Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(108)

The urge to drink was always at the back of her mind because it would be so easy just to let it take the pain away…but instead, she fell into something more productive, something that she could be proud of rather than feel guilty about.

“Who was he?”

Glancing over her shoulder at Amerie, there was no point in her trying to act like nothing was wrong. “His name was Luka.”

Resting her glass on the counter beside her, she regarded Alex quizzically. “Did the two of you break up…or was it because of your family?”

“You know about my family?”

“I don’t think there’s anybody who doesn’t know about your family.”

Laughing, Alex shook her head. “It was a little bit of everything, to be honest.”

“I’m sure you can’t really tell me anything, but here’s my advice. If it was meant to be, it can still happen…no matter the odds.”

She knew her friend meant well, but no matter how desperately she wanted to believe those words, she wouldn’t give herself false hope.

“Thanks.”

“Well, it’s getting late. I should probably get going. All of us really.”

When they returned to the living room, though, Robbie was already passed out on the floor. When he had gotten down there, Alex didn’t know.

Raj offered to grab him, but Alex waved her hand. “Let him sleep it off here.”

“You sure?” Amerie asked.

“Yeah, no worries. My guard dog will protect me if anything happens.”

They might have laughed at that remark because Loki was mostly docile, but they didn’t know what Loki was capable of.

Seeing them out, Alex straightened up, pouring out the remaining wine in the bottle before tossing it. Grabbing a spare blanket from the closet, she covered up Robbie, and then let Loki out of the bedroom.

The moment he spotted Robbie on the couch, his ears perked up, his lips pulling back from his teeth.

“Easy there, killer. We need him for the show tomorrow night. You can’t make him into your chew toy.”

She stepped out on the balcony, her glass in hand, taking a seat in one of the wrought-iron chairs, curling her legs up beneath her. It was a particularly starry night out, no clouds obscuring the sky. Loki had padded out after her, resting at her feet, but he perked up suddenly, his head canting to the side, pained whines making her frown down at him.

“What’s wrong?”

Alex reached to pet him, wanting to soothe whatever bothered him, but his attention focused solely on the street below. She tried to peer down and see what was upsetting him, but the street was mostly deserted besides the occasional person walking by.

She had almost dismissed it, thinking it might have just been a bird he saw. Then, just out of sight, she saw someone standing below, smoke wafting out into the air around him.

Alex stood, walking over to the edge, trying to get a closer look, but in those few seconds, the person had gone.

…only the dwindling smoke an indication that someone had been standing there at all.





45

____





Slave





Seven months ago…

Handcuffed to the wall of the van, and his legs restrained with cuffs bolted into the floor, Luka leaned his head back against the thin metal paneling, keeping perfectly still despite the jostling on the uneven road. Two men sat on either side of him, guns in hands and fingers just against the triggers.

Sitting alone across from them was Fatos, who whistled a haunting melody beneath his breath, but he too had his gun in his lap.

He might have been unable to move, and they quite clearly outnumbered and outgunned him, but they were still afraid of what he was capable of doing.

Maybe not Fatos, though.

Despite everything, he knew that because Alex was still in harm’s way unless he conceded to what Fatos wanted, Luka wasn’t going anywhere.

Unlike the van they had used to grab Klaus off the street, this one had windows, a luxury for which Luka was actually happy. He didn’t know if there would be a time when he saw the sky again, so he wanted to enjoy it for as long as possible.

Gazing out, he noticed that despite the years, so much had changed since the last time he was in Berat, even more than he had expected. The home he had once shared with his mother, that old crumbling apartment building, was no more. Burned from the inside out, just a hulking mess of soldered brick and mortar.

It was strange…He had seen things burned before—sometimes up close and personal—but they had never filled him with such peace before. It might have once held special memories, but it also reminded him of a time that he would much rather forget. A time when his life had changed in ways that had shaped the very path he was on.

Now, at least, there was one less thing to haunt him.

They rode on further, children skirting out of the way as the van sped past, looking after them for several seconds before losing interest.

Soon, they were passing Bastian’s house of horrors, and unlike his apartment, the house was still standing, and just behind it, the barn stood tall. But this place that he often looked back on with such disdain…it was not nearly as foreboding as he remembered.

God, he could still remember the day when he’d first arrive, how haunting the place had seemed from a distance…even if it had looked normal by anyone else’s standards. But maybe even in his youth, he knew the horrors that awaited him.