Page 51 of Embracing the Dark Side

“Nothing!” Vincent boasted. “I have everything, don’t I? I got your money. I got your daughter. I got your bed warmer. I mean, there’s nothing left. I’ve taken everything from you.”

“Why?”

“It was nothing personal. I don’t know you enough to hate you. Though you did threaten to destroy my family, didn’t you? Over something so small. Now, don’t you wish that conversation would have gone a little better? Doesn’t matter, really. Katia and I had already decidedyour reign was over. She’s one hell of a girl, Adrik. Don’t get why you’d pass her up. Especially for a fucking poor-ass tutor. It doesn’t make sense. Unless—”

The pause was everything, and Adrik knew it.

“Unless,” Vincent cooed, “you love her. Oh, isn’t that sweet?”

Adrik curled his fingers into a tight fist, digging his nails into his skin. Vincent may have the upper hand now, but he was as inexperienced as he was cocky. The family wasn’t something so easily contained. He’d lose it. Hell, he’d probably be dead by the time Adrik got out of jail. But if Vincent was killed, his daughter and girlfriend would see the same fate.

“You would have been proud of her,” Vincent continued. “JoJo tried to escape with your daughter. She always liked a little danger. And a little rough play, if you know what I mean.”

Vincent’s little comments were like insults in the schoolyard. Adrik knew more than enough about their sexual interactions that none of his words bothered him. But it unnerved Adrik in another way. If Vincent still thought about Jolie that way, was he going to hurt her, or had he already?

“Let me talk to her.”

“Why would I do that?”

Because Adrik needed to hear her voice, to know she was okay and that this fucker hadn’t assaulted her. But it was better if he didn’t know. He was caged, and no amount of screaming would get him free.

Adrik went in a different direction. “How are you maintaining the payments?” he asked, hoping to finally get some useful information.

There was a pause before Vincent questioned, “Why?

“If you don’t keep up with the payments, your shipments won’t go out, and you’ll have thousands of pissed-off customers. So, how are you handling it?”

A scoff and a snort. “You think I don’t know what I’m doing?”

“I think you know how to handle a credit card but not a billion-dollar industry. If you fail, you risk my daughter. So, take my advice. I have an offshore bank account; I’ll text you the details. Do not get behind on payments, or you will never surface.”

Vincent laughed into the phone. “You’re a fucking idiot. You’re gonna give memoremoney?”

“What you’ve taken won’t last you another week. The loans will falter, and it won’t be long till another family sees you falling apart and comes to your aid. And then they will kill you. Meet with no one. Not the Aslanovs, Utkins, and as much as you think Katia is helping you, she is only helping herself. You have her daughter. She’ll do what she can to take her from you and then destroy you. Just as I plan to.”

“So why should I listen to this bullshit advice? You could be setting me up to fail.”

“I need you to survive till I get out. The only person killing you is me.”

An annoyed chuckle crept into the silence, and Adrik had the mind to end the conversation. But he wanted to hear what pathetic threats this puppy could come up with.

“You know, I was going to let you talk to your daughter. Instead, I’ll send you the video of me fucking your girlfriend. Love what you did with her, by the way. I couldn’t get her to shave her pussy for years.”

The line clicked off, and Adrik could only stare at the ground. He was impassive on the outside, but the depth of his rage was a silent, endless cavern.

Alexei knelt down and clenched his shoulder, cupping his cheek to turn his head. “He’s lying, Adrik. He’s lying. He’s a fucking little bitch. He doesn’t have the balls to touch her. And Jolie would scratch his out if he tried.”

Adrik gripped Alexei’s wrist and rested his forehead against his. He needed physical contact, the assurance that he wasn’t sinking into Hell. He nodded vaguely, forcing himself to believe. He needed to, if he was gonna keep moving.

“He’s not going to make it,” Adrik declared. Alexei helped him to his feet, and Adrik paced the small cell as his mind raced. “We have to get out of here before the other families come for him.” He stopped, and he turned to his brother. “Call Yefim.”

Ideas were pouring in now, building him up. Adrik was far from beaten. His father taught him how to dismantle a threat years ago when Yakov had taken him hunting for his tenth birthday. With Yakov’s hand on Adrik’s shoulder, he pointed toward a black bear in the distance. ‘People will tell you to go for the heart. But the heart is nearly impenetrable, wrapped up, protected. If you miss, vengeance will be too quick to fight against. No, what you do is you go for the head. Harder to hit, true enough, but exposed. So, you take your time, and when you are sure of your shot, you blow their fucking brains out.’

In front of him was his one main goal, obtainable but never too far from reach. The dark within him was searching for retribution, and Adrik would not disappoint. He was going to consume Vincent Ortez till the blood in his veins poured like a gushing waterfall.

Chapter twenty-three

Future

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