Relentless Sinner

Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Jaxon

I lean against the concrete pillar, hiding in the shadows with my gun raised. My men are spread out, ready to back me up when I need it.

The factory is as quiet as a graveyard in the dead of night and the smell of oil and damp concrete clings to the air like fresh blood.

This is where those fuckers are hiding.

Intel tracked them here at the rubber factory near the Brooklyn Navy yard. Intel also unearthed more shit that required my urgent attention.

It’s a kill-or-be-killed situation and I have the element of surprise. They have no idea I am coming to hunt them down and put a stop to this mess once and for all.

I’m more enraged than ever because the night I planned to have with Gabriella was disrupted.

What are the chances of being interrupted the way we were? And just when I got her where I wanted.

I didn’t go as slowly as I planned to. Striking while she was wet and wanting me proved to be a better idea. So I seized the opportunity and claimed her.

I was inside her. I was actually inside her. Not being able to finish has left my fucking cock feeling like it’s going to explode.

The shit tonight is a repercussion from the thing I had to take care of last week.

My men found a bomb at one of our warehouses. They managed to diffuse it but didn’t know who set the bomb. I dealt with that part myself and found it was the motherfuckers from the Hernandez Cartel.

People like them are crafty. They don’t try to take you down by going in big. They do it in clever little ways that you never see coming. If you live to tell the tale then you get the chance to sniff them out like the dogs they are.

This is happening because my father severed a business deal with them. He found out they’d murdered a judge who’d sentenced one of their bosses to life in prison.

My father didn’t want the worry of the feds looking into their connections and discovering dealings with us. My father and I may not see eye to eye on a majority of things but I wholeheartedly agreed with his decision. Especially because it would have more than likely come back to bite me in the ass as the new Pakhan.

Because our decision cost the cartel millions they decided to teach us a lesson. Except things didn’t work out the way they planned. Hence the reason I’m here.

Last week I took down the gang leader and a bunch of his men. The man hiding in here is his brother. The guy who planted the bomb. I didn’t know about him last week. My men found out there’s another bomb planted somewhere. This one was set by Emilio to avenge his brother.

My father wants him and anyone linked to him eliminated.

On hearing footsteps I move through the shadows and signal for my men to follow.

The flicker of a cigarette pierces the darkness, then I see him.

Emilio Gomez steps out from an archway and stands by a half-broken window, smoking like he doesn’t have a care in the world. That will be the last cigarette he ever enjoys.

With his back turned to me he’s oblivious to the danger he’s in.

I crook my finger, signaling to Andrieu and Vladmir to follow me before I move forward swiftly.

Before Emilio can take his next puff I’ve snuck up on him with my gun pointed right at his back.

He whirls around looking like a frightened wild animal and I hit him in the face with the barrel of my gun.

His cigarette falls from his lips and he staggers backward into the cracked wall. I paste on a smile as he scrambles for his gun.

“Motherfucker,” I growl, cocking the hammer on my gun. “Don’t even think about it.”

I move closer to him and press my gun against his throat. He’s lucky I’ve given him the chance to live this long. He’s only alive still because I need to question him. My men flank me on either side and Emilio looks from them to me.

“Bratva scum,” he hisses, baring his teeth.

“Really?” I shoot off his kneecaps, showing him who the fuck’s in charge.

He howls in pain, dropping to the ground and grabbing his knees.

“You asshole.”

“Shut the fuck up.” I get up in his face and grab him by his neck. “There’s only one thing I want to know from you.”

His wide eyes meet mine. Inside them I see fear but also defiance. “You killed my brother.”

“Because he tried to kill me first.” The bomb was meant for me and my father.

It was set to go off when we were supposed to check in at the warehouse. We never went in because my men found the bomb hours before we were scheduled to be there. My father wouldn’t have been there anyway because he was too sick. But I would have been.

“You’re gonna tell me where that bomb is.”

“Fuck you,” he spits, snarling at me. “You deserve to be blown the fuck up for what you did to my brother. You think you're untouchable? You’ve got no idea what’s coming. You can’t dodge me and mine forever."

I tighten my hand around his throat and stare at him for a long moment, watching his smug expression become braver. "If you value your life, you’ll tell me where the bomb is.”

“Fuck. You!” His face contorts with arrogance and the assurance of a man who thinks he has power over me. “I wish I could see your face when you lose everything. I wonder which death will cut you most. Your father’s? Or…heard you’re getting married. I’m sure your wife’s head would make a great trophy.”

That fucking does it. It’s time for torture. He can threaten me all he wants but he’s not going to threaten Gabriella. I glance at Andrieu. “Pass me the knife and the clamp.”

When Andrieu hands them to me the smugness disappears from Emilio’s face.

“What are you going to do to me?” he shouts.

I ram the knife right into his stomach and when he cries out, I use the clamp and press it down on his lip.

He screams, and all trace of that badass attitude fades. Good. Now we’re getting somewhere.

My hand twitches but I don’t give in to the urge to end him right here.

"Tell me what I want to know or you’re dead. I will rip you up piece by piece and keep you alive long enough to feel every ounce of excruciating pain."

I squeeze the clamp and push the knife deeper into his stomach. Reality seems like it’s sinking into his stupid brain.

“Ready to talk?” I check.

He nods vigorously.

“Where’s the bomb?” I remove the clamp from his mouth so he can speak.

“There are two.”

Motherfucker . “Where are they?”

“One’s at Bortsov Tech in the storage room of the coffeehouse. The other is under your father’s senior guard’s car.”

I glance over my shoulder at Andrieu. “Deal with them both.”

Andrieu rushes off before I can finish giving the order. I look back at Emilio. I have one last question for him. There’s only one way he and his people could have gotten so close to us to plant those bombs.

“Who are you working with?” There’s a fox in our henhouse. A rat who obviously doesn’t care for his life.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Who the fuck are you working with?” I ram the knife deeper into his gut. My hands are covered with blood. Emilio splutters blood and spits. “I can make this so much more painful for you.”

“Your uncle. Damian.”

My heart stutters and every thought in my mind slows as those words sink in.

Damian?

Sure, I get why he’d try to kill me. But my father, too? His own brother.

The moment I think about it the answer to why comes to me instantly.

Of course. It’s so foolish of me to even wonder. Damian wants my father dead because the current Pakhan gets to pick the next one. And my father picked me.

If he kills us both he can put Levka in charge. A knot tightens in my stomach and icy dread creeps up my spine. I thought I had problems before but this is more shit to add to the list.

And I think I can now make an educated guess on who ordered Gabriella’s kidnapping.

I’m done here. And so is Emilio. In one deft move I pull the knife from his gut and slash his throat, finishing him.

Blood splatters on me but that’s the least of my worries.

I push to my feet and look around at my men. My men who heard that my uncle has it in for me. They all stare back at me with worried expressions etched into their faces.

These guys here—the five of them and Andrieu—have always been loyal to me. Some have been my guards since I was a boy.

I’ll need them now more than ever because everyone seems to have their own agenda.

“Say nothing about this,” I say, pushing my shoulders back. “Say nothing to anyone. If you’re questioned by my uncle, tell him you saw nothing and that I dealt with the situation myself.”

They all nod, and we leave.

I step into the dimly-lit library. My father sits slumped in his wheelchair, gazing at the full moon through the oval window.

In just the few days since I’ve seen him he looks worse again, a shadow of the man he used to be.

His skin is almost translucent and ghostly pale, as if all the life has drained out of him and there’s only a trace of the man I know left. The man who once commanded the empire and ruled our world with an iron fist.

I hate the way my chest tightens at seeing him like this. I hate him, too, but watching him wither away doesn’t sit right. A part of me wants to reach out like the concerned son I should be, but I hold back. We’re not those people. We never were.

He’s not going to like the news I have to share.

"You came," he says, speaking out to the air.

"I needed to," I reply. “We have to talk. The situation has escalated.”

“Must be real bad for you to come by at this hour.” Slowly he turns his head and looks at me, reminding me of a fragile newborn animal who can barely hold its head up.

“It is.”

I walk over to him, pull up a chair and sit, regarding him with a serious expression.

His hand trembles as it rests on the arm of his chair, and he slumps against the back.

“It’s Damian. He’s working with the cartel. He set the bombs up.”

I proceed to tell him all that I found out and my concerns going forward. I fully expect him to be angry with me or some shit like that, but he listens silently, hanging on to every word I speak.

Once I’m done I stare back at him expectantly, waiting for his response.

He looks away from me and stares out the window again as if I never said anything. I don’t know if he’s in shock to hear that his brother is plotting against him or if he’s dismissing me like he’s done in the past.

“Father.”

“I am not surprised.” His voice is low, raspy, and filled with regret.

I gaze at him, my intensity unwavering, and I’m not sure what I should say. “You’re seriously not surprised?”

“This is a battle for the empire. You fight for what you want by eliminating the weak and taking down your opponents. That’s what Damian is trying to do.” Father drags in a deep breath. The air in his lungs sounds rusty. “With you and me gone, it means they would get power. Levka will be Pakhan, Yuri his second-in-command and I suppose Magnus will continue to be the Obshak. Damian would more than likely replace Eric because they won’t want him to have any part in the elite. Even in an advisory capacity.”

“What are your thoughts?” I have to ask because he sounds too calm for my liking. Like a psycho before they snap or a person in a catatonic state.

“They’re not going to overthrow me. None of them.” He gives me a hard stare. “Nor are they going to kill me. Or you. I have chosen you and no one is going to overrule my decision by plotting my death.”

His determination about me is surprising. I would have thought he wouldn’t care but, knowing him, he does because of the insolence of Damian’s challenge.

“What should we do?”

“What we’re already doing. Following your lead.”

I give him a narrowed stare and wonder if this new shift in his view of me is because of the talk Eric had with him. Is this where I meet him halfway?

“That’s it? You’re not going to make your own demands?”

He leans forward and hardens his gaze. “ You are in charge now. I’m only coasting along for the rest of the journey. You tell me what you think we should do, Pakhan.”

Regardless of whatever Eric said to him, I’m glad for this new stroke of change in him because I don’t want my uncles and cousins to overpower me and put Gabriella’s life in danger. I’m not going to allow them to take her or kill her.

Neither is an option.

“We need to work in secret to protect ourselves and investigate them to figure out what else they may be planning, then eliminate the guilty to make an example to those who oppose us.”

Father gives me a tight-lipped smile. It’s not the kind you’d get when a person is sarcastic. It’s the other kind. The one you get from a person who’s been unhinged all their lives and is finally satisfied with your ideas. “Then that is what you will do.”

“Consider it done.” I nod and look out at the darkness through the window.” You should get some sleep, Father. It’s nearly sunrise.”

“No. I don’t want to sleep.” He follows my gaze. “This is where I feel closest to her. Now more than ever. I met her at sunrise.”

Her— my mother .

I would be more respectful of the sentiment but we’ve never done this before—talk about my mother, in any way.

“Sunrise?” I glance back at him.

“It was snowing and I’d just escaped from a blood battle. I was shot and wounded, lying on the ground. She found me and saved me.”

I’ve never heard that story before. I don’t know what the fuck Eric must have said to reach the human part of this monster, but I’m listening.

“What happened after?”

“Everything.”

Together we gaze out the window in silence and watch the rising sun peek its rays through the sky. And I wonder what life could have been like if my father and I were never enemies.

Maybe it could have been like this.