The Mafia and His Obsession Part 2 (Tainted Hearts 5)

“Did I?” I questioned, with fake innocence.

Satisfaction coursed through my body when I saw the confusion in his eyes. “You shot him.”

“I did.”

“I saw him bleed.”

I cocked my head to the side and placed a single cigarette between my lips before I lit the end with my lighter. I inhaled and then exhaled a puff of smoke. “Oh yes, he was bleeding. I shot him in his heart. I remember clearly. And I never miss.”

“What games are you playing, Konstantin?” he hissed under his breath.

Standing up, I pushed away from my chair and then walked over to where he was currently dangling off the ceiling. “Take a wild guess,” I muttered in a low, hard voice.

Valentin stared at me, his dark eyes glaring with utter distaste. “You can’t kill both Alessio and me. The Families will never accept you as the Pakhan.”

Solemnly, I nodded. “You are right.”

I took out my dagger, the sharp blade glistening under the chandelier light. “Then I just have to make both your deaths appear as an accident.”

When I brought the blade closer to his cheek, he flinched. I could almost smell the scent of fear coming from him. I leaned in close to his sniveling face, watching him tremble. The dagger nicked his skin, the tip of it piercing his flesh slightly. It was barely a wound, but a trickle of blood seeped from the tiny hole I made.

“I know your secrets,” I murmured as my blade sliced down his left cheek. “I wonder…what would the Agron and Gavrikov families think of you when they find out?”

“Secrets…?” he coughed.

I smiled. “More than twenty years ago, you did something very, very bad, Valentin Solonik.”

His eyes widened, and if possible, his face became paler. “You outrun fate for two decades. But it’s catching up to you now.”

He shook his head, shock making his face appear comical. “No…”

“Checkmate.”

Chapter 27

Viktor

“What…what do you mean?” Valentin gurgled, his voice laced with pain.

I liked that. How weak he looked and sounded, it sung to the deepest part of me, a balm to my soul.

I tsked darkly as I walked around his limp, hanging body. Valentin turned his head, watching me circling him. He kept his wide eyes on me. I could see the fear in his gaze, no matter how fucking hard he tried to hide it.

“You were behind it, weren’t you? The attack on the Ivanshov, the same one that killed Maria all these years ago.”

Valentin swallowed nervously, betraying the truth he wanted to keep hidden.

Secrets couldn’t be secrets if more than one person knew them, right?

Solonik fucked up.

I stopped in front of him again. Bringing the knife to his left cheek, I pressed the cool blade into his clammy skin. “It was your master plan all along. Alfredo Abandonato was only your little puppet. You used him to achieve what you wanted,” I deadpanned.

His body trembled and he let out a pained hiss when I dug the knife into his flesh. Blood oozed from the cut as I dragged the blade downward, making a similar cut to match the one on his opposite cheek.

The cuts weren’t too deep. They were just enough to leave a stinging burn behind. But the sharp blade was effective for the long run. It wouldn’t hurt at first, but the after effect was much, much worst.

I stepped back from Valentin and grabbed the bottle of whiskey beside me. Slowly, with leisured movement, I uncapped the bottle and took a large gulp straight from it.

Valentin watched me suspiciously. “What…do you… want from me?”

My calmness was making him edgy, and he must be feeling out of control.

Maybe he could sense it…the calm before the storm. I was the eye of the tornado. Calm and steady, taunting my victim with a fake sense of mercy. Except I always left chaos in my wake.

With the whiskey bottle still in my hand, I walked closer to where Valentin was. His jaw clenched and his body tightened, as if to prepare himself for whatever pain was coming.

My lips twitched and a cold grin spread across my face. This bastard didn’t even know what was coming for him.

I raised my arm high and tilted the bottle above his head, watching as the remaining whiskey poured over him. Valentin’s body stilled before he let out a howl as liquid drizzled down his face and into twin cuts I made on his cheeks.

Yeah, that must have hurt like a motherfucker.

Alcohol and open wounds? Those two didn’t go well together. Literally and figuratively.

His body twitched with aftershocks, and his lips trembled as he choked out his mean words. “You…fucking…little shit…”

Yeah, I had to give it to him, he had strong willpower. Too bad for Solonik, I enjoyed breaking men like him.

I moved closer until my lips were next to his ear. “Why did you do it?”