Valentin became cocky. That was his first mistake. He underestimated everyone else around him—second mistake. He trusted the wrong people—third mistake. He tried to divide a family, my family—that was a fatal mistake. A final blow to his own fucked-up games.
Oh, how the tables had turned. Tsk tsk.
“Welcome back.” My cold voice was low. It rung with the penalty of his death, and when our eyes met, he could see the truth in mine. His impending demise. No one was coming to save him. Not now. Not today.
Game. Fucking. Over.
He tried to speak through the cloth in his mouth, his dark eyes flaring with anger…and fear.
Fear was crippling, and fear could force you to make mistakes.
His mouth opened, but no sound came out. I could see the questions in his gaze. Fine, I’d let him speak. We had some unfinished business anyway.
I nodded at Yegor, who was standing silently by my side. He walked over to where Valentin was dangling from the ceiling and removed the cloth from his mouth.
The moment he was free to speak, Valentin let out a string of curses. “You fucking bastard…”
“You have bigger balls than I expected,” I drawled.
“What do you want, Konstantin? Tell me. Power? Money? My position? You want to be Boss? What. Do. You. Want?” He was wheezing now, each word a struggle to speak.
The poison running through his veins was fucking deadly. A very small dose would have taken six hours to destroy him. I might have tripled the dose…multiple times.
Solonik had only sixty minutes before all his organs would start to collapse. It was lethal. The venomous liquid inside his body would destroy his liver first. Then his kidneys. His lungs. His intestines. The fragile organ would start to melt, breaking into tiny fissures. Valentin would remain conscious but in excruciating pain, until he’d slip into a coma and expire—or he might experience a cardiac arrest and bam.
That was…if I gave the poison a chance to finish him.
No, this job—I wanted to do it myself. With my own bare fucking hands.
I let out a harsh laugh. “I don’t want anything you can give me, Valentin. I can take what I want.”
I lounged back in my chair, giving him a blank stare as I watched his feet dangle off the ground. His arms were out-stretched above his head where I had his wrists tied to the rope hanging from the ceiling.
“I want a lot of things, Valentin…”
“Valerie,” he hissed. “She is what you want?”
Her name sounded dirty coming from his lips, and I fucking hated it. I firmly decided…the first organ I was ripping out of his body was his tongue.
“I don’t want her.” I shook my head, calmly.
His brows came together in frustration, and a single tear of sweat slid down his pasty-looking face. The poison was causing his body to overheat, I could tell. His respiration was now a struggle and his pristine white shirt was soaked with sweat.
“I don’t want her. I need her,” I clarified. “And I already took her. So she isn’t something you can give me, and she sure as hell won’t save your life. You have nothing to give me that I want.”
He was powerless. So goddamn weak.
Valentin struggled against his bounds, the grimace on his old face making me chuckle. A dark laugh escaped me, and then I couldn’t stop laughing.
“My men…they would come…”
This was the part I enjoyed the most. When my victims start thinking they had a chance or someone was coming to save them. I took great enjoyment in slashing apart their little fantasy. It almost felt like a drug to me, the high of holding someone’s life in your bare hands and watching them beg for mercy.
Like drugs…like sex…killing could be so fucking addictive. Once you tasted the power it gave you, there was no escaping its trap. It’s a unique type of adrenaline that one could become obsessed with. A high you want to chase as you watch a river of red soaking and staining the ground under your feet.
I took out the tiny packet of cigarettes from my pocket. Valentin’s gaze went to the lighter in my hand.
“Your men are too busy saving their own lives.” That much was true. I had to plan carefully. This was Valentin’s base, his domain. Everyone here were his men…his land…his rules.
There was no way I could end his life and escape unscathed. But I liked playing tricky games.
I clicked open my lighter and watched the tiny dancing flame. “Tell me something. What can you bargain for your life? You’ve cared for me so well, like a father would treat a son. Maybe we can make a deal.”
Valentin let out a shaky breath. “Why are you doing this?”
I tsked darkly. “I thought you were smarter than that.”
“Have you been on their side all along…” He paused, his eyes widening as he finally started to grasp reality. “No…you killed him. You killed Alessio. You fucking killed him…then why are you doing this to me?” Valentin bellowed.