Page 24 of No Longer Safe

“That’s brutal.”

All this time I thought this was okay. I thought this was the way life was supposed to be. I wanted to get married, have kids, and live a great life I could tell my grandkids about. But at this moment, the only thing great about my life was the vibrator in my top drawer.

“I told him how bored I was and how I need hobbies now that I don’t have you here to get day drunk with and talk shit about all the old people around here, and he told me I didn’t need anything.”

She let out what sounded like a mix between a snort and a cough. “Excuse me? He told you that you don’t need anything to keep yourself busy?”

“He said I’ll have my hands full with all of our kids and won’t have time for anything.” When I said it out loud, it was even worse. It made me want to scream, it made me want to fight him. How we’d even had sex after that proclamation was beyond me.

“I’ve kept my mouth shut because I knew you cared for Brian. I kept my mouth shut because I thought it would get better. I thought you would get your fairytale ending after some much-needed time apart.” She took a deep breath. “But this is a red flag. All of this. Brian is a walking red flag. You need to say goodbye.”

Shock rang through me at her honesty. She’d never said anything like this before. She’d listened intently and offered me support but she never once said it was time to walk away.

“I don’t think I’m ready. I still love him.”

“Are youin lovewith him, honey?”

Chapter Seventeen

Alexei

Blood drippedoff of my knuckles and splattered the concrete warehouse floor. I didn’t care very much for getting my hands dirty. Out of all the things we did, this was my least favorite but examples needed to be made. Jeremy was selling coke at one of my strip clubs. If I wanted coke sold, I would do it myself. He was also roughing up my girls. There were many things I allowed, there were many things my parents did, but you didn’t touch the girls. You didn’t disrespect the girls. You never put your hands on my merchandise.

The smell of urine was prevalent in the air. It happened. I slipped the brass knuckles off of my fingers and looked down at the beaten man. He wasn’t dead, I didn’t like to do things that way but if he kept it up, he would be.

“Now Jeremy,” I stared down into his bruised and bloody face. “What don’t we do again?”

Blood dribbled from his mouth when he opened it. “We d-don’t sell drugs on your property.”

I clapped him hard-on the shoulder and his body jerked against the chains hanging from the ceiling. “Good boy, Jer. I think we can get through this.”

He nodded while his swollen eye watched me. The other eye was completely swollen shut. I may have taken it a little too far, but examples needed to be made. “B-but, they threatened me if I didn’t sell the rest of their stock.” He watched as I dumped the coke onto the concrete and kicked it with my foot.

“Tell them the Cristof brothers would love to chat, when they’re ready of course, if they have a problem with this.”

He nodded and the chains clanked above his head.

I would make an example out of every fucking person in this city if it got it through their thick skulls. Especially the newbies that came into town and thought they could mess around on our territory. Dimitri was over the drugs. He didn’t mind getting his hands dirty more than I did. I didn’t care for the stuff so I stayed far away from it, but I wasn’t against making examples. I was good at it. Dimitri always took it a little too far. He enjoyed watching their souls leave their bodies a little too much. He was a psychopath, but he was also my brother. He never took anything too far with the family so as far as I was concerned, I could turn a blind eye.

Dimitri stood in a shadowed corner and watched me work. He didn’t care for my methods but in this instance, it didn’t matter.

I held my hand up and swiveled my pointer finger in the sky. “I’m done. Make sure he lives to see another day, please.”

Dimitri prowled out of the darkness and gave me a nod.

The door swung open and revealed a bright alley. I pulled my ball cap down over my eyes and got into the blacked-out SUV. My phone buzzed in my pocket. With a groan, I answered.

“Have you thought about what I said?” My father sounded bored, but I knew better. He didn’t want to hear that I hadn’t thought about it. If I didn’t do something about it, he would take matters into his own hands.

“Yes, Father.”

“And?”

“And I guess I better start looking for a date.”

“And you’re going to stop fucking around at that strip club or I’ll have it shut down. I’m beyond tired of the mess it brings.”

I could have laughed. “Don’t pretend like you don’t like the money it brings in.”

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