Like a Fox (20 page)

“I have no use for power.”

“You are a Vitalle. You live for power.”

“Perhaps, but not the kind you speak of.”

“Join me. You can have whatever power you crave.”

“I already have it.”

“Have more.”

“That’s were your downfall lies, Kazimir,” Vic scolds. “The never ending greed for more. It will be what ruins you.”

Fyodor taps his temple, “I’m too smart for that. I’m giving you two options: join me, or die.”

Now I’m the one with the jittery leg I can’t control. I’m pretty sure I know Vic’s answer, and I have a sense this is it, that this may be the end of our lives. I can’t believe how stupid I was to think I could handle this, that I could fix the mess my father’s in.

“And if I pledge myself to you, you think you can trust me?” Fyodor combs his beard with his fingers and Vic continues, “You think you can trust a man who takes his own father’s life?”

“It almost sounds like you’re asking for death.”

Fyodor gets no response, just a cold stare. Vic has made his decision.

This can’t really be happening. I’m just a waitress from a small tourist town, not someone who has people negotiating death around them.

Vic had warned me being with him wasn’t safe. I guess I just never contemplated enough how unsafe he truly meant it could be. In all fairness though, how was I supposed to know? This is the kind of stuff that you don’t think about because you are so far removed from this kind of life. Things like this don’t happen to everyday people.

Fyodor pulls open a desk drawer, dragging out a golden hand gun (what’s with everybody and gold?). He hands it off to Frankie, explaining, “Why do myself what I can have somebody else do for me?”

“Let me do it,” Bones pipes up. I almost forgot he was there, having been so absorbed in the conversation before me.

Fyodor scoffs at him, “Do I look like a stupid man to you? Why would I give you a gun when you’re working for him?”

“Working for him and being loyal are two different fucking things,” Bones sneers, venom spurting out with his words. “This man ‘saved’ me, and ever fucking since then has believed I fucking owe him. I have paid it back tenfold, yet here I fucking am, being tortured for him. It’s no better than where I was before he fucking found me. Now I’m
his
slave instead of somebody else’s. If I kill him, I’m free, and you don’t have his fucking blood on your hands. I’m sure you’re aware he still has powerful allies.”

Fyodor sits there, contemplating, “This would be an interesting turn of events.” He moves his hands out in front of him like he’s announcing the name of a newspaper article, “Fyodor Kazimir gets Visuyan Vittale’s closest ally to murder him on the spot. A new level of fear I could bring onto my enemies.” He begins to hand over the gun to Bones, pausing right before it’s within reach, “One wrong move and my men take you out.”

Bones hesitantly takes it, like he’s expecting to be turned on and become the one with a bullet piercing him.

Vic uncharacteristically pleads for his life, begging Bones as he inspects the weapon, “Don’t do this! You can have your freedom, I promise!”

Bones ignores him and aims right for the chest.

“No!” I cry, jumping up, but the guard behind me holds me down by the shoulders.

“Don’t worry, babe,” Bones says to me as he keeps his eyes on the target. “He’s far enough away no blood will get on that pretty fuckin’ dress of yours.”

I open my mouth but Vic cuts me a look so sharp I snap it shut.

Maybe they have a plan. Maybe Bones won’t really shoot Vic.

Turns out, I’m wrong.

Chapter 25

Bones doesn’t even blink. He shoots Vic right in the chest. The guard who has him lets his body drop to the ground. I scream out, jumping to my feet only to be held back.

Bones hands over the gun, a sly grin on face, “You don’t know how fucking long I’ve been wanting to do that. Shall we go celebrate?”

Fyodor gets up and slaps him on the shoulder, “I have an aged scotch I was saving, and this seems like the perfect night for it. We can discuss your new employment.”

The group of men begin to travel out. Fyodor jabs Vic in the side with the toe of his shoe before he reaches the door. Vic’s limp body only slightly moves from it, no noise coming from his body.

The guard that still has a tight hold on me speaks up as they all file out, “What about the girl?”

Fyodor doesn’t even glance my way, “Escort her to her vehicle. She can help spread the word of the last Vitalle’s demise, but teach her a ‘lesson’ first.”

The door clicks shut behind them and my guard shoves me towards it. I take the opportunity to leap over to Vic, who hasn’t moved, his blood staining the carpet. I’m sobbing at this point as I put pressure over his wound, my hands getting soaked with his blood. “Stay with me. Please Vic, stay with me.” I get closer to his ear and whisper into it, “I love you.”

No response.

The tears fall harder. It’s not fair that he was brought into my life to be taken out of it just as quickly.

The guard tries pulling me away but I elbow him hard in the ribs. He curses and pulls me back by my hair, shooting pain through my scalp. Just as he begins dragging me by my roots, the door slams open with a loud thump. It captures the guard’s attention, a confused expression on his face.

Vikki is standing at the door looking rather bored as she inspects the two of us. Two guards are at her feet and her date peeks in from behind her.

The guard throws me to the side by my hair, retrieving his gun. Before he has a chance to aim Vikki kicks it from his hand, the slit in her dress making it easy for her leg to move. She yanks the broach from her hair, which falls in a cascade of soft waves, and she throws it at the guard. It lands half in his neck, blood spurting out and spraying me and the area around him. He claws to get it out, making gurgling, choking noises and dropping to his knees. While this is happening Vikki’s date has rushed over to Vic and is assessing his wound, “Go! I’ll take care of this. Get her out of here.”

Vikki nods, pausing for a second as she takes in the sight of her brother. She effortlessly yanks me up from the floor even though we appear to be the same weight, “We have to go.”

Tears are still spilling down and I have difficulty getting words out, “How are we going to get Vic out?”

“He’s gone, Freya,” she states like it’s a random person and not her twin brother.

I vigorously shake my head, not accepting it to be true, “No.”

Frustrated that I’m frozen in place, Vikki tugs on my hand.

I refuse to believe he won’t survive, and therefore don’t budge, “We can’t leave him.”

Vikki keeps tugging, “We have to go.”

“I can’t leave him,” I plead. Surely she understands that.

“You must.”

“How can you?”

“Because he would have wanted me to.”

She’s right. I reluctantly follow, but not before looking back one last time at his body. Vikki’s date is blocking my view. I move to get closer but Vikki yanks hard on my arm and I unwillingly comply.

She has us running at full speed. I have to stop us as I nearly trip over my heels. Vikki taps her foot in impatience, having no difficulty running in hers. She makes it seem effortless. My twisted ankle is proof that it’s really fucking hard to do. Once they are safely in my hand we take off again.

The rest is all a blur through my tears and the speed in which we are running. Somehow Vikki has lead us to a black sports car, which she shoves me inside. I’ve barely registered we even left the building.

I can’t even manage to buckle myself in as she slides into her own seat and zooms off.

I’m sobbing so hard I’m hiccupping, “How could we just leave him?”

“We had no choice. If we’d stayed, we’d be dead too,” Vikki switches gears on the freeway, the city lights blazing behind us as she weaves in and out of cars at full speed. “My job tonight was to get you out of there alive.”

I hiccup, wiping away tears with my palms, “Your job?”

“Yes. I promised my brother that no matter what happened, you were my priority.”

“You should have taken him and left me.”

“I always keep my promises to him. Always.”

“Even if that means choosing me over him?”

“Yes.”

“You agreed to that? But his life is so much more important.” To me it is anyway. I would rather have him be alive than myself.

“He’s gone Freya. There’s nothing I could have done about that. The only logical step was to get us out of there alive, just like I promised him.”

We arrive in the same area we picked up Bones from and she parks the car in an underground garage. I follow her to an elevator, where she uses a key and presses the button for her level.

“Are we safe here?” I ask as we ascend.

“Anybody who knew you were involved is dead.” Vikki has barely looked at me this whole time. I don’t blame her.

“What about you? You’re his sister.”

“There are few people who know of our connection: Ben, Bones, Doc, and you.”

I’m astonished, “Nobody knows you’re his twin?”

“I faked my own death at the age of fourteen.”

Jesus. I can’t even get into that right now. That’s crazy. “My friends and family know who you are,” I remind her.

“Yes, against my better judgement, but my brother was determined to have you in our life. Besides, none of them are a threat to us. They didn’t even know the name Vitalle,” she scoffs, like we are so out of loop of real life even though only somebody from their background would know the power of that name.

“Bones,” I finally have the chance to tell her and I can’t get the words out fast enough, “Bones was the one to do it.”

The elevator door pings open. Her back is to me as she steps out, heading to one of two doors on the left. “Mm,” is her response. She’s just like her brother. The stab to my heart at the image of how we left Vic almost knocks me down.

Vikki unlocks the door, waits for me to enter, and locks it behind us before motioning for me to follow her. She doesn’t give me time to look around, quickly leading me to a bedroom and then to the connecting bathroom.

I enter behind her, “Why don’t you seem bothered by this?”

She turns on the shower, “That’s the way of this business. Deceit is more common than loyalty.”

“How are you okay with all of this? Your brother is
dead
,” I choke on the word, holding back a sob that is biting into my chest.

I get no response to my question. Instead, she changes the subject, “Undress. Shower. Don’t forget to scrub with soap to remove any trace of blood. Then get yourself to bed. Leave your dress on the floor, I’ll take care of it. ” She’s gone, closing the door behind her.

I remove my dress and step inside, warm water pelting my skin. Right away I see blood pooling at my feet before streaming down the drain. I extend my hands out and turn them, the blood from Vic still coating the skin. Instead of crying I shut off, unable to process it all. It’s either that or lose my mind.

Like a zombie I go through the motions of cleaning my body, scrubbing my face clean, and washing my hair. Once I’m done I completely forget to dry off and I shuffle my way to the bed. I hit my toe on the foot of the bed and that’s all it takes to send me over. I drop to my knees and begin sobbing. I sob so hard I can’t breathe and snot is covering me, but I don’t care. My heart is shattered. I don’t think I can survive the pain of losing him.

Vikki comes in. I wish she didn’t have to see me this way.

She sits on the floor next to me and places a hand on my naked back, “There’s so much you don’t know about tonight, okay?”

“Not okay,” I sniffle, snorting back my clogged nose. “We shouldn’t have left him.”

“Doc took care of him,” she reassures me, but I haven’t a clue who the hell that is.

“Who’s that?” I ask.

“My date and longtime acquaintance. He made sure Vic’s body wasn’t left there.”

“How do you know he didn’t?” She said it herself that nobody keeps to their word.

“I got a text.”

I wipe away running snot with the back of my hand, “Can we go to him?”

“There’s nothing to see, Freya.”

“I need to say goodbye.” I need to see him. I need to hold him and touch him. I need him here with me.

“You did.”

I sob harder, “We didn’t even accomplish what we went there for. This was all for nothing. Oh, god!” I cry out. “Now my father will be next!”

“My
god
,” Vikki pulls down the box of tissues from the bedside table and hands it to me, “Pull yourself together. The man’s dead, I made sure of it. Your father will be fine.”

“Thank you,” I say while I blow my nose. “How?”

“It doesn’t matter.” She pulls back the duvet on the bed. “You need to get some sleep.”

I pull out another tissue, “I don’t think I can.”

“Get into bed. I have something that will help.” She leaves the room and I do what I’m told, mostly because the bed looks fluffy and soft and oh-so-inviting to my sore muscles. I’m not sure why, but my body is aching all over.

She comes back in with a glass of water and drops two white pills into my palm. “Take these.”

I stare down at the two round pills. “What are they?”

She pats the underside of my hand, signifying for me to take them, “They’ll help calm you.”

My hand stays in place. Taking an unknown substance from somebody who has made their dislike for me clear doesn’t seem like a wise move.

She sighs at my lack of faith, “Trust me, Freya, you need to calm yourself and rest.”

I give in and take them for the sole reason of hoping they will numb my pain, not having much else I care about at the moment.

It takes about fifteen minutes and I conk out.