Hell fucking yes, we do. It’s time to ensure these fuckers realize just what they’ve done.
“Alessio,” Annika greets with disdain. “It’s been a while.”
The restaurant is empty. It’s just past closing, and Annika is the only one left in the building. Stupid fuckers. They should have known we’d come for her.
Joe is on his way. I’m hoping to have Anthony back before his flight touches down. He’s working on having his people find any properties these fuckers may have. We’ll have these cunts cornered sooner or later.
She glances behind me, her eyes narrowing when she sees my brothers. Both of them are hiding Nikolai from view. “Spit it out, Alessio, I’ve got shit to do.”
Oh, this bitch is going to be in a world of hurt. “Annika, where’s your husband?”
She rolls her eyes and goes back to counting the money in the register. “What’s it to you?”
“Well,” I snarl as I move forward and rip the money from her hands. “Your husband has something that belongs to me, and I want it back.”
The smirk on her face tells me she knows exactly who he has. “Aww, that whore of yours had a baby?”
I grip her neck and push her back against the wall, my fingers digging into the skin.
“You think anyone is going to save you from me?” I growl, loving the fear that emits from her. “Your cunt of a husband took my son, and he beat my woman. Can you imagine what I’m going to do to you?”
She swallows hard. “You won’t hurt me.”
A dark, bitter laughter sounds from behind me, and Annika’s eyes widen with even more fear.
“Nikolai?” she gasps.
“You should really listen to him, Annika. The man is going to hurt you no matter what. You want to survive this ordeal, tell him where Taras is. Otherwise, you’re going to be sobbing on the floor while he brutally murders you.”
“You’re family,” she says.
He shrugs. “Lena is my family. You,” he snarls, “are nothing but a whore. You do not deserve to be Lena’s family.”
Ah, I guess he knows all about this bitch’s jealousy when it comes to Yelena.
“How does it feel, Annika, knowing you’ll never be as beautiful, smart, or as powerful as Yelena? You had to marry a man no one respected just to be seen.”
“Bastard,” she cries, but I dig my fingers deeper into her neck.
“Where is your husband?” I ask once more.
She doesn’t answer. Instead, her gaze moves to her cell that’s sitting on the counter. Hmm, I guess calling the fucker would work. If he wants his wife safe, he’ll give me my son. I drop the bitch to the ground and reach for her cell.
“What are his plans?”
She grasps her neck as she sucks in some much-needed oxygen.
“I bet these two fucking assholes have had enough of being overshadowed. With Yelena marrying Nikolai, Maksim must be basking in happiness, knowing his empire will be in the safe hands of his favorite granddaughter’s husband,” Dante says boredly as he leans against the countertop. “So, you and your useless husband hatched a plan to take over. But you got greedy, and instead of becoming the head of the Bratva, you tried to take us out also. Your pathetic attempts have failed completely.”
The bitch smiles. “We have his son, and we have Maksim. I wouldn't say we failed.”
I can’t hold back the swift anger that hits me. I lift my foot and kick the bitch in her midsection, smiling as she splutters with pain and shock.
Once I unlock her cell—the woman didn’t even have a passcode on it—I call her husband.
“Annika?” he answers instantly. “Are you finished?”
“I’m not Annika,” I reply, putting the call on speakerphone.