Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(81)

Klaus dropped his arm to his side, looking impressed. “No? Then why did your man Snow brag to three f*cking idiots—they’re my idiots, you see—that he had f*cked a Russian bitch in exchange for pills?”

How Klaus could come up with this on the spot, Luka didn’t know, but he was f*cking glad.

Klaus didn’t give the man a chance to answer. “I wouldn’t give a shit if he stuck his dick in every female who walked the Earth, but I do give a f*ck when it’s my family. And I definitely give a shit when she didn’t consent to it.”

The prez realized the danger he was in, shifting on his feet as he tried to weigh his options, but he knew there was only one way out of this without having a war on his hands. “What do you want?”

“Snow.”

He could have declared war, protected his own, as they would have done if the positions were reversed, but he wasn’t prepared, not in the slightest, for what the Bratva was capable of, even if he didn’t know that he was only going up against one in particular.

If he had a choice between everyone dying and handing over one of his own to the sociopath that wanted him…the choice was clear.

“36th and Lex, he’s meeting a contact tomorrow,” the prez said reluctantly, eyeing Luka like he knew that as soon as he was gone, Snow would be as good as dead.

He was right.

“Pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen.”

Klaus and Luka walked back to his car, keeping the bikers in sight until they were pulling out of the lot.

As they rode back to Klaus’ room, Luka let his mind wander as to what he planned to do to Snow when he found him, entertaining himself with images of blood and mayhem.

It wasn’t his fault really. No one could have known that when Luka came to this place, he would learn to care for someone else again, not someone like Alex. Someone innocent.

Luka wasn’t a good person. He stood on the brink of death doing what he did every day, especially for the people he did it for, but Alex shouldn’t have to suffer the f*cked-up shit this world had to offer.

And after what Snow did…

He was going to make him hurt.

“You’re going after him tonight?” Klaus asked when they pulled up beside his Jeep.

“You already know the answer to that.”

Klaus tapped his thumb against the steering wheel as he killed the engine. “You plan on telling the Russian?”

No, he would never be the one to tell that story. If Alex wanted him to know, then she would tell him.

“You know the answer to that, too.”

Klaus nodded, scratching his head as he climbed out. “Make him bleed.”

____

Glancing at the illuminated clock on the dash, Luka tossed his cigarette out the window.

It was time.

Carefully climbing out, he left his door ajar as he went after the man who deserved everything he was about to get. The girl saw him first, but she was too high to give Snow a warning.

“On your left.”

Snow, predictably, looked to his left as Luka struck from the opposite direction, landing one solid punch to the man’s face that dropped him, but it didn’t knock him out. Taking a step back as the biker righted himself, Luka tried not to enjoy the look of shock and indignation that crossed his face once he realized who had struck him too much. Luka didn’t give him a chance to move against him when he threw another punch, then another until finally, Snow was unconscious on the ground.

He made quick work of tying him up, making sure that should he wake up, he wouldn’t be able to get free. Grunting, he hefted the man up, dragging his body to his nearby Jeep, dropping his body on the floor of the backseat, and throwing the wool blanket he kept back there over him. With one last look around at his surroundings, Luka took off, driving them to the one place where he knew they would have the most privacy.

The Wet Rooms, aptly named for the rusting, leaking pipes that lined the ceiling of its building, was one of a number of places the Volkov Bratva used to coerce answers out of the poor souls forced to endure hours in there. Currently, it was unoccupied, and since Luka mostly used this room—and on the rare occasion, Mishca—he knew that he would have an unlimited amount of time to make sure that Snow understood the gravity of his mistake.

Thankfully, there was a garage attached to the place, so getting Snow inside wasn’t a problem. Having spent most of his day with Alex, he’d not had the time to set things up the way he wanted, and now needed to take a bit of extra time to move things around just as his new friend was stirring.

Luka dragged him over to one of the chains and hooks that hung from the ceiling, securing his new restraints but leaving the blindfold in place as he pulled up a chair in front of him and took a seat. For a time, Luka just sat and watched him, from the way he moaned as he gained consciousness to the stillness that overcame him once he realized the predicament he was in. At first, he didn’t try to fight his way free but seemed to try to sense whether or not Luka was in the room with him. It wasn’t like there was any secret as to who had taken him.

The only sound in the room was Snow’s heavy breathing, then Luka’s shoes as he adjusted his position in the chair, hooking his foot over his knee as he sat back. Snow froze, and though he tried to appear calm, Luka could sense the fear in him. It took a moment, both of them silent, until Snow’s struggles started, turning from careful pulling to outright desperation.