“What do you mean by that?”
He looks up at me uneasily. “Ade, you’re a very scary man. So can you not stare at me like that.” I look over to Blake and he rolls his eyes, coming over to Drago’s rescue.
“Sit down, brother,” Blake says.
I can’t, I can feel myself slowly becoming more and more out of control. I’ve been calm up until this point, calm on the outside but livered in the inside. I can feel her slipping away from me, and I swear to fucking God the thought of anyone laying a finger on her slices my dark soul into two.
“I have an address,” Drago states casually and I pause my evil thoughts.
“I’m sorry, what?” I ask, tilting my head at him.
He nods his head casually. “I hacked the RMS system that they use, and I’ve got an address. It didn’t take me long either,” he adds at the end smiling a cocky smile.
“Yeah, just a week,” Blake mumbles under his breath sarcastically.
“Blake, these things take time. I’m not a magician,” Drago replies defensively.
Zane looks over to me before looking back to Drago.
“Fuck, you’re a smart little shit,” I say to him with a small smile.
“I am. So the good news is, I have an address where they may be holding her. I can’t say if that is where they are, but I have an address and that’s a start. The bad news? This is the Russian Mafia you’re going up against here. This is big time shit, and you will need an army.”
Nodding my head, I look to Zane. “He’s right. This isn’t New Zealand. This is the Russian Mafia. We need to do this smart.”
When we walk back into the clubhouse, I see Phoebe and Vicky sitting there worried. They’ve been taking it rough the past week and I get it, I fucking get it. Those are the two most important girls in my life right now, and it’s taking all my fucking strength to not completely lose my shit and go on a massacre to fill the empty hole in my fucking heart. Killing is not a task for me, it’s a mood, and no one here wants me in that mood—at least, not right now. Phoebe sees me and gets out of her seat.
“This is your fault, Ade! I fucking told you to stay the fuck away from her,” Phoebe screams from where she’s standing.
Blake puts his body between us. “Phoebs, sit the fuck down.”
“Call her and Vicky into the boardroom too, they need to know what’s going on,” I mumble to Zane. He nods his head in agreement and I pull a bottle of whiskey from the top shelf of the bar before following everyone in. I pull out my chair that sits to the left of Zane while Blake sits on his right. I’m Vice President, yes, but Blake is also his other half. Once everyone is in the room, Ollie closes the door to the crowd of families on the other side.
“We have information on Alaina and Kalie,” Zane whispers out hoarsely.
After Zane explains everything that we’ve found out, which leaves Vicky and Phoebe in tears. Everyone apart from Zane, Blake, Ollie, Chad, Vicky, Phoebe and me leave the room. I’m halfway through my bottle when I look over to Phoebe. She smiles softly at me, which is surprising considering the girl wanted to rip my head off thirty minutes ago. Zane and Blake depart with Vicky in tears, leaving Phoebe and me in there alone.
“So you know who this man is?” she asks quietly.
I nod my head. “Yeah, I do.”
She swallows and pulls out a seat next to me, taking hold of my hand. “Ade, I need to help, please.”
I pull my hand out of her grasp. “Fuck no, Phoebe. Are you fucking crazy!”
“Yes, Ade, I’m very fucking crazy! Kalie is my best friend. I am helping.”
Shaking my head, I take another long skull of my drink. “I can slip in undercover. Abby can help me.”
I look at her in disbelief. “You’ve gone off the fucking rails if you think Blake will be down with that. And as much as you are a pain in my fucking ass, I still care about you. So the answer is no, Phoebe.” I stand from the table, swing open the doors and sit on one of the sofas by the pool tables. Fucking Phoebe and her crazy ass attitude. If it were anyone else, I’d happily pawn them off. As much as no one even comes close to how much Kalie means to me, I can’t do that to Blake.
Slowly I feel myself begin to tip over the edge again. Feeling out of control, I have energy that needs burning. When I can’t fuck someone, I’ll kill them. I walk to the back of the room and push open the fire exit. We don’t have a plan as of yet, but we will. I need to talk to Abby though as I took it all out on her. She picks up her phone on the third ring.
“Ade? Are you okay?”
I sigh down the phone and lean my head against the wall. “I’m really fucking not. I’m one stupid comment away from losing my shit and slicing everyone apart,” I reply.
Hearing a door close through the phone before she starts talking again. “What do you know?”
“We know that they’re in Russia.”
“Russia?”
“Yeah, with Kazimir Lyov.”
She gasps. “Kazimir Lyov?”
“Yeah.”
“As in the Russian fucking mafia?” she whispers out in an angry tone.
“The one and only.”
“Holy fucking shit, Ade.”
I look down at my phone in my hand. “Wait, why the fuck are you not here?”
“I can’t, I have work, you know as Chief of Police. I can’t exactly tell them that my family is on lockdown because two of their girls have been taken by the Russian Mafia.”
“Good point.”
“I’m coming now, though. Tell bum boys to let my Chrysler in.”
I hang up the phone and walk back into the clubhouse, letting Travis know to let her in.
An hour passes and I notice Abby still isn’t here. Which is strange, she’s never late to anything. I take my phone out of my pocket and dial in her number, only for it to go straight to voicemail. Blake pulls up a seat next to me.
“Don’t look at me like that Blake. I’m not going to turn ripper on everyone…yet. I just need her home. I need them both home.”
He throws his arms up in surrender. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”
I pull my phone out again, checking for messages.
“You waiting on someone?” he asks, pointing down at my phone.
“Abby. She was supposed to be here over an hour ago.”
Looking around the room before landing my eyes on the boardroom. I slide my seat back and walk into the boardroom, swinging the doors open and seeing it empty. Blake walks up behind me.
“Looking for something?”
Walking back out I slam the door shut loudly, before swinging around to face everyone in the bar.
“Where the fuck is Phoebe!” I yell, glancing around the room.
Everyone looks at each other before shrugging. Blake stands in front of me. “What do you mean ‘where the fuck is Phoebe?’?”
I pull at my hair and look at him. “She was tossing some shit off me earlier in the boardroom. Talking about how she needs to help, how she can help with Abby. I told her to fuck off, that it isn’t going to happen. Now she’s not here and neither is Abby.”
“She fucking… Fuck! She fucking would.” I begin to make my way out of the clubhouse.
“Where you going?” Blake yells from behind me.
“There’s only one person who’d tell them where the girls are.”
Right as I reach the door, I hear Zane’s voice break the silence. “Ade. Come here brother,” his voice a horse, a loud whisper. The foreign tone pulls me back to him.
Turning around I see him holding up his phone with a video playing. I blink my eyes a few times, trying to adjust them, but wind up walking to him and snatching the phone out of his hands.
What I see on that screen turns me murderous.
“Ade, If you get this video, Alaina is messed up she’s not good they have been do—” A fist comes flying to my face at a rapid speed, hitting me so hard that I fly off the seat and I scream out in agony.
“Shut the fuck up!” The
fat man squeezes onto my cheeks and spits on my face.
“Get the fuck up there and do it again.”
“Should we leave that part on?” I hear someone ask from behind the camera.
“Yeah, leave everything. Make him see how fucking serious we are.”
He pulls me up and throws me back into my seat. Now with a busted eye that’s pissing out blood, I begin to sob. Looking like death and feel worse than shit, but all I care about is Alaina.
“Again bitch, and if you fuck up this time Jason’s fingers won’t be the only things that are shoved up your cunt!”
I dry reach and spit to the ground as the memories of what happened come back to me full force. Looking up at the camera with my hair sticking to my face, blood is pouring down past my eyes and cheeks as tears begin to stream down my face.
“I have forty-eight hours left until Kazimir is going to send me away with the highest bidder. You have forty-eight hours to come up two million in cash and a— A…no! No, I will not say that. No!” I scream. Fat man takes hold of my neck, squeezing with such force I feel as though my eyeballs are going to burst out of my sockets. He looks to the camera and winks while I’m choking. He begins to run his hands down the front of my dress, under my bra and squeezing my nipple so hard I feel it draw blood. I scream out in agony, making him let go and smash me across the face again which causes me to fall off my chair and splits my eye open even more. He looks at the camera with a smile.
“Sorry you had to witness all that boys,” he says then lights up a cigarette.
“She’s a feisty little one that one. Aidan, you still know how to pick them. I must say, Alaina’s tight little pussy is just as good, though.” He laughs while he blows out a cloud of smoke. “As the bitch said, two mill in cash in forty-eight hours. And Aidan…someone will meet you at the container port in Westbeach.”
He shuts off the camera and turns to me. Pulling me back up and dragging me out of the room. I look around as much as I can but don’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Am I still even in Westbeach? I don’t think so. We reach the door of the room where they’ve been keeping us, and he swings it open before pushing me in. The smell of death hits me and I instantly feel sick.
“Alaina?” I yell out in panic. Everything is dark again, back to not being able to see.
“Alaina, goddammit. Answer me, please?”
I hear a wheezy cough and run to where the sound came from. I kneel down and feel around to find her face. She’s lying flat on her back. I pick up her head and stroke off the hair that’s on her face, ignoring the wetness I feel under my hand.
I begin to cry. “Please stay with me Lain, please.”
I kiss her head and lay down with her just listening to her struggling breath. I begin to sing Metallica’s ‘Nothing Else Matters’ with tears streaming down my face, knowing this was her wedding song.
I wipe the tears from my face as I end the song and caress her cheek.
“Alaina?” I whisper.
“I’m here, Kal,” she croaks out quietly.
Thank fucking God.
“That was so beautiful, Kal. Thank you.”
“Shhh, don’t talk. Just stay with me, please. Hang in there.” As we both drift off to sleep.
Opening my eyes, I feel to where Alaina was lying and it’s now empty.
“Alaina?” I yell frantically.
With no answer back, panic begins to set in again. I bring my knees up to myself and hug into them, laying my head on my knees as I start to rock.
“Please, please Lord let her be okay. Please,” I pray, as tears begin to pour out of my eyes yet again.
I stay like this for who knows how long. Since I’ve been here, I have lost track of time. There’s no concept of time here, similar to hell I guess. The door swings open with another shadow standing in the doorway. I stand instantly.
“Where is Alaina?”
The voice laughs at me, tilting his head. “Nice to finally meet you, Kalie. Do you know who I am?” the voice asks softly.
“I have no idea who you are. Where is Alaina?” I attempt to ask again.
“I’m Kazimir Lyov, and I’m your father-in-law.”
“Fuck!” I scream out, throwing my bottle to the bar causing it to smash and all the alcohol to run out over the ground.
I look to Zane and he’s hyperventilating. If someone unleashed both Zane and I out in a war, we could take out an entire army. I drop to the floor and pull my hands to my face.
“They fucking touched her. They fucking touched her!” I roar.
“She was mine. Just mine. So pure and so innocent and they fucking touched her!” I rip my T-shirt off and cover my face with it trying to control my breathing and pull myself back under control. My chest heaves as the feeling of pure anger takes control of me. I’m lost in the darkness of complete and utter rage. “They fucking touched my girl,” I whisper in disbelief.
Zane begins walking out the door with no emotion evident on his face. “Everyone with a cut on, get the fuck in the van. Now,” he yells as he continues to storm out the door.
I sit there motionless. Blake pulls me up by my arms, swinging an arm around my waist as he throws my arm around his neck.
“Yo, Ollie, need some help here,” he says, trying to hold me up.
Ollie comes to the other side and throws my other arm over his shoulder while they walk me out to the van.
I need to kill something. Now.
When we hit Drago’s gravel road, I see all his lights out. As the van has almost pulled to a stop, I swing open my door and walk up to his door, kicking it down.
“Drago!” I yell out, looking into the rooms.
When I reach the kitchen, I see a note on the bench.
Please don’t kill me. We have a plan.
I scrunch up the piece of paper and throw it on the bench. Gripping onto the kitchen counter until my knuckles are white I yell, “Fuck!”
Zane walks in and picks up the paper. “Dumb motherfucker!”
Pushing off the bench I make my way into the computer room, kicking the door down and turning on all the computers, which are all locked. Of course, they are. I pick up one of the computers and throw it across the room.
“What the fuck is he thinking? He has Abby and Phoebe as well,” Blake yells from behind me. I storm back outside and sit down on the step. Shaking my head when I feel Zane’s presence behind me.
“He’s not going to let them go, Zane. I’ve never met the man before, but I have heard of him. A lot.”
Zane sits next to me. “We fly to Russia,” he states categorically as he hands me a bottle of whiskey.
I take a long pull. “We fly to Russia,” I reiterate.
The next morning the sun assaults my eyes. I look around slowly and notice I’d fallen asleep on the porch. Sitting forward I squeeze my eyes shut.
Zane walks out of the house, the front door slamming behind him. “Joseph is pulling a team together. We will take his jet, it’s already here.”
I nod and my phone starts ringing in my pocket. I fish it out and swipe it unlocked.
“What.”
“Ade. It’s Sandra. I heard about your girl. What can I do to help?”
Narrowing my eyes, I look to Zane and for the first time since my girl was taken, I smile.
“Thanks, Sandra. We have the jet. Could do with a couple of men and some extra weapons.”
“Done. Now I need something.”
I nod my head. “I thought you might.”
“I need Kazimir Lyov. Alive.”
“Why?”
“Don’t ask questions Aidan. Just do it.”
I shrug my shoulders and hang up my phone
“That was Sandra Fisick.”
I see Zane’s eyes light up. “Fucking perfect.”
Sandra Fisick is the Director of the CIA. There’s times when she might need me. But that’s not the only reason, she was close to my mom when they were younger, too. She watched me grow.
“
Ready?”
“Born ready.”
“I don’t have a father-in-law,” I say deadpan.
He laughs. “Well, I guess you don’t.”
“You’re Ade’s dad? I thought he was dead.”
“Mmm, well, there’s a lot you don’t know.”
“I don’t doubt that,” I say with a flat tone. “Where is Alaina?”
He walks in with two other men behind him. With a click of his fingers, both men come to either side of me, picking me up as they begin carrying me out.
“This isn’t necessary. I can walk, I don’t care anymore.” I slump my feet down to the floor. I’ve lost all will and hope to live, and at this point, I don’t care. I feel like who I am now, is not the same woman anymore. I feel dirty, violated, and corrupted, in the most disgusting way.
I hate Ade Nixon.
“Don’t be like that, sweet cunt.” The man runs his hands up my dress, slipping a finger inside me roughly. I look dead out in front of me, nothing showing in my eyes. My soul has been broken and my light has turned dark. This last week has not been like living in a nightmare because in this nightmare, you’re awake. There’s no waking up from this, there is no waking up from the feeling I feel inside me. This is my reality, not my bad dream. I’ve been living in a house secluded with pedophiles, rapists, and pig-headed men who think women are here for their pleasure only. When this is over, and if I come out of this alive, I know I’ll never be the same again. There will be no coming back from this. I’ve been poked, prodded, touched and manhandled in ways that a woman should ever have to feel. I’ve gone from being a virgin to dirt in record time and then losing any purity that I ever thought I had.
“Where’s Alaina?” I repeat in the same flat tone.
The man is still pumping his dirty, fat finger inside me.
Kazimir laughs from where he’s standing. “Don’t you worry your sweet self about little Alaina. She’s being well taken care of.”