Page 38 of Pistols and Plush Toys

It had worked out well up until now. Nikolai maintained the street with his money, made sure vital repairs were done. In return, his neighbors gave him a heads up when they noticed suspicious cars or loitering or had heard any rumors related to him.

But now one of them might die. Might die because of the decisions Nikolai had made.

No. Because of what Vitale had done.

His hands curled into fists as he stomped up the steps and into the house. It was almost sunrise, and he had a long, long dayahead of him. There were fires to put out, staff to relocate,the cops to handle.

Fucking Vitale. All of this because he didn’t want tonegotiateover getting Brooks safely returned to him?

Automatically, as if drawn to the cause of all this mess, his legs took him in the direction of Brooks’s bedroom, all the while his thoughts kept circling like sharks.

Who blew up a fucking building?

That wasn’t the kind of game they were supposed to be playing. Now they were in some real shit. Kidnapping, arson, and potentially homicide. It reminded Nikolai too much of his youth. Being in that house, seeing all that pain and suffering up close, the brutality with which his father ran his empire, Nikolai never wanted to be that. He’d taken so, so many steps not to be that.

This was supposed to be simple, like toppling a poorly constructed house of cards. He’d just needed to send a sign that he wasn’t going to toleratethat kind of businessin his city.

Now a woman’s life was on the line.

Without thinking, Nikolai unbolted the door to the bedroom and threw it open with a bang.

There were no lights on in the room and the curtains had been drawn, so it was only the light coming in behind him that allowed him to see into the room. Brooks had startled up in bed at the noise, crying out when he saw Nikolai in the doorway.

He was afraid, and that only drove the spike of anger that much deeper in.

“If Vitale wants to fuck with me, then that is how it is,” Nikolai growled as he crossed the room. He did it in just three strides and grabbed Brooks. It wasn’t gentle, the way he took hold of Brooks's upper arm and dragged him out of the bed. The man came stumbling, almost falling.

“W-what?” His voice was small, groggy from sleep.

“He wants to fuck with people’s lives? Fuck with me? I will show him what it means, fucking with a Tkachenko. He wants to see me play the bad guy? Fine. I know what it takes to be bad guy. We are going to be making another message. Maybe this time your boyfriend willlisten.”

Brooks let out a whimper of a noise as Nikolai pulled him along, but it was so small Nikolai barely heard it. Ideas were sliding into his head rapidfire as he stomped out of the bedroom, dragging Brooks behind him. The car was still outside, and it could take him to a filming location. He didn’t need props, didn’t need Gerard’s approval, not for this. Gerard would understand.

Maybe he should do something other than a video. He could make Brooks call Vitale, make him plead on Vitale’s answering machine for his life.

That would be sickly satisfying. Without the visuals it would even be better. He wouldn’t have to do anything to Brooks other than to scare him, and Vitale’s imagination would fill in the blanks.

Yes. Yes, that was… a plan.

They got to the front of the house and Nikolai threw the front door open.

“P-please,” Brooks’s voice was a quivering thing. “Please—“

“What are you begging me for?”Nikolai spit it in Russian, slipping into his first tongue in his anger. English wasn’t strong enough, not right now.“A woman is going to die because your shitstain of a boyfriend wants his drug empire. Wants to traffic women into the city, pimp them out. You’re complicit, do you understand that? This is on you too.”Nikolai snarled.“I don’t even think he wants you, you’re just a toy to him. You cannot fix this! I cannot fix this!”

“I-I’m sorry,” Brooks whispered. “I-I don’t understand—”

Nikolai switched back to English, shaking Brooks by the arm. “What are you worth, Elliot Brooks? I take you for peace, but there is none. Maybe I am too soft. Maybe I must crush cockroaches with my boot.”

He turned around and continued through the door, jerking Brooks with him. If his father saw him now, he’d be laughing. Or maybe he’d just stand there in that stony way of his and look down at Nikolai impassively.

I expect failure from you, so now I am never disappointed.His father had said those words to him so many times they were burned into memory. Every time he came up short, he heard those words in the back of his mind like venom.

If there was ever a time to feel like a failure, it was now. He shouldn’t have tried the soft method with Vitale. He should’ve considered that vermin like him didn’t have ethics or morals.

Brooks made another sound, almost a choked sob, before it was hastily stifled as he struggled to keep pace with Nikolai’s longer, angry stride. Nikolai had a vice grip around Brooks's arm as he made his way down the steps toward the car parked at the far edge of the driveway, so he felt when Brooks stumbled again, when the man lost his balance and went down.

The motion jerked Nikolai to a stop, and when he turned to snap at Brooks to pick himself back up, Brooks was already hastily scrambling to his feet, gasping out an apology. He winced as he stood, and Nikolai’s focus narrowed to Brooks’s knee, which was bleeding.

---