“What the fuck?” was Nikolai’s greeting when his eyes opened and then slammed closed as Yuri flipped a switch and turned on the large fluorescent light hanging above the table.
Still we remained silent, waiting patiently while he awakened further, finally rubbing a hand across his face and then slowly turning his head and lifting it, his expression of confusion only deepening as the hand he braced at his side to aid him in pushing up encountered cold, hard steel and not the plush bedding he’d last laid upon. I shuddered at the memory of a flash of clarity I’d seen appear in his eyes right before they rolled back in his head and his body went limp. I’d given a cry as he dropped on top of me, his weight crushing my chest, driving the air from my lungs. If the others had arrived much later, I wasn’t sure I’d still be alive. Another grunt snapped my attention back to the present, and I watched as Nikolai’s torso lifted and twisted, his legs swinging over the side of the table but when he began to push off, Grigori finally spoke.
“Sit the fuck down.”
Whether it was the novelty of hearing a command rather than barking one himself, or the last vestiges of the knock-out drug dissipating in his bloodstream, or perhaps the fact he recognized the voice, Nikolai’s head finally turned to where Grigori stood.
“Uncle Grigori?”
“Nikolai,” Grigori responded with a sight inclination of his head as if they were meeting again at some twisted family reunion.
“What… what are you doing here?”
“I’d think that was rather obvious, Nikki,” Grigori said, nodding toward where I stood beside Alek.
Nikolai’s eyes widened at seeing me, but he quickly adjusted his expression and gave Alek a glance then turned to include Yuri before he shook his head and returned his attention back to his uncle. “What? You’re here because of her? You can’t believe a fucking word out of her mouth. She’s nothing but a lying whore. She’s not that good a lay, but please, feel free to fuck her if you—”
He didn’t complete his offer as Alek dropped my hand, took the single step forward, and backhanded him, almost knocking the bastard off the table. Nikolai ran his hand gingerly over the cut at the corner of his mouth, staring at the red covering his fingertips. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was thinking of red paint.
“Welcome to your trial,” Alek said.
“This isn’t a fucking courtroom, and you’re not a fucking—”
Alek slapped him again. “Watch your mouth. You’re in the presence of a lady.”
Nikolai’s mouth opened, but then he must have thought better of speaking as he closed it again.
“You’re right in that you have been spared the humiliation of taking the walk of shame in handcuffs while paparazzi snap photo after photo of your sorry ass. You won’t have to decide which of the hundreds of lawyers you’ll use your one free phone call to drag out of their comfortable beds to come rescue you. You won’t have to worry about posting bail or whether or not to accept any plea deal.”
Alek paused and I wondered if, like me, he was enjoying this far more than we knew we should. But even if I were the only one whose soul was already destined to spend eternity in hell for my sins, at this moment, I seriously didn’t give a damn.
“Hell, Nikolai, as you just said, you won’t even need to make a single court appearance. You’ve been tried, and a jury of your peers convicted you in absentia.” Alek paused again and turned to Grigori. “All that is left is to learn of your sentence from the judge.” With that, he stepped back, yielding the floor to the man who deserved that right.
“I don’t understand,” Nikolai said, his attitude evidently adjusted from the slaps Alek had administered.
“What’s not to understand? You murdered these men’s father, you attempted to murder this woman’s friend and repeatedly raped her body and terrified her by threatening the life of her babushka,” Grigori began and then added crimes I wasn’t even aware of Nikolai committing. “You have stolen millions of dollars from men who trusted you to run a branch of our business in the States. You’ve involved people in family business who you know aren’t acting in our best interests. You’re the worst of the worst, planting lies and starting rumors.” Grigori’s tone deepened and his words slowed as a chill that had nothing to do with this sterile room descended over me.
“Let me expl—”
“You broke the heart of the most wonderful woman I knew, the woman who gave me the son you murdered in cold blood simply because your feelings were hurt. And for that, Nikolai Kosloff, you’ve been sentenced to death.”
The word had been spoken softly and yet hung heavy in the air. I’d known this was coming but hearing it spoken, watching its meaning sinking into the mind of the man who had been sentenced was nothing I’d prepared for.