Page 19 of Trapping His Assassin

I should turn in my Brotherhood card.

Pain flooded through my throat, but that wasn’t anything new. What was different was that my body felt like it had been run over by a dump truck. I tried to pry open my eyes, but they weren’t cooperating with me.

“Did he move?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

The darkness pressed in on me, and I blinked rapidly, trying to adjust my eyes to the dim light. The room spun when I turned my head, and I struggled to steady myself against the cold concrete wall. My dry tongue scraped against the roof of my mouth, as I tried to speak, but all that came out was a raspy cough. Panic set in, as I realized I couldn’t remember how I ended up here. I strained my ears, listening for any sounds or movements. My heart raced, as my mind bombarded itself with questions about where I was, who put me here, and why.

“You’re alright. The bullet hit your shoulder, and was a through and through. Any closer to your neck and you probably would’ve bled out,” the same voice stated.

“How could this happen again?” Alexie raged, his voice sounding far away.

“He didn’t need that information,” someone else chimed in.

I could hear something break distantly, but it didn’t sound like he was in the room with us. I closed my eyes briefly. He must be on the phone or something.

“Calm the fuck down,” Viktor, at least I think it was his voice, ordered Alexie.

I mean who else would try to command the banished Prince of the Bratva? That was his nickname. When I was younger, the men would joke about Alexie and his banishment. They came from Russia, so they experienced firsthand what Viktor did to men who were loyal to Alexie, and they were sent in a wave to help him take down the MC.

But behind closed doors, they chatted more than women. I slowly opened my eyes once more. The shady room was dimmer, and I could see a bit better. I tried to move my hand, but IVs were sticking out everywhere.

I moved to sit up, but a strong hand on my arm stopped me.

“Don’t even try it.” Great Uncle Benedikt stood in my line of vision.

Shocked, I didn’t even attempt to remove his hand. When he was certain I wasn’t going to try and move, he let go of my arm and took a step back, to grab the cup of water on the bedside table.

“Gave us quite the scare there, kid. Your father was ready to run in, guns blazing, and burn down Don Ricci’s house. Viktor had suggested sending me for backup, seeing as there was an assassin causing trouble for you.” He smirked.

Great Uncle Benedikt grew up with Alexie and Viktor, but his spy work kept him deep undercover most of the time. He rarely came up for air. This must be serious if the Pakhan pulled him from whatever mission he was working on.

I wanted to speak, and my eyes must’ve shown my desire, because Great Uncle Benedikt gave me his phone to type on.

With shaky hands, I typed out. “Have we found the shooter?” Then I handed the phone back to my great uncle.

He looked down at the message before hitting a button. The Pakhan’s voice came on speaker phone.

“What? Is he awake?” His breathing was a bit erratic.

“Yeah, I figured we could speak more freely now, and the kid wants to talk business. Are you okay?”

Viktor cleared his throat. “Y-yes, I am.” There was a shuffle and some rustling, like he was moving things around.

“Well, to answer your question, we have it handled. I’ve got my eyes on the ground now, though I have my suspicions,” Benedikt said.

A low, guttural noise sounded through the phone receiver. I squinted at the device but continued with the meeting, knowing that Tiffany was most likely on her knees under his desk at that very moment.

“We know the Riccis are behind it. The question is, what are we going to do in retaliation?”

Viktor grunted and I was almost certain I could hear a small moan. Ugh, gag me. “Don’t focus on that. If you must know, the meeting has been moved so that you may recover. In that time, Benedikt will apprehend the shooter, and exact revenge on your behalf.”

“But we are expecting you to rest,” Great Uncle Benedikt warned.

Uncaring of the pain it caused, I slowly shook my head no.

Confused, Benedikt asked, “What do you not like about that plan?”

The thing about being a genius at my age was that all the adults in my life listened to me. Even when I was a scruffy kid off the streets, my gut got me far. But my brain got me even further.

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