawn.

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