Page 23 of Embracing the Dark Side

“I didn’t like your arrangement.” Vincent shrugged with indifference. “So, I made my own.”

“I got you out of prison. You signed a contract!”

“I said I would help you take down Adrik.” He looked around. “I think they’re down. But it didn’t say what I could do afterward. I’m taking charge.”

She scoffed, sneering, “You are a street-level gang. You cannot compete with the Russian Mafia. Leave now.” Katia stepped forward. “Before my family gets here.”

Vincent looked around again, perhaps thinking of his next step. His gaze landed on Jolie, lingering long enough that Katia looked over at her, and their eyes met. The heat of betrayal was embarrassing. Adrik told her time and time again not to trust Katia, and Jolie thought he was biased because of their relationship. Now she saw Katia for the monster that she was.

“Put the kid down.” Vincent turned back to Katia, raising his gun.

The movement struck fear in Jolie, and she scrambled to her feet. It didn’t matter that Katia deserved her fate. Helina did not.

Her movement alerted the guards, who hastened to grab her.

“Hold up,” Vincent ordered, watching her with humor in his hazel eyes. “Let her come. But check her over first. She’s a little unpredictable.” A guard felt along her body, and she glared at him. She prayed they wouldn’t find her phone, but inevitably, they pulled it from her sleeve and put it with the rest.

Jolie approached, stepping around the guards who watched her. None of them appeared familiar. They were all Spanish, with face tattoos, black clothes, and armor.

Jolie moved in front of Katia, facing Vincent. He shifted the gun just an inch so that the barrel wasn’t directed at her. She didn’t understand how the boy she used to date in high school had become this extreme. The famous quarterback of the football team was now no more than a criminal. Everything about him was off, from the ugly tattoos ruining his face to the bulging muscles of his chest. The eighteen-year-old she had fallen in love with had become a violent dumb jock.

But she always gave everyone the benefit of the doubt. And though she had just seen Vincent murder in cold blood, she still had a sliver of hope that the boy she used to care for was here. “Please, stop this.”

Vincent clenched his teeth. “Stay out of this, JoJo.”

“This isn’t who you are.”

“Oh, mami,” he patronized. “You never knew who I was.”

“I won’t let you hurt them.”

Vincent studied her. It wasn’t unlike Jolie to intervene when she saw something unjust. But she was on the wrong side of this. “I have no plans to kill the women. Tatianna and Katia, a car is waiting outside to take you wherever you want.”

Katia stumbled. “No, my daughter—”

“Is going to stay with me.” Vincent backed up and motioned for the guards. They approached like sentinels, latching onto Katia and Helina with no regard for their screams or how they clung to each other. Jolie tried to stop it, hanging on their arms, but she was taken around the waist and pulled away.

Another guard lifted Tatianna to her feet. She was crying and whimpering, reaching for Yakov, but they pushed her toward the entrance. Katia’s screams continued, fighting, feral, reaching for Helina’s outstretched arms. Jolie’s heart broke, and she shouted at Katia, “I’ll protect her!” Helina wouldn’t stop slapping and screeching, and the guards were getting annoyed. “Let me take her. Give her to me. Please!” With a glance to Vincent, they waited for approval before letting the little girl dive into Jolie’s arms. Jolie squeezed her with all her might, whispering reassuring words as she ran a hand through her blonde curls.

The door shut, and the silence echoed in her ears—until Vincent hollered, “We got a new home, boys!”

Jolie sat in front of the cake table, now riddled with bullets, with Helina’s head hiding in her neck. She watched the band of monsters cheer, waving their guns in the air like pirates having successfully overtaken a ship. And she: their stolen treasure.

Chapter twelve

New Rules

Vincent’s people jostled Jolie up the stairs with Helina in her arms, and they shoved her into the child’s bedroom, locking her in. Jolie stood frozen, losing strength as the seconds passed. The shock was setting in, blinding her, numbing her. Helina slipped out of her hold and dived into her blankets, wailing into her pillow.

Jolie blinked, looking around, trying to understand what happened. It was a nightmare. It couldn’t have been real, but the sinking feeling in her gut wouldn’t fade. It felt like a worm was eating her intestines. Jolie turned in a circle, clueless about what to do next.

Adrik and Alexei were gone. Gil was on the run. Yakov was dead.

Jolie went to the bed and sat. She placed a hand on Helina’s back. There were no words of reassurance. How could there be? Jolie didn’t know for sure anything would be alright again. Helina was a hostage. And Jolie had stupidly put herself in the middle.

She could hear her mother now:‘You’re too nice. Sometimes, people deserve their choices. You can’t fix them all.’

As the little girl continued to cry, holding her stuffed doggy with tears running down her chubby cheeks, Jolie felt a strength awaken. She would be Helina’s protector,keeping her safe, just as she promised. And though Jolie was terrified and ready to break down, she dug Helina up and wrapped her arms around her.

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