Vlad was sat at his little table by the window, a decanter of whiskey or scotch in front of him, a sullen look on hid greasy face. It seemed as though there was something on his mind, something that troubled him. I couldn’t imagine what that could be, given his line of work, but the air in The Mansion had changed, it was charged and electric, deadly and buzzing with a current I wasn’t sure any of us would survive.
“Please, have a seat, join me for a drink, my boy.” Vlad waved his arm to the unoccupied chair opposite him, and like an obedient puppy, I sat, my arm moving across my torso as another hit of agony tore through me.
In silence, Vladimir poured me a drink and pushed the glass across the table. Needing the relief the alcohol would bring me and my ribs, I knocked it back in one.
“Broken ribs are no fun, huh?” He said.
“No shit, sir.”
“I have to admit, my boy, you’ve surprised me.” Vlad smacked his lips as he drunk the last of his scotch. “It’s no secret that the Chrobak’s have never thought much of your family, a weak bloodline who are more likely to follow than lead.”
I swallowed the fury and let him continue; this was bait I was not going to chew.
“You, however, I truly believed, could bring a new reputation to the Murdoch name.” He sat back in his chair, stomach spilling over the waistband of his shorts.
Confused, I replied, “Thank you.”
He grinned. “You’ve taken a beating or two since being here, you’ve heard bad things said about people you care about, you fucked my wife with no worries of the consequences-”
“Wait, what-”
He held a fat palm up. “Now, Jaxon, you’re either incredibly brave or stupider than you look.”
Fuck. He got me. I had two options and a limited time to decide what one was best. “Sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” How the fuck did he know? Or was he bluffing? Jesus, I wanted to down the entire decanter of scotch.
“What part is confusing you, my boy?”
Cunt. “All of it, sir.”
He laughed, a deep mocking sound that made me want to cut my damn fucking ears off. “Oh, Jax, funny is also something I never associated with your family. You’ve taught me a lot since you’ve been here, that’s for sure.” He pushed back in his chair and rose, his feet carrying his overweight body back and forth across the floor. I remained motionless. “See, the thing is my boy, you’ve now put me in a bit of a tricky situation. I’m not sure how much your father has told you about the true history of our families, but once upon a time, Archibald and I worked well together. We weren’t friends per se, but thirty years ago, I was young and impressionable, still trying to please my father, and violence and bloodshed wasn’t something I liked. When you were born, your father made me promise never to recruit you or any brothers you may have. I swore to him, of course, and due to unforeseen circumstances, that’s had to change. Which I am deeply sorry for.”
He wasn’t, not at all. The grin stuck to his thin, evil lips.
Leaning on the table, his attempt to ascertain dominance over me, I watched his nostrils flare as he tried to keep his temper in check. “Jax, I’m not a stupid man, everything I do, there’s a reason why I do it. Everything I say, every course of action I take, and every decision that I make, I think about. In this world, one wrong move can be the end of you, and I’ve worked too long and too hard to let a goddamn fucking Murdoch ruin all I’ve built here.”
I didn’t take my eyes off of him; I refused to let him intimidate me. Not now. Not when we were so close to the end.
“But, you stuck your dick in my wife, son, and that’s nothing something I cannot tolerate.”
“Sir, I didn’t-” For an old man, he was quick. Had I seen his massive, ham fist come for my face, I would have avoided it. But I didn’t. Knuckles uppercut me, sending my head flying to one side, and my whole body, which was still healing, hummed in a new kind of agony as I wobbled in the chair. The cut across my cheek throbbed.
On instinct, I got to my feet and was nose to nose with this motherfucker before I could think about it. I was so close I could smell the fucking oil he used in his thinning hair, I could see the whites of his eyes with their bright red veins, the nose hair poking out the bottoms of his nostrils that waved as he breathed.
“There’s that fire I fucking love,” he growled, grinning still. With one hand, he pushed my chest, forcing me to sit back down. “My wife loves it too, no?”
I said shit. I done shit. I sat there and let him have the floor.
A silence descended upon us as Vladimir poured another drink and took his seat once more, his dark eyes regarded me for a while, how long I have no idea. The noises from outside, the men building, and setting up for the party suddenly infiltrated the room, momentarily disturbing our impasse.
A warmth tickled my upper lip, and I used the back of my hand to wipe the slow gush of blood, watching as the red mist surrounded the man before me.
“Now that we’ve simmered our tempers, I’ll continue.” He topped my glass up and repeated the motion of sliding across to me. “Luckily for you, I’m not calling the shots, and someone wants you alive.”
“Amy?” I said, defiant.
Vlad laughed but ignored my question. “Tonight, and no this wasn’t my idea, we’re having a little informal dinner to welcome you back. Eight p.m sharp, my boy.”
“And if I politely refuse?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Jaxon, just come to fucking dinner, humor me, it’s the least you can do after killing one of my best men.”
And there it was. He was beginning to show his cards, and I couldn’t fucking wait to show him my royal flush.
Chapter Thirty One
Carter.
It had been a long time since my blood had pumped through my veins, adrenalin rushing it through me like a tidal wave, and I missed it. I’d missed working, I’d missed Jax and the calm he brought to my over-active imagination and hyper soul. Archie letting me help and get stuck into some hard grafting work had been the blessing I’d needed. Spending days working in the sunshine, nothing to be heard apart from the noise of the excavators roaring, hushing my mind and its one hundred mile per hour thoughts. For a little while, I’d felt useful again. Not the waste of space, piece of shit my father had tried to convince me I was.
Nighttime was torture, though. When the world was asleep and Archie’s house was silent and dark, Amy came to me. Vivid images so real I quite often thought she was back, dancing around the bedroom, singing, smiling, a hand resting on her growing belly. At nighttime everything I’d spent all day ignoring and forgetting would come back with force so powerful it would leave me paralyzed in bed, sweat dripping from every inch of my body, heart racing, stuttering and unable to keep up with the anger, the upset, the grief I felt.
And today was the day. Archie was sending me into the miles of tunnels that had been reopened, and there was a steady charge of excitement flying from him to me. The team had packed up their machines, and it was just me, Graham and Archie now, standing at the mouth of the old mine, quiet for a moment as we pondered what may what for us. Explosives we’d had built especially and had spent two days being trained on how to use them, and defuse should we need to. I fucking loved it, proper work I could sink my teeth into, and hell, if it meant Jax finally got the girl after years of flitting from one to the other, I had to do it. The man was my best friend, my brother, his blood may not have flowed through my veins but we were forever tied together with an unseen yet cemented bond.