Page 65 of Forgotten Vows
We reached the neighborhood the guard had referenced, and we were in luck to be able to find as many Dubinin men orassociated acquaintances as we could. A poker night was being held in the back room of a gambling hall. It made it much easier for me to pick through some of the men while Emil questioned others. No matter who we spoke to, it was evident that the guard had summarized the attitude of this group. They were old-school loyalists. Many of them cringed and made faces when I mentioned Raisa Petrov.
As far as gathering intel went, it wasn’t entirely productive. But our saving grace was when a server beckoned us to step aside.
“You’re looking for Mateo,” she whispered, smiling as though she was flirting with us, not speaking seriously. “I heard y’all. If you’re looking for the man who’s got the biggest beef with a Petrov interfering with the Family, he’s got the biggest mouth and the biggest chip on his shoulder.” She winked at Emil and nodded at me.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” Emil drawled, tucking cash beneath the edge of her bra cup.
I rolled my eyes. He never stopped, the playboy no matter what.
“Want me to handle this?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I just want this over with.”
He raised his gun and fired it. “Bring me Mateo.” One more shot was fired at the ceiling. “Now.”
A few men looked at each other. Cigars hung from open mouths. Others blinked with indecision. Then as a gnarly-looking older man shot to his feet to run out the back door, I aimed at the back of his knee and fired.
Down he went.
Another man tried to get him up, hurrying him toward the door.
I glanced at the guard and gave him a knowing look. He didn’t wait, going with Emil to secure the fucker we needed to talk to.
I helped myself to a drink while Emil and the guard removed the pair. They’d hold them in the other room out back for me to question. And kill. “Anyone else?” I asked loudly. The din of the gambling rooms stayed low with zero replies until I exited.
It seemed that I was late to the game. Perhaps Emil took it to heart when I said I wanted this over with. By the time I reached them, he was already beating them. Both of the older men sat in chairs. No rope was needed to secure them. One look in their eyes proved that they knew they would be dead before the night was over.
“Go on,” Emil said, sneering as he flexed and closed his fist over and over. “All yours.”
“They admitted to it?”
He nodded, not taking his eyes off them for a second.
“That was fast.”
“We will always be swift to clear out every liar in the family,” he said, more to them than as a reply to me.
I crossed my arms, glaring at the men who were responsible for scaring my son and woman. They deserved the cruelest death to ever try to bother them, much less harm or kidnap.
“Is Konstantin alive?” I asked impatiently. I was eager to end their lives and go home to Raisa and Lev. But we all needed this information first.
“So what if he is?” the first asked.
The other man laughed once. “He should be, sohecould rule better than Luka is. Marrying outside the family like that…”
I gestured for the guard and Emil to beat them again.
When they were barely hanging on with labored breaths, I tried once more. Luka expected an answer, and I’d get him the best one I could. “Is Konstantin Petrov alive?”
They could only wheeze and gasp for air.
“Did he order you to do this?”
Nothing. One lifted his swollen and bloodied face only to sneer. Crimson lined his teeth as he snarled, “Fuck you.”
“No.” I grabbed his hair and wrenched his head back. Jamming my gun into his mouth and chipping his bloodstained teeth, I leaned down until all he could see was my furious face. Until all he could do was taste the metal on the barrel of my gun. “Fuckyou, and enjoy rotting in hell, motherfucker.”
I blew his brains out, releasing him with a jerk.
