Page 19 of The Den of Sin
Men were caught trying to blow up one of my less reputable business buildings within the city. They were caught red-handed. And guess what? They were Santos’s men. Surprise, surprise! My brother really knew how to stir some shit up. I really wasn’t in the mood for this clusterfuck. Not now that Isabella Taylor was in my town, within my grasp.
“What do we have here?” I greeted my men and the unfortunate souls that already looked half-beaten to death.
Sasha sat by the dock doors, overlooking the muddy river, peeling an apple. It meant he was in the mood to play. I really wasn’t. Managing legitimate businesses was enough of a job. I really didn’t need an impending war among crime families because of my brother’s stupid moment. But it was coming, I had no doubt about it.
Sasha claimed it was eye for an eye. Except he seemed to have forgotten that Santos' eldest son paid for the death of our father. Now they’d be back, demanding a blood settlement.
Fucking Sasha!
I loved him, but his bloodthirsty ways would get him killed. Or worse - Tatiana and Isabella.
Tatiana has been back from Los Angeles for a week now. I knew she went to visit Isabella, although she never said so. Sometimes I wondered if she learned about what happened between her best friend and me because she never brought her up around me anymore. Or maybe she just sensed my mood each time she brought her up.
I intended to go visit Tatiana after this clusterfuck here. I didn’t even bother to pretend as for the reason. My sister came back from L.A. with her best friend, and those tempting whiskey brown eyes of Isabella Taylor flashed in my mind, inviting me. Her soft smile was too much of a temptation to resist, and now that she was in my city, I was determined to have her again.
I imagine this was probably how my father was tempted by her mother. But he was married. She should have never touched him. Luckily for Isabella, or unluckily, I wasn’t married. And I’d decided I would take her. Get my fill of her for as long as it took. If after five years I have been unable to get her out of my system, I’d need her under me for the unforeseeable future to quench this thirst for her.
“These are the pricks that tried to blow up the building.” Alexei, my other brother, finally answered since Sasha was intent on peeling his goddamn apple. I strode towards the slumped bodies and stood three feet away with my feet slightly apart and my hands behind my back. I immediately spotted the leader among them; he was the only one that dared to meet my gaze.
“Gentlemen, meet your host. Vasili Nikolaev.” Alexei liked to taunt, just like me.
When I found out about the brother I never knew about, I searched high and low for him. He was a Nikolaev regardless of who his mother was, and we stuck together, no matter what. I never regretted it because Alexei was a step closer to my woman. I would have kept him with us regardless, but fuck if I would miss an opportunity to use him to get my woman. Alexei would try to beat my ass if he knew it. He had never met Isabella Taylor, but he was protective as fuck about her. Tatiana and Isabella were his number one protection priority. I didn’t have to worry about their safety if something happened to me.
Isabella Taylor didn’t even know she had two living half-brothers. She grew up believing she was an only child while there were two men roaming this world, sharing her blood. One from her mother’s side and one from her father’s side.
Bringing my attention back to the man in front of me, I watched fear dilate the pupils of the fucker that thought he was so brave to meet my gaze. He didn’t exactly lower his gaze, but he was no longer being so brave. Truth be told, I relished in the fear my name evoked in people. It made them less likely to fuck with my family and others under my protection.
“And why did they try to blow up my building?” I asked casually. No answer. “Hmmm?”
It seemed he lost all semblance of speech.
“We can do this quickly, or take all the time in the world,” I drawled out although I didn’t want to take all the time in the world. I just wanted to end these fuckers and be on my merry way. I had Isabella to see. “I am sure you had a taste of Sasha’s techniques.”
They visibly tensed and one of them even pissed himself. I barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes. Santos should really send tougher men because this was pathetic.
“So what’s it going to be?” I asked.
“W-we don’t know anything?”
I chuckled, completely unamused. “So you went to blow up one of my buildings without even knowing why. You are either stupid,” my tone was slightly agitated, “-or worse. You think I am stupid.”
I let the silence follow before I added. “And with that, I’ll let Sasha give you a lesson. Just in case you thought I was stupid.”
Truthfully, I could teach them an even better lesson, but fuck it, I would go see Isabella at my sister’s place after this, and I wasn’t willing to ruin my white slacks. She wouldn’t be happy if I showed up all bloody. But then, she probably wouldn’t be happy to see me anyway if our last encounter was any indication.
Therefore, if I wanted to get her into my bed, I would have to behave. She would be the only woman I would do it for.
Sasha strode over leisurely, a happy grin on his face. Sometimes I worried he enjoyed torturing a bit too much. He kept toying with his knife, throwing it up into the air and catching it on the way down. And without warning, he threw it, and the edge of the knife buried itself straight into the chest of the weakest captive.
My lip quirked into some semblance of a smile. It was a method I taught my little brothers. Scare the shit out of the captives by killing off the weakest link. Although now, watching both Alexei and Sasha grin, I worried I taught them a bit too well how to torture people.
Once Sasha was in front of the leader, his hand struck against him, his hand wrapping around his neck. He squeezed hard, cutting off the air through the windpipe.
“What is Santos's plan?” I asked, watching the man’s face turning red, his eyeballs bulging out as he clawed at Sasha’s hand for air. The man’s eyes rolled back in his head, his fingers no longer gripping hard at Sasha. Just as he was about to lose consciousness, Sasha released him and he dropped sideways to the floor along with his chair, gasping for air.
“Five seconds for an answer then we start again,” I told him. It was a generous offer. His cheek was flushed against the dirty concrete floor, and I was tempted to just smash his face flat against the dirty ground.
He raised his head and looked up at me, a true fear in his eyes.
