Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(31)

It only took a split second to finally set him off, and if asked, he wouldn’t have been able to say what it was that had been the trigger, but once it happened, he didn’t force it back down, he happily and willingly embraced it.

Catching Klaus’ fist, Luka twisted, shoving him back. At this point, this was no longer a fair fight. This was about survival. If there was going to be someone who made it out of this alive, then Luka was determined to be that person, even if Klaus had to die.

By the end of it, however, they were both bloody, but alive.





And since then, things had been strained—as they probably always would be—but at least they were cordial.

Klaus was leaning against the side of Luka’s truck, wearing his usual attire of all black, the hood of his leather jacket up, partially obscuring his face, but there was no mistaking who he was. Luka knew he could recognize him anywhere.

“Something I can do for you?” Luka asked when he was only a few feet away.

When they weren’t around the others, Luka didn’t go out of his way to be friendly with Klaus. While he did actually like the mercenary, it was hard to know which side of Klaus one would get on any given day. He liked to tread carefully, just in case Klaus finally did decide to snap and kill him.

“Calling in that favor.”

Luka frowned.

Months ago, when Klaus had reappeared in the city, bringing back memories better left buried, they had inevitably crossed paths. In exchange for him keeping Luka’s secrets—the fact that Luka had been the one to torture the hell out of him, though it was really Mishca who was meant to be in that chair—Luka would owe him a debt to be collected at a later date. He had never forgotten this obligation to him—how could he since they were constantly around each other—but that didn’t mean he wasn’t curious as to why it was being collected now.

“Why?”

Klaus frowned, though he didn’t look particularly angry. “Does it matter?”

“Depends. When I finish whatever this favor is, how do I know what you’ll do after?”

Now Klaus was smirking. “I wouldn’t kill you. Lauren likes you.”

“And that matters to you?”

In answer, he shrugged.

“I mean if you’re in love with the boss’ wife, who am I to judge? Kind of weird though right? For all you know, she could be thinking of you while—”

“It amazes me that you’ve lived this long. Honestly.” Electing to ignore his comments, Klaus reached into the pocket of his jacket, pulling a picture free.

He flipped it over, showing Luka the black and gray image, the subject of it unaware that they were followed as they were on the phone about to climb into a black truck, but more than that, seeing the person depicted there felt like something was constricting Luka’s heart.

Both feelings of hatred and fondness came over him as Luka steeled himself, knowing that Klaus was waiting for a reaction from him. It had been years since Luka had seen the man in the image. In that time, Luka had carefully buried as much of his former life as he could, and that meant trying his hardest to forget this one person, a person who was very much like him, but worse.

A person who had helped him torture Klaus, though it could be said that he’d enjoyed it far more than Luka did.

In fact, if there were anyone that enjoyed hurting people a little too much, it would be him.

Stalling for time, Luka reached around Klaus, tossing the duffel he carried into the backseat.

“What about him?” he asked after he had a moment to collect himself.

“Your life for his.”

Grinding his teeth, Luka couldn’t help glancing back toward the building he’d just come out of, wondering if they were being watched. It wasn’t uncommon for them to be around each other, especially with Klaus hanging around more, but it only took one person being a little too curious for secrets to become exposed, and he really didn’t need that.

“I help you find him and you’ll let me live, is that right?”

Klaus shook his head, pocketing the picture. “Not at all. I don’t need you to find him. I’ve found the rest of your lot just fine, I need to know everything about his operation.”

Now, it was Luka’s turn to look confused. “What operation?”

Klaus’ head canted to the side in that eerie way of his, as if he was trying to gauge whether Luka was lying to him. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“Your friend here has taken over for the Besniks since their unfortunate passing”—he didn’t make it sound unfortunate at all—“and because of it, he made his first mistake.” Klaus patted the pocket of his jacket. “He came out of hiding.”

“Why the f*ck would he do that?”

Though he asked the question aloud, it was more to himself than to Klaus. Since the night he turned his back on the Organization, Klaus hadn’t given much thought to what the others had done in his absence…maybe except for Fatos. Not a day went by that Luka hadn’t thought about seeing his face again, and what he would do when he saw him. While he felt an immeasurable amount of anger toward his old friend, there was that old lingering feeling of sadness. There was a time when Fatos was the only friend he had, and sometimes, especially because he knew him so well, he missed that companionship.