Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
What was about to transpire required my focus and, of course, my enjoyment.
I can free both of us after this.
CHAPTER 39
Aleksandr
I’m in the bathroom washing my hands since a little blood got inside my gloves. I look up in the mirror and notice some has also splattered across my face. I begin to wipe that away as well.
When I walk out, one of the hanging lights is still swinging. River and Will have a buzz about them as they casually sit on the bar chairs. The bartender—the only person we left alive—is shakily pouring them each a whisky.
Eleven men in total were here tonight. The guy chasing Cinita might’ve thought of himself as more important than what he was, and he apparently had no regard for his drug dealings on our turf.
Either we would’ve dealt with him or Crue Monti, who runs the Italian Mafia here in New York, would have. I’d be sure to let him know he’s lacking in his vigilante duties to have let this slip under the radar. But part of me is certain they weren’t conducting business here until Cinita fled back to New York.
“Would you like a celebratory drink?” River asks. “Also, cleanup should be here in a few minutes.”
“I thought you’d be more the drinking-the-blood-of-your enemies type of guy,” Will says. “But I guess they say don’t meet your heroes.”
River sighs. “You really want to get shot in the other shoulder?”
“You’ll be paying for it if I fucking do,” Will retorts.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out. Anya.
I answer and am startled by the loud music that floods into my ear.
“Anya.”
River’s eyebrows perk up, and he almost looks like some kind of lost puppy because she called me instead of him.
“Umm, Lena’s really drunk. And dancing on a table,” she says. “Clay tried to get her down, but she threw her drink in his face.”
“It’s three a.m. Anya, speak fucking English.”
Even though I hardly ever fucking sleep, I’m dead tired as I begin to come down from my adrenaline high.
Through the bar’s filthy front window, I see a van pull up, and I know it’s the cleanup crew, here to get rid of the bodies.
“Lena is dancing on a table. I think she’ll regret it in the morning, but she won’t listen to me.”
The thought of that woman swaying her hips in front of anyone has my teeth grinding.
“Where are you?” I ask. She rattles off the address, and I hang up.
“Sounds like trouble,” River says.
“My little bird has decided to dance in front of others,” I grit.
Will laughs. “Oh yeah, I see it now. The blood-hungry monster. I doubt your singer has any idea what she’s even signed up for.”
River gives him a pointed look. “Coming from the man who’s never had a relationship.”
Will shrugs and downs the rest of his drink. “Not all of us get married and become pussy whipped.”
The moment the cleaners step into the bar, I’m heading toward the door, the other two following me. It feels weird to have people around me, especially while killing. I usually do it on my own. I prefer it that way.
But considering River will most likely want to pick up Anya, I can’t tell him not to join. And Will? Well, it’s not appropriate to put a bullet in his brain since he led me here. But if he keeps chatting, I might think better of it.
“River, mate, you have blood on your shirt. I told you to wear black tonight,” Will scolds.
River peers down at it, unfazed. “No one is going to notice in a dark club.”
I unlock the car, and before Will’s properly closed the back door, I hit the gas. He curses when he hits his elbow on the door, and I feel a slight sense of satisfaction.
When we arrive at what Anya described as a bar but looks more like a fucking club to me, my temple pulses. I was in a reasonably good mood.
When I arrive at the door, the bouncer lets us straight through. I find Lena leaning over to take a drink from a guy as she gives him her sweetest smile.
Fuck, that smile makes my cock hard. And it’s about to get the other guy’s teeth broken.
I pull the guy’s shoulder back and, before he’s aware of what’s coming, hit him. He’s knocked down to the floor.
Anya whistles from behind Lena but says nothing. She’s dead sober, and Lena is as messy as a beautiful fucking dream. She’s staring at me, her mouth open in shock.
“Alek! He was just giving me a drink!”
“I did warn her,” Anya says, and I have the sense that she didn’t intervene because she saw me walking through the crowd.
People stand around us, stunned by what just happened, and the bouncer comes to remove the guy because none of them would be daring enough to touch me.