Owned by the Badman (Russian Bratva #1) (14 page)

I turn my head to Dimitri, who is holding the very beautiful but very cold and extremely
stupid
mother of my wife—my mother-in-law. She sneers at me for a beat before she smiles. It is kind of scary, and
I am never scared
. I am the one who scares others.

“Maxim,” she purrs.

I know that tone. I have fucked many a woman who have used it; not because I liked them but because I knew they would spread their thighs.

“You hurt my woman?
My wife
? For what reason?”

I can’t even voice her fucking name. In fact, words are becoming very difficult and my gun and knife are looking mighty nice at the moment. My fingers twitch and ache to pull out a weapon and show this bitch exactly what the fucking devil looks like.

“Why did you want her? You aren’t beating her, that I could tell. I hurt her because she thought she could have a smart mouth with me, and I had to teach the little bitch a lesson,” she hisses.

I don’t think—I do. I punch the bitch in the face. I punch her as hard as I would punch any man and it is fairly satisfying. I watch her look of surprise right before her head lolls to the side.

Stupid bitch.

“Call her husband to come and collect her. Let me know when he is here and tie them up in my office. Someone will pay for Haleigh’s bruises and blood,”
I tell Dimitri in Russian.

If that bitch is conscious, she won’t know what I have said. Dimitri flashes me a small smile and nods.

“Haleigh did not deserve one bruise on her body, you know this,” he announces. I shake my head at my driver, my right-hand man, and my only friend.

“I know this. That is why these fuckers pay, friend,” I say, pointing at the passed out cunt in his grip.

Dimitri nods and then hustles away to do what I have asked of him. I gather my beautiful—
beaten wife
—in my arms and take her upstairs to wait for the doctor.

I pick up the phone, calling Pasha and Sonia. I ask them to come to the house and explain briefly what has happened. I know that by the time they get here, the doctor will most likely be finished with his assessment of Haleigh’s injuries. Then I will know how to handle her sorry excuse of a mother.

A knock on the main door interrupts my staring contest with Haleigh’s too still body, and I wrench it open to see the doctor standing right in front of me.

“Dr. Utkin,” I grumble. He nods silently, following me with his big medical bag in hand.

“I came home this evening and my wife had been attacked.” My eyes meet his and he nods without words, but I can see that he does not believe me.

It wouldn’t be the first time that one of us had beaten our women and then called him. I cannot blame him for thinking the worst. Dr. Utkin is one of us. I know that whatever happens behind closed doors will stay with him until death. He carries the same stars on his knees that I do, stars that dictate we will never fall on our knees for the authorities. Though, his body is not riddled with as many tattoos telling the horrible stories of his life the way mine does. Nevertheless, he does have his fair share.

“She is in here,” I motion. He walks directly to the bedside.

“Have you moved her?”
he barks in Russian.

I answer him that, yes, I did—from the living room, where I found her, to here. I watch as he begins to poke around my wife’s beautiful body and all I want to do is rip his fucking hands off just for touching what is mine.
She is mine
.

“I do not sense any broken bones, Mr. Lasovska.” His hands go toward the inside of her thighs, and my own ball into fists.

“Has she been violated; do you think?” he asks.

“No,” I growl.

“I want to do an ultrasound of her stomach, just to make sure that she does not have any internal damage. Her stomach is bruising quickly, and I don’t like the way it looks,” he informs.

I swallow thickly, nodding. There is a presence at the door, and I turn slightly to see Sonia making her way inside.

“Oh, Maxim,” Sonia cries, throwing herself at me. I have no choice but to embrace the woman.

I don’t like hugs, but Sonia is the closest thing I have to a mother, and I will never turn down affection from her.

“Who did this?” Pasha barks. I shake my head.

“Sonia, you stay with Haleigh and the doctor. Pasha and I have business.” Sonia’s eyes go wide, and she nods in understanding.

Sonia knows that the business I mean is not for financial gain but for retribution; and,
Christ,
but the woman smiles, liking the idea of whoever has done this to my beautiful little dove being taken out. If I wasn’t so worried, I might smile back at her, but I don’t.

Pasha and I walk downstairs just as Dimitri is walking in with Haleigh’s father in front of him, his hands bound and his mouth gagged. He looks at me and his eyes widen before they begin to form tears—
pussy.

“Her father?” Pasha asks in English.

There is no reason to bring him here hooded or to speak in a language he will not understand. He will never leave this place—not alive anyway.

I motion for Dimitri and Pasha to follow me into my office, where the cunt is bound, gagged, and tied to a chair. Her eyes scan the room in a panic. I want to laugh in her face
—stupid bitch
.

“Please, Mr. Stockhardt, join our little meeting.”

I lean my hip against the front of my desk as Dimitri shoves the dickless bastard into the chair next to his cunt wife, Amelia. I motion for Dimitri to remove their gags and am met with wide, fake as shit, doe eyes from the wife. The husband is shaking, and I wonder when exactly he will piss himself because a man this spineless always pisses himself.

“Do you know why you are here, Joseph?” I ask. His eyes slide to his wife’s before they narrow and his mouth pinches together.

My own eyes scan these people, two self-absorbed pieces of shit. I wonder how in the fuck they made that beautiful creature who is upstairs beaten and battered.
How did she turn out so fucking sweet and innocent?

“You don’t do a very good job of controlling your bitch, Joseph. She came over here and hurt my wife—your daughter. I do not know the extent of the damage she has done, but her body is broken, bruised, and bloodied. I will not tolerate it,” I calmly state before I continue, lowering my voice, “you will both die.”

Amelia looks at me and begins to plead for her life.

“I’ll do whatever you want,” she begs. “Fuck me any way you want, however you want. I don’t care, just don’t kill me,” she begs again. I throw back my head and laugh at her piss-poor attempts to persuade me.

“I don’t want to fuck you, Amelia,” I bark, watching as she pales before her devious eyes meet mine.

“I am a woman, Maxim. A woman who knows how to please a man—even a monster like you. Fuck my ass, fuck my face, fuck my cunt. I’ll do whatever you want and you’ll fucking love it,” she offers, smiling as if her
offer
means anything to me.

My shoulders shake with my laughter. Pasha is looking at her with complete disgust. It isn’t the first time a woman has offered herself as a sex toy before she is dealt with. I’ve taken a few up on their propositions before I have killed them in the past. There is nothing like watching the hope flare before it is extinguished. I can be a sick bastard,
this I know
, but I feel zero temptation at this cunt’s proposal. I would never do that to Haleigh, especially not to this woman who has betrayed her.

I meant it when I said there would be no other women.

“Haleigh pleases me just fine, Amelia, and your stretched-out cunt and asshole are not tempting in the slightest,” I say, keeping my tone even and bored. I watch as she flinches and then I see her anger explode at my words.

“How can I fix this?” Joseph asks, ignoring his wife’s whoring. I turn to him and pull my gun out of my waistband. The silencer is already attached. I don’t need to hear the blast to know that a man is dead. I point it right at the center of his forehead.

I lean in to whisper to him.

“
You die
.”

I pull the trigger and watch as the man slumps down in his chair. His brains and skull explode behind him. I feel a bit dissatisfied at how easily he expired. No torture, no finesse, just a clean kill. It feels too respectful for the cunt-bitch that he is. Amelia begins to scream, but I cut her off by pointing the weapon at her head; she smartly shuts her trap.

“I should torture you after what you did to my wife, you stupid fucking cunt,” I growl.

I feel Pasha’s hand on my shoulder. Her eyes flick to him in hope that he might save her. I want to laugh. Little does she know, Pasha is the scariest fucker in the room—not me.

“Cut her up before you kill her. She does not deserve to go so quickly,” he whispers as he puts her gag back in place. He walks back to the desk, perching on the edge to watch.
Sick fuck
.

I do exactly as he says. I make slices and cuts all over her body, relishing in her muffled screams. I continue with deep gashes in her breasts, stomach, and thighs until her body goes limp. Then I slice her wrists before I slit her cunt throat.

“Mr. Lasovska, I am finished,” the doctor calls from the other side of the door, as I finish wiping off my knife.

I take in my body and notice in appreciation that I didn’t get too much blood on myself. I motion to Dimitri and quietly order him to clean up the mess; he smiles a wicked grin and nods. Pasha and I walk out of my office and are met by the doctor.

“I have finished.”

“Tell me of her injuries,” I encourage, trying to calm myself from the adrenaline of just killing and torturing my in-laws.

“She is badly bruised, of course. No broken bones and no internal bleeding or injuries that I could tell. I was most concerned with her organs because of the high heel shoe marks on her torso. Luckily, I think she came out pretty unscathed. She will be extremely sore. I have given a bottle of pain medication to help. If she throws up excessively or seems out of it, call me back,” he says. I nod taking it all in. I feel relieved that she was not more seriously injured.

I hand the doctor an envelope of cash and leave . He can let himself out of my home. I rush upstairs to see my wife—
my Haleigh
.

Once I am upstairs, I burst into the bedroom and take note that Sonia is sitting on the bed, stroking Haleigh’s hair and singing an old Russian lullaby. My tongue is thick in my throat at the sight. I never had that. I never had a mother to hold me, to sing to me when I was ill, and I never knew I wanted it until this very moment. Haleigh did not have that type of mother either, it seems. We are two people who have not been loved by our families. I wonder how can we come together and have one of our own?

Maybe this whole plan of mine, this whole obsession over my ballerina, has been a mistake?

Should I let her go to find a man capable of loving her?

I grind my teeth at the thought.

I would kill anyone who dared to touch her. I proved that just a few moments ago.

Pasha walks up behind me and places his hand on my shoulder, giving me a gentle squeeze before he speaks.

“She will be all right, Maks. You will help her, and you will protect her. Do not beat yourself up for this. Shit happens. I have never seen you as complete as I have the past couple of weeks. This life you have begun with her by your side will be a good one. As long as you stick together, you will come out of it with beauty you never knew existed,” Pasha says softly—as if he can read my thoughts. As well as my mentor knows me, he probably can. I nod and walk closer to the bed, closer to Sonia and my poor bruised wife.

“Take care of her, Maks. I know you will. The doctor injected her with pain medicine before he left, but she is to have these pills every four hours,” Sonia instructs softly before wrapping her small hand around my bicep, giving it a light squeeze. She walks out with Pasha at her side, leaving me alone with Haleigh.

I sit down on the white chair she had delivered just this morning, and I watch her chest slowly rise and fall. Everything comes crashing down as my adrenaline fades.

I have
killed
her parents.

Granted, her mother tried to hurt her, maybe even kill her, but is what I have done to them unforgivable in her eyes?

I have never cared about taking another human’s life in the past, especially if warranted. I was going by eye for an eye with her parents, but was I too hasty in my decision? They harmed what was mine, and I took action without thinking about how Haleigh would feel.

I don’t think I can go on in this life if she hates me.

Will she hate me?

I despise the fact that I do not know her well enough to gauge her reactions.

“
Maxim
.”

I hear faintly from somewhere. My head jerks up to see Haleigh’s green eyes focused on me. I fall to my knees at her side and brush the hair back from her beautiful face.

“
Angel moy
,” I whisper harshly. I can almost feel tears gathering in my eyes. If I knew how to cry, I think I would right here and now.

“My …” I put my finger over her lips.

“I know. You never have to worry about her coming here again,” I say, leaving out the fact that they are dead, so it is impossible. Haleigh nods and I give her some more pain pills.

“Tell me how to help you,” I murmur to her, my knuckles lightly running over her bruised cheek.

“Just hold me, baby,” she mutters.

I crawl into the bed next to her, my tiny little wife, and I hold her.

I kiss the side of her neck, comforting her until she falls back asleep in my arms.

Where she is forever meant to be
.