I backed up, and my heart thundered like a locomotive on the run. “Oh, nothing. How was your evening?” Redirection never worked with Vladimir; I’m not sure why I still attempted it. Desperation, perhaps?
Vladimir clicked his tongue as he stopped to let his shorts drop to the floor, his belly hunger over the waistband of his boxers, and I fought the projectile vomit that was trying to escape.
“Oh, Ella,” he said, almost laughing. “It’s a good thing you don’t join us men on poker nights; you’d be penniless after five minutes.”
My feet moved me backward some more until the backs of my knees hit the washing basket next to the window. Oh, god. He was going to take the only photograph of my daughter away from me.
Please, please let it go.
Opening his palm, Vladimir sat on the bed, and his black, soulless eyes penetrated the armor he’d forced me to build, knowing every weak point. “Pass the photograph, Ella.”
“How do you know what it is?” I asked, cursing my stupid mouth once again.
Vladimir threw his head back and laughed, each roll of his belly bouncing with him, and the noise pierced my skin like a warm, sharp blade. “You’ve been here thirteen years, sweet wife, and you are still amazed when I reveal what I know?” His laughter stopped as quickly as it had started, my legs buckled beneath me. “You may think you have secrets,” he said, rising from the bed, moving towards me with each word said through his dirty, gritted teeth. “You may think that there are conversations you have that I do not know about,” he continued, coming closer still. “And you may think that I am so fucking detached from reality that I still cannot read you like a goddamn fucking book.” He was nose to nose with me now. The liquor he’d drunk all evening poured from his large, open pores, and the smell invaded my nostrils. “But you’d be sorely fucking mistaken, sweet wife.”
With hands I hated, he reached up and cupped my face, dragging his fingernail down my cheek, scratching and marking the skin.
My eyes slammed shut when his other hand groped at my body, squeezing with fierce fingers, and I tried to fly away to my happy place.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” His voice said into my ear, and his warm, potent breath brushed against my flesh. I cried out, whimpering as this man spoke of something he didn’t deserve to have.
“What a shame you could never be a mother. Well, not the kind I’d want to mother my children.”
His words hurt, but I didn’t react again, choking on the cries within me.
“You are good for nothing, expect to fuck, make my fucking dinner, and do what you’re told. There’s no way on this earth I’d ever let you look after my children.” His hand found my throat, he squeezed, causing his words to fade in and out.
I couldn’t stop it.
My body lashed out of its own accord, striking him across the face. The shock of me raising my hand to him had his hand falling from my neck, and him lifting his foot and bringing it into my stomach, sending me backward, crumpling on the floor.
Without another word, punch after punch to my face, to my stomach, rained down on me, and with each one, the farther away I flew. The pain was indescribable, and I thought, for sure, he’d kill me this time.
Blood poured from wounds I couldn’t see, bones cracked, my lip burst as his fist and feet connected with me. Over and over again. Neither of us made a noise; the only thing I could hear was the blood in my ears.
Kill me; just kill me.
At one point, the blows stopped. I had no clue where I was or what was happening. Vlad’s voice was a distorted growl as he prepared for the final blow.
His foot, still clad in shoes, pressed down on my hand, crunching my fingers in one. I screamed, praying that I’d just die already. “You will never see her again, Ella, do you understand?”
I wanted to nod, to give him something, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t move.
And so, my lack of answer angered him again, and through my bloodied eyes, I saw him raise his fist, now holding some large, some metal, and one moment I was bracing myself, the next, everything went black.
Again.
Chapter Seven
Jax.
Sunday night arrived, far too quickly for my liking. Tomorrow was the day I’d say goodbye to my family. I was leaving behind the home I’d had for nearly ten years. Anxiety gnawed at my fucking gut. I’d try to rid the feelings of trepidation with alcohol, but I’d needed more.
That’s how I’d arrived at Vixen’s, on its quietest business day of the week. Instead of the hundreds of people that usually flowed through the space, there were only five men, including myself, sat around the stage, sipping our drinks, admiring the two girls dancing.
I didn’t recognize the other guys, and we didn’t feel the need to talk. It was apparent that all of us were there because we were battling something or other.
I wasn’t scared to join Vlad, no, I felt something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. A mixture of acceptance and grief. It was fucking weird, and I sure as hell didn’t like it.
After the meeting had ended, my father and I had hung back, sitting in a silence filled with anger. My dad was pissed, and he didn’t know what the fuck he could do about any of it. Besides, I’d made up my mind; no way was I going to be the reason Carter never got any closure from the nightmare he’d been living.
Vlad had used Amy’s death in the worst way possible, but it sure as shit ensured we’d keep in line. The Murdoch’s were only feared and respected on the streets. No-one fucked with Vlad.
A statuesque blonde crawled across the stage, making a beeline for me. She was cute as hell, button nose, and the palest pink fucking lips that matched her nipples. Her hips sashayed from side to side, her eyes drinking me.
Once within arms reach, she stood on her knees and hooked her thumbs into the pink panties, panties that gave me a glorious fucking view of her bare pussy beneath them. Needing something to do with my hands, I held my tumbler between them and threw Blondie a crooked smile.
She spun around and slowly fell forwards, resting on her forearms, and her ass alone nearly had me coming in my fucking pants. Jesus. I needed to get laid.
Her baby blues looked at me from over her shoulder as she shook her ass, her fingers running over her milky flesh, and I was just about to drag her from the stage, bury myself in her unknown pussy when a pair of hands slapped my shoulders.
I looked up at Luca before he dragged a chair to my lone table and sat down.
“Hey, buddy. Wasn’t expecting you here tonight.” He said, clicking his fingers for the bartender to bring his choice of poison.
“You’ve heard then?” I replied, knocking back the last of my scotch, my eyes still fixated on the blonde who was now wrapping her long legs around the pole.
I saw Luca nod in my periphery, “Yeah, man. Shit. I thought your dad had an arrangement with that prick?”
“We thought so too. It seems the man of his goddamn word is one big bullshitter. But hey, what can I do about it now?”
Luca was quiet for a moment, his eyes following the staff member as she placed a bottle of whiskey and a glass on the table. He poured himself a generous amount before pulling a baggie out of his pocket. I turned my head, watching him cut a few lines. “Jax, man, you know we’ve all got your back if you want to do something about it.”