Chapter 61

Nikolai

We had no idea what my father could be doing at Katya’s, and even though we wanted to go there directly, we needed to know what Yuri was up to, why he would risk going to Sergei’s house. We knew that Ivan would protect the girls with his life and keep Yuri there. So, we paid Sergei a quick visit. It was gratifying to see that weaselly asshole duct taped to the chair, blood running down his chin, his left eye swollen shut.
Drago put his hands on the arms of the chair, leaning his face close to Sergei’s.
“Why is Yuri at your house, Sergei?” Drago asked with fake politeness.
“I don’t know,” Sergei gasped out. Maybe he had some broken ribs too.
“Oh, I think you do,” Drago responded calmly. Andrei handed Drago some latex gloves. “Do you really want to find out why I’m wearing these gloves, Sergei?”
Sergei’s dark eyes darted around the room, as if looking for allies. There were none to be found. “I don’t know anything,” he whined.
Drago laughed humorlessly. “Oh, I think you do.” Drago turned to one of the other men, Andrei. “Get me some pliers and a mouth retractor.” The retractor was used to keep the mouth open for dental work. I imagined this is what Drago was planning to do. A little dentistry.
Sergei obviously figured as much, too, as he began babbling and jerking away.
Drago smirked, while taking the tools from Andrei. “Don’t bother trying to get away, Sergei; there is nowhere to go. No one to save you. You can save us a lot of time and yourself a lot of pain by just telling us what Yuri is up to.”
Sergei paused, so Drago asked a couple of guys to hold Sergei still while they fitted him with the retractor. This brought a keening wail from Sergei.
“No, no, no…. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you,” Sergei cried, tears and snot mixing with the blood on his face.
Drago paused, staring at him expectantly.
Sergei took a deep breath. “He-he’s there for Katya.”
Drago and I both stopped and looked at each other in shock. “Why?” Drago barked out.
“Because,” Sergei stopped, understanding what he was going to say was not going to win him any friends. “Because he paid me. He wants her. He always has, since she was a child. I managed to keep him at bay, but she’s eighteen. I couldn’t hold him back anymore. He is obsessed with her.”
Drago swung his fist and smashed it into Sergei’s face, almost knocking over the chair. He then grabbed Sergei by the throat. “You sold your daughter to Yuri? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Drago didn’t let him answer, just swung on him a couple more times.
Sergei screamed. “I waited! I waited until she was eighteen. He wanted her when she was twelve.” Like he was a good guy, or something. I wanted a go at him myself. Katya was like a sister to me.
I moved toward him, but Drago stopped me. “No, we have to go. He wants to take Katya and there is no fucking way I am letting that happen.”
I started to move toward the door, but Drago moved back to Sergei and grabbed him by the collar again. “If anything has happened to her, I will come back and dismember your body one joint at a time. You will pray for death.” With that, Drago pushed him back hard enough to tip the chair over and pulled the open the door hard enough to nearly rip it off the hinges. I heard Sergei still crying and making excuses as we ran to the car.