Cruel Paradise - A Mafia Romance Chapter 176

My eyes snap to Ben’s. “First, Remmy, and now, Adrik? What is wrong with you? What happened to you, Ben. Were you always a worthless bastard or did that happen after Sienna died?”

I’m so angry that I’m not minding my words. They fly out of my mouth, oblivious to the three children who are watching and listening to everything.

Adrik scoffs. “Judging from the last five minutes alone, the first one is probably the most accurate.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Yeah, well, it takes one to know one.”

He tries to hide his scowl behind a smile. “You’re tired. Let’s get you all inside, shall we?”

“Inside” turns out to be an old house that’s clearly been left to its own devices for too long. There are rotting boards nailed over the windows and a layer of dust that clings to its façade like a second skin. Vines and ivy are reaching their fingers into the house through every nook and hole and cranny.

Adrik gestures with the gun. “Off we go. Hurry up. You first.”

“Stop pointing the gun at my kid!” I yell when the pistol lingers carelessly on Josh. “If you hurt a single hair on any of their heads—”

“Our dad will get you!” Reagan practically yells.

“Yeah,” Caroline adds with her teeth bared. “He’ll kill you.”

Ben looks extremely confused. Josh seems to notice the same thing because he scowls in Ben’s direction. “They’re not talking about you. They’re talking about Ruslan.”

Ben’s eyes go wide with disbelief. Then his mouth turns down in anger. “Ruslan is not your fucking father.”

“He’s ten times the man you are,” I spit. “Why wouldn’t he be ten times the father?”

Ben shoves himself to his feet and Josh quickly follows, taking up a defensive position, ready to throw himself between me and Ben if he needs to. It’s all freaking wrong. I should be the one protecting him. Not the other way around.

“Listen, you bitch—”

“That’s enough!” Adrik’s voice cuts through Ben’s anger. “Get them inside and shut the fuck up, Ben.”

Ben flinches and throws Adrik a surreptitious glare. I’m getting the feeling that Ben might just be scared of the man he’s chosen to ally with. Maybe a part of him is already regretting the decision.

I hope so, at least.

“Do I have to repeat myself?” Adrik demands, waving his gun in the air.

Ben stumbles forward and gestures for us to follow him into the house. He doesn’t make another attempt to talk to me or the kids. It would be the perfect opportunity to run. The two of them wouldn’t be able to catch all four of us, right?

But the problem is that Adrik is armed.

And he looks just desperate enough to shoot.

The man is a mess, inside and out. His hair is dirty and disheveled. His clothes are ragged and bloodstained and a pungent smell clings to his skin like a disease. Worst of all, though, is the manic gleam in his eyes. That icy control he once had is gone. I suspect Ruslan has something to do with its disappearance.

Adrik makes eye contact with me. He pulls back his lips to reveal his teeth—or what remains of them after whatever the hell Ruslan did to him. There are bloody stumps of gum where his canines used to be. “Don’t you go getting any ideas. I will raise my gun—and it won’t be at you.” His gaze veers to the girls at my back.

“You are fucking scum!” I raise my arm and Josh inches towards me. “It’s just a matter of time before Ruslan comes for us, and then everything he did to you already will feel like a nice massage compared to what he’ll do next.”

“Yeah?” he glowers at me. “He can certainly try. Now, get the fuck inside.”

And because he’s got the gun and I’ve got three children, I do the only thing I can do.

Listen.

55

RUSLAN

We’re down only one man and yet it already feels like a much smaller group. Mikael, Arkady, and Nikolai don’t address our missing vor, which is how I know that Fyodor has already informed them of the betrayal.

“I opted for mercy,” I start without giving them any context. “I opted for leniency. And he decided to spit in my face.”

Fyodor’s eyes go wide. “Who are you—?”

“I released Adrik a week ago. He repaid me by hunting down my family and taking them. Now, it’s time to end this.”

Nikolai clicks his tongue, a surefire sign that he approves. “This dance with Adrik has gone on long enough. It’s about time.”

“I agree,” Mikael says with a curt nod.

Arkady inclines his head towards me. “As do I. We are with you.”

Fyodor clears his throat. “Then you should know all the facts. I told you about my brother’s betrayal and I told you he was working with Adrik this whole time. What I didn’t tell you is why they decided to ally with one another.”

Kirill takes his seat heavily. “Does it matter, Fyodor?”

“It does to me.” His voice is raspy, his eyes cold. He doesn’t look at me when he drops the bomb. “Adrik is Vadim’s son.”

Nikolai is in denial. Arkady is in shock. Mikael is the only one who nods. “I fucking knew it.”

“How?” Kirill asks with one raised eyebrow.

He shrugs. “I used to watch them together at parties and clubs. They seemed to get along really well, until someone showed up. It always felt like their friction was a setup for the benefit of others.”

“Glad you waited ‘til now to mention it,” Kirill snaps.

Mikael simply leans back in his seat. “I had no proof. And I wasn’t about to accuse a senior vor of keeping a secret like that.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Fyodor growls. “The past is immaterial. What matters is the decision we have to make now.”

I turn to my father squarely and look him in the eye. “There is no decision that we have to make. It’s my decision, Otets, and I’ve decided that enough is enough.”

“Ruslan, think about this. He is your cousin.”

“And he’s known that a lot longer than I have. He still abducted my family—my woman, my kids. That will not go unanswered.”

“Then lock him up. Keep him confined to a cell for as long as you want. But killing him—” He stops mid-sentence and glances around the room. It’s as though he’s just realized that he’s not the boss anymore.

“Give us the room,” I order.

My vors exchange pointed glances as they follow Kirill out of my office. I walk around the table and sit down beside my father. His eyes look hollow, a man so wracked with grief that he can’t even bring himself to sit up straight.

“This is not about Adrik at all, is it?” I rumble.

Fyodor gazes out the windows. “Killing Vadim’s only son… Ruslan, there will be no coming back from that.”

“Tell me honestly, Otets: do you see Vadim coming back from any of this?”

Fyodor flinches and closes his eyes. “He is the reason the Oryolov Bratva survived in the first place.”

“It was his duty to make sure it would,” I say. “I’m not trying to belittle what he did and I’m not trying to play down his sacrifices. He took care of you, of us, after the accident. He saved the Bratva. But that doesn’t give him the right to burn it down as and when he pleases.”

Fyodor sighs mournfully. His breath sounds raggedy in his thin old man’s chest.

I put my hand on his shoulder. “I know you still care for him. And I know you feel the need to save him—”

“He is my family.”

“No,” I say, leaning in closer, “I am your family. Emma, Josh, Reagan, Caroline—they are your family. You may not be a husband or a brother anymore but you are still a father. Leonid’s death didn’t change that. And you are a grandfather now, too.”

His eyes brighten infinitesimally but the light goes out almost instantly. “He wasn’t just my brother, Ruslan,” he says softly. “He was also my only friend.”

“I gave him a chance, Otets. These events have proved that Adrik is not capable of allowing us to live in peace. He wants revenge and he won’t stop until he gets it. Which means—”

“I know.” He turns his sad eyes on me. “I know.”