Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(84)

But this was their problem. Fatos, even during their shared time in Berat, always did things he thought was best for Luka, even if it permanently disfigured him and turned him into something most feared.

In his own way, Fatos cared for him.

But that care had turned into a cancer.

Grinding his teeth to keep from lashing out, Luka said, “You tortured me.”

“Please. I helped you survive!” In the blink of an eye, Fatos had gone from startlingly calm to full-blown rage, an expression that Luka was all too familiar with twisting his face.

Ignoring the outburst, Luka shoved a hand through his hair, not caring that he was streaking blood throughout. “Why are you here?”

Clearing his throat, Fatos seemed to get his temper under control as he smiled once more. “I want to offer you an opportunity to come back. I’m sure with a little bit of work, the Organization will forgive you and there’ll be no need for us to speak of this further.”

By work, he meant more f*cking torture. Despite how elegantly he put it, Luka knew how they worked, and forgiveness didn’t come without a price. “Or?”

Fatos looked confused, as though he hadn’t thought Luka would contemplate any other offer. “Or you’ll be brought back by force. We know about Bastian—not that I ever cared for the fat f*ck—but rules are rules and you aren’t above them. Someone has to answer for his death and considering you left your mark all over him, that someone would be you.”

Two varying emotions had warred inside of him after he had lured Bastian outside of the Albanian bar over a year ago. Taking a knife to the man’s face and body, his mind seized on what had been done to him when he was to defenseless to do anything about it. On most days, he thought of that killing with fondness, replaying it over and over again in his head. He could almost feel the phantom silkiness of blood on his hands, but other days, he felt sick with the reminder that Bastian had succeeded.

He’d made Luka into the monster he was.

“Do they know?” Fatos asked interrupting his thoughts. “Does that Volkov know that you took a knife to someone else’s body with the intent to kill him? I don’t think he would be near as forgiving as I am…but that’s because I love you more.”

There it was…a real threat.

Luka didn’t care about being dragged back to Albania—though the thought of going there made his stomach turn—but he didn’t want his past outed. Especially to someone who would see him dead if he knew the truth. Luka finally felt the familiar stirrings since Fatos had walked into the warehouse.

“Are you blackmailing me?” Luka asked, his head canting to one side as the fingers on his right hand twitched.

Fatos, wisely, sensed the change in him, but unlike others, he’d wanted to cause it, enjoying the mayhem that followed. “Maybe…maybe not. But this offer won’t last very long. Either come with me and I’ll fix this for you or stay and learn why I moved up in our world.”

The logical move would be to take him up on this, knowing that it would be the path of least resistance. But if he did, the truth about who he was would come to light anyway, defeating the point of him harboring it for so long.

But what Fatos didn’t know was that there was someone who did know Luka’s secret and, more importantly, hated the Albanians more than Luka did. In that, he had an ally, and considering the knowledge of Fatos coming to the States would have gone unknown, it was safe to assume that Luka would be able to call on the mercenary to help him with this.

It was the only thing that made sense and the only thing that would buy him enough time to finally put his past to rest. And keep anyone else from finding out who he was before coming to New York.

“You might have moved up in the ranks, Fatos, but we both knew whose Bastian’s favorite was.” At that, Fatos lost his smile. “Here’s my warning, and you can ask this guy how serious I am,” he said with a head tilt in Snow’s direction. “You, and whoever you brought with you, head back to Berat and I’ll forget this ever happened. Just like you haven’t heard from me in the last five years, let’s make it another seventy. If you come for me, you won’t live to see the end of it.”

“Is that your final answer, Valon?”

“That’s the only answer you’re ever going to get.”

Fatos sighed, fiddling with his already straight tie. “By the end of my time in this godforsaken country, you’re going to wish you had taken my offer. I’m sorry it has to be this way.” Fatos glanced down at his watch, shaking his head as he turned to the door. “I’ll be seeing you very soon, Valon. I hope, for their sake, that they’ll forgive you for the hell you’re about to bring into their lives.”





34

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Animals





Laying on her stomach, Alex listened to the pouring rain outside Luka’s bedroom window, the pelting water calming as it tapped against the pane. It sounded impossibly loud, the occasional thunder even louder, but in the eye of the storm, she felt at peace.

It was going on three a.m., and she’d dozed most of that time, but for the last hour, she had just lain there wondering where the hell Luka was. Loki had lounged with her for a bit, but then he too was off wandering around, leaving her to her thoughts.