Chapter 24

Michal walked into the room where they held meetings, his stride wide and his mouth set in a frown. The head members of the family, his father’s men, and Semion were already seated with more men standing around the table.

Nobody was smiling.

“What is the word?” he asked.

“We don’t know where he is, but we confirmed that the men who took him are working for the bastard,” Semion informed in.

*Katya’s father.

“Any information on where he is?” he asked one of the men that were standing.

The man shook his head.
“They took us by surprise. But we suspect that he is still here in Russia. My men are patrolling the area as we speak. We also have people dispatched to Mordashov’s wife’s family house and the houses of all her relatives.”

*The bastard had to involve innocent people. If Michal laid hands on him-

He looked at his brother.
“Are we calling it a war or waiting to see what happens at the end of today?”
Even though he was addressing the meeting, his brother was the underboss in his father’s stead. He controlled negotiations while Michal took action.

“We wait to see what happens at sundown. The bastard must have planned this because his top men went into hiding, leaving behind their wives and children,” Semion replied.

*The blasted moral code. He respected it, but it could be frustrating sometimes. Especially now when they needed information.

“Did you ask them?”

“They refused to speak to us, sir. There was one child, but her mother made me leave. And we had orders not to touch them,” another man responded.

“Stats on our locations?”

“We have men guarding them, sir. If he strikes, they are ready to retaliate with force.”

“Good. We must be ready to take as many down as possible. Have any other mob reached out yet?” Michal asked. He knew of a few families that would fight with them to bring the Mordashov family down.”

“Yes, sir. We received an offer from the Reznovs. They are willing to give out eighty men.”

Michal was surprised. The Reznovs had joined arms with them before but giving out eighty men was a stretch. There had to be a catch.
“What do they want in return?”

“The boss asked to see you specifically. He said he would communicate his terms in person,” another man replied.

He would most likely turn them down. But he also needed all the help they could get.
“Alright. Meeting dismissed. Keep me, or Semion posted if anything happens.”


One by one, they stood up, stern expressions on their faces as they walked out. Michal knew all of them by name, the same he knew that they would go to lengths to get his father back.




When they were gone, he addressed his brother.
“How do we resolve this?”

Semion was visibly angry.
“I will make him pay, I swear. If he touches one hair on him- I don’t care if I hate our father, he will wish he had never stepped foot back in Russia.”


Michal was angry too. He knew that the man crossed boundaries but going as far as kidnapping the head of one of the most prominent mob families? Now that was suicidal. If it was an act of defiance, then he just handed his head over on a platter of gold.

“She’s behind you,” Semion said.

Michal turned to see who his brother was referring to and saw Katya. She stood, shocked.

“Katya,” he said. Then I remembered that it was her father who he was talking about a few seconds ago.

“What did he do? Who did he take?” She asked.

“Who?”

“My father. I was looking for Freya when I saw men leaving. They stared at me like I was some abomination, and I heard them talk about somebody they had to rescue before all hell broke loose. I knew it had to be my father. What did he do?”

“He kidnapped my father!” Semion banged his fist on the table. “If you want to know what an actual kidnapping situation feels like since you have been going on and on about it, let me explain.

Your father, who I will kill once I lay my hands on him, has my father in his custody. He keeps his prisoners in a house where there are cages. Inside the cells are threadbare blankets for them to lay on. They get fed once every three days, and the meals are leftovers his dogs refuse to eat.
Then he takes them out once a day and has his men beat them for sport and spite. They urinate on them and call them all sorts of names. Then they get dragged back to their cages.”

“Semion, it’s okay,” Michal tried to calm his brother.

“How, how…how do you know that?” Katya stammered.

“Ask him,” Semion pointed to Michal, “ask him. He was taken by your father and tortured for a month! He came back at the brink of death! And he was only fifteen!”


“It’s okay!” Michal yelled. That was why he tried to stop him. He knew what would come after it. Events he had tried to bury over the years without any success. Nightmares had him gasping for breath as he struggled to remind himself that he was not in a cage; he wasn’t locked up like an animal but safe and secure.

“He…he… he did that to you?”

Michal sighed.
“It was a long time ago.”

“But…but you came to work for us. He did not recognize you?”

“Your father never met me. I took over from the man he hired and came on his stead. Even if he did meet me, I doubt he would remember me. I was nothing more than a plaything to him,” he told her truthfully.


She covered the distance in one choked, dragged-out sob, and then her hands were around him- tight.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry my father did that to you. I’m sorry he treated you like an animal, and you still came to rescue me when I ran away.”

A heartbeat passed before Michal put his arms around her. Somehow the pain that came from the memories seemed to wash away as she sobbed on his shoulders. All these years, he had to deal with his trauma, his past.

Even when he was traded and rescued, he had to act like he was okay. Only Semion knew how hard the nights were for him. He wanted to die- he tried to die.
And he swore that once he had the chance, he would take revenge.