Page 8 of Captive Vows
We had the rat.
And we’d dispose of him accordingly.
I approached Emil as he let the soldiers handle the sobbing, crying Miguel.
“Want me to deal with him?” Emil asked, likely meaning that he’d oversee the transportation of Miguel to one of the torture sites to kill him.
I shook my head. “Not so fast.”
Ivan joined us.
“Keep him alive for a while yet. Take him captive until I can determine a better price for him to pay instead of only giving us his life.”
Ivan raised his brows, surprised.
“I am not showing him mercy,” I added with a shrug. “But I am bored. Let’s see what else this fucker stands to lose.” His life, at this point, seemed like too easy of a price to demand of him.
Emil nodded in acknowledgment, looking back to watch the men drag Miguel away.
“Find out who he has in his life. What he has to live for,” I told him.
I was getting too used to this dreadful idea thatIhad nothing to live for anymore. It was only natural to wonder about what a moron like Miguel had.
“On it,” Emil replied, turning away with Ivan.
With nothing left to do here, I returned home. The second I entered the large building, the “fortress”, the loneliness ate at me. The listlessness gnawed at me, making me feel more aggravated than I desired.
Riding along for that trap we sprung on Miguel hadn’t kept me preoccupied for long. It was a been-there-done-thatscenario. Anticipating an answer from my son about how I could punish the rat didn’t hold my interest for too long.
The only thing I could do was mull over my life. On the balcony, I looked out over the nightscape of the city. A glass of vodka hardly changed anything. Not even the whore who stopped by, Belinda, could entice me.
I wasn’t intrigued at all. Nothing captured my interest, and I feared that this was how the rest of my life would go. I’d done so much. Years had been spent building the wealth and power of the Dubinin empire, but now, what did I have to live for?
Emil didn’t need me. My son was grown, and so were my two nephews. All I had to really keep me company was anger. Yet, it was wearing on me.
Back when Maria was in my life, when I had a woman to care for, I was more balanced. But with her, I’d learned the cruelest lesson of life. To love was to lose. No matter the circumstances, giving my heart to a woman was the starkest break of my soul.
Belinda returned to the balcony after I dismissed her the first time, trying to get me to come inside with her.
I sent her away again. Dismissing herandmy loneliness at what seemed like the top of the world, I sighed and tried to comfort myself with the reminder that I wasn’t the kind of man to appreciate something freely offered.
I relished the challenge. The pursuit. The fight. Because working harder to take something from someone was just that much more rewarding in the end.
Raising my glass to finish my drink, I vowed to do just that.
If no one could keep me company, then my work would have to make do. Focusing on the anticipation of taking something valuable from Miguel would keep me engaged and out of this rut of boredom.
I would take something of his, and the balance of justice in our dark and dismal world of crime would be set right again.
4
GABRIELLA
Ihurried home from the dance studio with an urgency to return to my bedroom for privacy to analyze what I’d done. It felt like I was running from my mistake, but I knew that come tomorrow, when I returned for another class, I’d have to face the music. I’d need to overcome the judgment and consequent embarrassment from trying to flirt with Oliver to get ahead.
What the hell was I thinking?
Why?
