Page 74 of Sworn to My Heart
Choking sounds emerge from Pavel’s mouth; it seems he’s trying to speak. Finally. I remove the cloth, keeping a firm grip on the knife and applying pressure. Pavel spits blood toward me before gathering himself.
“Son of a bitch,” I mutter, picking up a sledgehammer from the table to my right, ready to bring it down hard on his hand tied to the wooden chair his body is strapped to.
“Wait, wait, wait. Stop. I’ll talk!” he gasps out, coughing afterward. I halt the sledgehammer in mid-air just before it hits his hand, fear gleaming in his eyes. He’s starting to understand where this is going, good.
“Talk,” I command impatiently, not wanting to imagine what they’ve been doing to Alin all this time. I swear they will die one by one!
“I don’t know where she is,” he replies, and I raise the sledgehammer again. This bastard will talk.
“But I know who transferred her to the location where they’re hiding her now,” he adds quickly. Seems he’s not as stupid as the others. Time to get a lead.
“Will I have to wait much longer, or do I need to take your hand off first?” I threaten again as he tries to catch his breath from the pain. He looks like he’s starting to get dizzy; he can’t lose consciousness now. Filthy dog.
I grab a whiskey bottle from the table and pour it over his leg, right above the deeply embedded knife. His scream is immediate, accompanied by the information I need.
“Sergei! Sergei! It was Sergei!” he blurts out between screams. I return the bottle to the table, wiping my hands clean of the alcohol that splashed on them.
“Half of your bastards are named Sergei, I need details.” I place my hand on the sledgehammer, showing him what will happen if he doesn’t continue talking.
“Baranova,” he answers immediately, pulling his body forward in fear, but he quickly realizes this was a mistake as he lets out a curse of pain.
I take his mobile phone and search for the name in his contacts.
“Is this him?” I show him the screen, and he nods with great difficulty.
Mariano, who has been standing aside waiting for the idiot to talk, now emerges from behind me. He no longer needs signals from me. He knows what to do.
I hand him the phone, and the rage within me doesn’t ease up. All the thoughts of what Alin might be going through burn in my mind, giving me no peace. I know she can take care of herself, but they told her they know her secret. They’re ready for it this time.
“Brother, she will be fine,” Mariano whispers, as if reading my thoughts.
“Stas wants her for himself; he won’t kill her,” I state this fact to project confidence, but I don’t even believe what I’m saying. With Alin’s big mouth, he’ll lose patience quickly.Son of a bitch, your days on this earth are numbered, Stas!
I pull my gun from my holster and aim it at Pavel’s forehead, sprawled and tied to the chair in front of us.
“Luca, we haven’t confirmed his information yet. We need him, calm down,” Mariano places his hand on my shoulder before I shoot, stopping me.
“We don’t need anyone. One dead body will bring us another. They don’t deserve to breathe the same air as us,” I say venomously and pull the trigger.
The echo of the loud gunshot reverberates through the basement, and Pavel’s head slumps forward, his body lifeless in front of us. “This isn’t enough; I need them all dead at my feet!” I roar threateningly. Mariano doesn’t dare stop me now. It’s too late; any search for humanity in me will be futile.
“Call one of our men to clean up here. I don’t want his stench in our building’s basement,” I command Mariano, heading up the stairs leading to the building’s elevator, back to my apartment. I will cleanse this place of the filth of these bastards before Alin returns here.
“Tomaso is coming down now,” Mariano updates, appearing behind me just as the elevator doors open. We ride together to the fourth floor, to my apartment, and to my surprise, Cora is waiting for us on the entrance couch. I shoot a questioning look at Mariano, and it seems he doesn’t understand either.
“What are you doing here?” I ask disinterestedly, moving toward my office. I don’t need additional headaches right now; we have to find Sergei.
“You haven’t let me help and pushed me aside for five days. I want Alin home! Now!” she shouts at me for the first time in my life. I’m not capable of dealing with this shit right now.
“Cora, lower your tone in front of your Capo! Are you crazy? What’s wrong with you?” Mariano responds angrily, but I hear the fear in his voice; he doesn’t know how I’ll react anymore.
“I don’t care that he’s the Capo; I don’t care about all this crap. Alin sacrificed herself for me, do you understand that?!” she replies again without thinking twice, starting to cry.
I sigh; Alin affects all of us.
“The way you can help is by staying quiet and letting us do what we do best. We will bring Alin back.” I tell her dryly and continue toward the office.
“Use me, send me there. Let me find things out; I need to do something. I can’t sit and do nothing while God knows what she’s going through right now,” she pleads, her voice trembling. “If she’s even alive...” she adds in a choked voice, and my breath stops.
