Page 37 of Toxic Devotion

“Go on,” he said with a wave of his hand.

“His name was Dimitri Zhutov.”

While he didn’t recognize the name, he knew it was Russian.

Cade reached into his jacket and pulled out a picture. He put it on the table between them.

He looked down at it, his heart jumping when he saw his sister smiling back at him, a man with light hair and a square jaw had his arm around her. He was looking at her as if she was his whole world.

“He was low in rank. A foot soldier. They met in secret for years and when he decided he wanted out to be with her, they were found out and killed. As far as I can tell, she was meeting him that day so they could leave together.”

Alicia knew it could’ve caused a war. She knew the whole time how dangerous it was, and she did it anyway. His sister who’d been hurt so many times by love had found someone she thought was worth the risk. She had thought because he and Neil were making it work that she and Dimitri could too. He was as responsible for her death as Neil was.

He stood, staring down at Cade, trying desperately not to fucking crumble from the guilt. He held onto the back of his chair, his knuckles going wide while his jaw ticked.

“I want a name,” he said, his voice deceptively calm while his insides were raging.

“Vetrov. Urvan Vetrov.”

He lifted his chair and threw it across the room with a shout filled with pain and anger. The rage burning inside him had his hands shaking, his heart thundering in his chest.

The fucker had killed his sister and then offered him a business deal.

He stood there for a moment, chest moving rapidly as he stared unseeing. Vetrov was going to die. He was going to suffer. He would make sure of it.

He met Rome’s gaze across the room and gave him a nod and as Rome left, he turned to Cade and said, “Thank you.”

Cade gave him a nod, his gaze filled with sympathy.

“Do you…” Cade trailed off for a moment. “Do you have someone?”

Marco straightened, the pit in his stomach feeling like it was only expanding.

Cade blew out a breath, then said, “You’re gonna need someone. Even if you don’t want him there, you shouldn’t be alone. Trust me.”

They both knew Cade was talking about Neil, but Cade didn’t know what Neil had done. He didn’t know anything about them.

“I’ll be fine,” he said and though Cade nodded, he knew the man didn’t believe him. He didn’t believe it either.

Cade walked away and he hoped for his sake that he did stay the hell away from this. Cade was a good man in his book, probably the best man he knew, but if Cade got in the way of his revenge?

He shook his head.

Best not to think about that. All he could do was wait for Rome’s call and when it came, he was ready. As ready as he would ever be. His driver took him to the docks where he had a warehouse. He walked into the building knowing no one would hear any screams from inside.

There was a chair placed in the middle of the room with a small table next to it. On that table was a bunch of tools and knives. Everything he would need to make Vetrov suffer for what he’d done.

He didn’t have to wait long before the door opened, and a man was dragged into the room cursing and screaming at themen holding him. He was dropped into the chair, hands and feet bound to it so he couldn’t move.

The men left though Rome stayed behind, standing just by the door, his vigilant gaze on Vetrov in case he tried anything. He would be stupid to. He would just die faster.

Vetrov wasn’t a small man. He was short and stocky with wide shoulders and quite the gut. He’d obviously been wearing a suit, but the jacket and dress shirt were missing and he only had on a white top. There was a small trail of blood on it. From a hit to the nose. There was still blood on Vetrov’s face, too.

“Serrano?”

Vetrov looked surprised, staring at Marco with disbelief.

“Tell me about Dimitri Zhutov,” Marco said and walked closer. There was confusion in Vetrov’s gaze, so Marco added, “You killed him?”