Page 43 of A Pawn in the Game
Luka
The door to the car slams behind me harder than needed, and Ivan jumps in his seat.
“You alrightšefe?” he asks in a casual tone because he knows the answer to that question.
We just met with a distributor who informed us that his warehouse mysteriously burned down two nights ago, just after the Mayor’s Ball. I roll the window down, lighting a cigarette before starting the car. Ivan’s eyes are boring into me, judging me for smoking inside. He hates the smell, but I can’t make myself care at the moment.
I barely slept since the morning I woke up next to Sophie, and even then, I slept because I was hammered with alcohol.
“Going to the club?” Ivan asks me. I’ve visited the club once since the ball, and that was in the middle of the night, after a drop off, to check on Sophie. I guess it’s late enough to repeat the same thing.
“Yeah. For a minute or two. You mind staying the night?”
He shrugs, taking his phone out to inform his girlfriend. I throw the cigarette butt out of the window, shutting it, and we stay quiet for the rest of the drive. There’s not much to say.
Everything’s gone to shit. All our distributors are underduress from the Russians. I guess it’s the risk of working on loyalty—if you believe someone is loyal, it really fucks you up when they betray your trust.
Landers did our papers for the last seven years. And he knew everything about our business. He and my father were thick as thieves, so it makes little sense he betrayed him. When we really looked into him after Father’s death, we found out he had a daughter. A daughter we knew nothing about.
I guess he never fully trusted us the way we trusted him.
I enter the club, keeping my head down, and head straight to the dungeon. As expected, Sophie is sleeping, while Marko keeps guard on the couch.
She’s not crying right now, but her face is red and blotchy, her hair wet with tears.
“Rough night?” I ask Marko, gesturing to Sophie.
“Yeah. I don’t know how she gets any sleep this way.”
A chill runs through me as if we’re still riding on the open road with the window down. This is my fault.
My fucking fault she has these nightmares.
I’ve been busy as hell the last few days, but this is the real reason I haven’t been here more.
The guilt.
I can’t bear to look her in the eye after letting another person point a gun at her head. First, it was Leon while filming that useless video, but at least she wasn’t in actual danger then. But this random Russian soldier could have hurt her for real.
I know Landers is the reason all this shit is happening.
I know I have a parent sized hole inside of me because of the bastard she calls her dad.
But so far, I have found no proof she was involved or even knew what the hell he was involved in. And call me silly, but I don’t like hurting innocent women.
Unable to stand here any longer, I turn on my heels and climb back upstairs. Ivan’s at the bar, chatting to a server I’ve never seen before. My brows scrunch, looking around, and Inotice there are afewgirls here I’ve never seen before. Young girls.
Girls that don’t look like they belong here.
I slam my palm on the bar next to Ivan to get his attention. “What the hell is this?”
“What?”
“The girls?”
He looks down at his feet and I know I will not like whatever comes out of his mouth next. “Toma sent them.”
“Fuck.” I clench my fist hard enough to almost break it.
