Page 35 of Bought By the Bratva

Walking back to my car, I tried to clear my jumbled thoughts. I stopped and looked back. Ash was still standing where I left him. “Are you coming?” I hollered at him impatiently. Ash was an elderly man in his late sixties. He had a limp from his war days but was a trusted manager.

Watching him run towards me almost made me forget we were in a serious situation. “Sorry, boss,” he huffed as he reached me.

Holding out the keys, I tried to sound calm as I spoke. “Take me to the warehouse. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Ash nodded and got in. The drive was spent in silence as I worked on my thoughts. Pulling up to the warehouse, I felt my heart sinking to my feet. There were a lot of good people working here. Ash had barely stopped before I was out and headed inside.

The place was flooded with high-intensity floodlights. With darkness creeping in on us at a quick rate, I felt glad my men had brought so many lights.

A lot of my men were present. The cleanup had already started. The coroner was also there. Most of the bodies were covered and being removed from the scene. I felt my anger rising but also felt a deep sadness as I watched them being taken away.

These good people died for no reason. They could have been attached when there were no workers, or they could have tied them up. There was no reason for bloodshed. Taking everything out would have made more than enough impact. But no, they had to kill innocent people. I couldn’t let this stand.

This meant war!

Shaking my head, I went inside to what was left of the building. The entire one side looked like it was crushed by a wrecking ball. I suspected most of the guards were taken out with this hit as it was the side housing their office. As I moved through the rubble, I tried looking for clues.

I hoped we could find some evidence to indicate who had done this. I moved through the building along with some of my guards. We turned over heaps of rocks, wood, and steel but found nothing. There was no sign of the device being used to cause this damage. Frustrated, I slammed my fist into a wall.

Scanning the area, I screamed at the guards. “Can anyone tell me what happened?”

Everyone went silent as they turned, looking at me. The men glanced around at each other, mumbling. I knew it must have looked like I was losing my mind. But in that moment, it felt like it.

I noticed one of my men approaching me out of the corner of my eye. Turning to face him, I hoped he had something, anything would do. “Boss,” he uttered as he steadied himself on some rubble.

“Yes, man, spit it out. Did you find something?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized I sounded overly harsh. I treated my men with respect. But this incident has turned me into a monster. “Sorry, Jim,” I added, taking a slow deep breath.

Jim actually worked at one of the offices. He had contacts that came in useful at times. He nodded lightly. “My friend found some of the footage before the blast.” Turning, he continued to speak over his shoulder. “This way.”

I followed, hopeful that we could see who was responsible. He glanced back as we approached the young man sitting in the middle of a heap of bricks and papers. He looked no older than eighteen or nineteen. I wondered how a child could do work like this.

Before his feet lay what I assumed used to be our server. It appeared quite busted. A cable ran from it to the laptop resting on his legs. “What have you found, young man?” I asked as I stood behind him.

He pressed a button on the keypad, and some images started appearing on the screen. There was a lot of noise and blurring, but we could see some of the men near the side of the building. They placed something against the wall, retreated, and then everything went boom, followed by nothingness.

I could swear one or two of the men in the blurred image were part of the Vasilievs family. “Can you clear up the images?” I inquired, wondering how good he was.

If it was the Vasilievs that caused this, was Nadia involved? Did she betray me? I was distracted for a moment as my mind flooded with questions.

“I tried, but with what I have on my laptop, I can’t get a clear image. Sorry,” the young man said, pulling me back to the present.

“Right,” I responded, shaking my head. “Send what you’ve got to Tasha, and she’ll be able to give us a clear image.”

“Tasha?” the young man asked, looking at me over his shoulder.

“Jim,” I said, tapping Jim on the shoulder as I turned to leave. Jim nodded and rushed to the man’s side. As I walked away, I heard him giving instructions. Feeling slightly closer to finding the truth, I headed out. I had to get home and take over so Tasha could go to work.

“Ash?” I called out, stepping back through the hole in the wall where we had entered.

“I’m here boss,” he responded from somewhere to my side.

“Let’s go, I think I got what I came looking for.” I had just completed my sentence when I noticed Ash walking beside me. “Good man,” I added as we got into the car.

As we drove, I tried to figure out if Nadia had anything to do with this. I hadn’t seen her sending any messages lately. So, unless she had another phone, I felt sure she couldn’t be responsible. Nothing she had sent could have led to this catastrophe.

I considered calling my brother’s and wondered if Tasha or any of my men had done so. Yet, they haven’t called or shownup, so I felt sure they didn’t know thus far. This was good. I wanted proof of who had done it before going to them.

Without evidence, Anton and Akim would surely make their own conclusions. This wouldn’t be good for Nadia or me. Ash pulled into the driveway and parked in my usual spot. “Thanks, Ash,” I said, getting out. “I’ll talk to you more in the morning.”

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