Page 130 of Kadra: The Unfeeling

Tali.

Tali.

Tali.

Misery and agony take over as I look at the man that now is staring at me with hatred. As I stare at his black hair, pale skin much like mine and then at those eyes that are the same shade as my mother I connect the dots. Flashes of the little boy too skinny and dirty holding my hand while dreaming of better days haunt me. Old wounds start to bleed as I look at the man in recognition.

“Mikhail…” Pain slashes through me. “Miky.”

His eyes darken. “How quickly you forget me.” Mikhail snarls.

“Fuck, no, Mik—” I reach my hand forward as this sadness that’s been dragging me down for so long pours out of me when I look at my baby brother. At the man he became.

“Don’t you fucking lie!” He hisses and it makes Azariel flinch. Desperate to get to both my son and my brother I take steps towards them before Mikhail takes out a knife and places it under my son’s chin. Anger and pain like I’ve never felt before paralyzes me. “You let them take me! You let them turn me into his.” He laughs manically. Pain and years of heartbreak lace his tone.

Raising my hands, I try to reason with him. My own heart is breaking in my chest. “I’m so sorry, Mik. I’m so fucking sorry.” I choked out. “I looked everywhere for you. I haven’t stopped. Fuck even when Papa said you were dead. I never gave up hope. Please put the fucking knife down.” I beg for the first time in my fucking life. “That’s your nephew.” I try to reach him but it only triggers him more.

He looks furious now. “He’s nothing. You’re nothing to me!” Mikhail snarls. “You built an empire. Both of you. Vladimir is the great D’yavol of New York city and you the dark prince while I was forgotten in that fucking hell.” He spats pushing the knife deeper into my son’s skin. Azariel’s eyes are on me now. That’s when that look hits me. That’s the same way Kadra looked at me before we parted ways.

They’re making peace with their fate tonight.

Fuck that.

“Choose.” My brother spats, holding Azariel back with the knife still to his neck. “Choose between your whore and your kid. You won’t be able to save them both.” He shouts angrily just as a loud boom before the entire building shakes. Shit.

When Mikhail loses his balance and falls back, I shout. “Azariel come!”

As soon as the desperate shout falls from my lips, Mikhail regains balance and moves to snatch my son but he’s not quick enough. Azariel runs into my arms and in one swift move I transfer him onto Grim’s arms. “Get him out!”

I feel a tiny hand wrapped around my gloved hand, looking up at my son I see emotion for the first time in his eyes. Kissing his head, I tell him. “You go with Grim, Da? I’ll meet you soon.”

His gray eyes, like my own, narrow as if he’s trying to decipher if I’m telling him the truth. A second later he fuels my body with purpose when he whispers so softly yet sweetly. “Dad.”

Emotion clogs my throat as I nod. “Da, malen’kiy korol. Dad.”

It all happened so fast.

One second I’m holding my son’s gaze as he calls me Dad then a shot rings out. I thought quickly and push Grim and my son out the way toward the exit. I watch as they make their escape and then turn to face my little brother.

The little brother I lost and by the looks of things, I’ll never get back. Whatever happened to him all those years he was lost to me turned him into this. A man willing to hurt his own blood. A man who was willing to kill my son. His nephew.

“He won’t stop until he gets what he wants.” Mikhail points his gun at me.

Frowning, I rounded him with my hand behind my back feeling for the gun there. The gun that will ultimately end my brother’s life if that’s the only option he leaves me. “Who?”

“Don’t act dumb, Vitali.” Mikhail laughs. “We both know who I’m talking about.” I do. I wish I didn’t. I refuse to believe the sweet boy who would daydream about magical worlds and happy endings was willing to work for a trafficking ring run by the Beauregard family.

“I was his favorite, you know,” Mikhail tells me with a faraway look on his face. Fire blazes all around us and I feel the smoke making its way through my lungs. Fuck. “The mayor of this city that everyone seems to love so much. He used to call me his pretty boy.” Bile rises as my vision blurs, blackening along the edges as red-hot rage burns from my very core through my extremities. “I know hell, Tali. Do you?” Mikhail rasps, and for the first time I see the little boy I used to know behind the man he is now. “He fucked the dreams out of me.” He laughs bitterly breaking my fucking heart.

“Why? Why work with them then? Why work for the man who hurt you so goddamn much! Why not come to me!” I roar. Anger and hatred are growing stronger.

He chuckles but there’s no humor. “How could I come to you when I’m not a free man? I’ll never be free of him.”

Taking a step towards him, I try to touch him but he flinches so I step back. “You’re free. I fucking killed him! He won’t ever hurt you again.” I shouted, trying to get to my brother. The need to bring the fucker back to life and kill him all over again rises.

“I waited for you…” He’s looking towards the fire behind me, not at me directly. “I called out for you every night when he used to come visit me but you never came. You know what did?” He looks at me now. Anger. Pain. It burns me more than the fire all around us could. “Hate,” he growls as he throws the gun down on the floor. “The hate sedated me when every part of my body and my soul ached. It’s what kept me alive this long.”

“Mik… it’s not over yet. You are free now. Come with me.” I tell him desperately. I’ve been searching for him for so long and here he is. Nothing could’ve prepared me for what I found. A broken shell of who he once was.

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