Page 54 of Mine To Possess
Our conversation is interrupted by a loud crashing sound coming from the living room. I whirl in the direction of the sound, then turn to Justine and we just stand there, looking at each other in surprise for a second.
“What the hell was that?” I ask. “Is Lacey smashing up the house or what?”
“Lacey’s upstairs,” Justine answers.
It hits me then what the noise was. Breaking glass. It has to be the patio door that leads out onto the balcony. Someone must have climbed over the fence to avoid security. I don’t think in that moment; I just take off in anger in the direction of the living room.
“Amelia, wait. It could be anyone. Let’s call the police,” she says.
I shake my head. “Whoever it is, Viktor won’t want the police involved. He’ll want to deal with this his way.”
She runs to hit the alarm button hidden behind the fridge. “Just wait here, Amelia. The security guys will already be on their way to the house.”
That’s when we hear a loud bang that can only be a gunshot, followed by a scream of pain. This time, neither of us hesitate. The scream was Lacey. It sounds like someone has shot her. The only tiny bit of comfort I find in the situation is if she is screaming in pain, she isn’t dead.
I’m almost at the living room door, Justine a step or two behind me. I burst into the living room ahead of Justine and freeze in my tracks.
The scene in the living room is crazy. Broken glass litters the floor. The patio door has been broken completely out of its frame. Lacey is on the ground and she’s bleeding. Thank God, the blood seems to be coming from her leg. She’s sitting up clutching it. Tears are running down her white face, but she’s conscious and I think she’ll be ok.
But none of that caused me to freeze. I froze because I see who is in the room. Igor. And his gun is now pointed at me, and not at my leg but my chest.
“Don’t come any closer or I swear I’ll shoot you. Where the fuck is Viktor?”
29
VIKTOR
Ireally didn’t want to be late leaving the office and getting home tonight. In fact, I had planned on finishing work a little early and surprising Amelia by turning up early with her favorite take-out curry. I’d wrapped everything up in the office, and things were looking good for me getting away early when I got a call from Jerome.
He’d gotten word of a safe house where Igor was supposedly staying and the exact location of it. He found out it belonged to an old friend of Igor’s and Igor was the only person staying in it. I abandoned my plans for an early finish and told Jerome to come pick me up and head over to Igor’s.
Now I’m sitting in Jerome’s car, cursing the traffic that’s turning the journey into a frustrating nightmare. I’m buzzing with energy, sitting on the edge of my seat, adrenaline rushing through my body. I’m finally going to get the revenge I’m due for my restaurant, the people who lost their lives and were injured there. And most of all, I’m going to get my revenge for the fact that Amelia could have been hurt in that fire.
“How much further?” I ask.
“Not far. Another couple of blocks,” he says. “If the traffic stays like this, ten minutes maximum. And it’ll be quicker if it thins out a bit.”
I nod impatiently. I just want to arrive there, get this whole thing over with, and go back to having a quiet life. Once I’ve dealt with Igor, I’ll be able to relax about Amelia. I’ll be able to go out to places, even places I don’t own or haven’t vetted, without me looking over my shoulder, paranoid that something bad will happen to her.
I can see now that’s no way to live, not for either of us.
We finally catch a break in the traffic and Jerome puts his foot down. We have to hurry, not just because I’m hell bent on getting this over with tonight, but because Igor could move again. Jerome’s men have obviously been asking questions, and while I know they’ll have done their best to be subtle about it, there’s always a chance someone will talk. If Igor knows we’re coming for him, there’s no way in hell he’s going to just sit around waiting for us.
Jerome finally pulls the car up to the curb.
“This is it, boss,” he says.
He nods out of the window to a mid-row terraced house. The house looks like it's seen better days and the garden is overgrown, but the same could be said for ninety percent of the houses on the block. A couple of young boys are kicking a ball around on the road a few yards down from where we’ve parked, and in one of the scruffy gardens over the road, a group of teenage girls are passing a bottle of cheap white liquor around between them. When I open the car door, the smell of weed is heavy in the air. I figure it’s not just a bottle of liquor the girls are passing between themselves.
Jerome gets out of the other side of the car and waits for me to come and meet him on the pavement outside of the house.
“What’s the plan?” he asks. “Are you carrying?”
“No. I came straight from the office. We’re going to go in there, root out the little fucking rat, and I’m going to kill the fucker with my bare hands. That’s the plan.”
“Works for me,” Jerome says with a wry grin. “Now?”
“Now,” I confirm.