Still Drakes POV
I did not meet up with Liam as I intended, I have almost all the thugs, snitches, and drug peddlers in the street searching for that van. There is no way they can get those kids out of this city unless they switch cars. I’m hoping they are found before it gets to that point, I need them to be found before their trail goes cold.
“Can I get their pictures?” I asked Casey, snapping her from her thoughts. She had been silent for some time, and I wondered what could be going through her mind.
“I don’t have it, I’m not allowed to have their pictures. I only get to chat with them on video calls, and that is if I behave myself and try not to annoy Austin. He sends me their pictures once a month so I can forward them to dad and mom and stop them from asking too many questions about my kids and our well-being.
I get distracted by their pictures, whenever he gives them to me, I tend to stare longingly at them for too long. That’s why he made me delete them immediately. But I have one of…” She paused when I stepped on the brakes and glared angrily at her.
“How could you live with that monster, why didn’t you speak out and seek for help, why!” I screamed in her face, banging my fist on the steering. I can’t even begin to imagine what she has been through, how could he be so heartless to his own children? How could a father deprive his own kids of the love and care of their mother, isn’t that insanity?
“God help me, I’ll kill that bastard. He’s a dead man!
I’ll fucking kill him!” I yelled at no one in particular, banging my hand on the steering and imagining it to be Austin’s face. She got down from my car and walked back to the SUV that has been following us all this time. I rode in my car with her, while my guys followed behind us in the SUV. I don’t know where she is going to, but I’m glad she left because I need a few minutes to clear my head. The anger is choking me to death, and if I don’t find Austin anytime soon, I will need to find someone or something to punch and release some stress.
She came back a few minutes later, and she was holding a phone in her hand. I was a bit calm when she returned and when she got in, she handed me the phone in her hand and she acted as if she never said anything to me.
“Before your angry outburst, I was about to tell you that I have one of their pictures on Tyler’s phone. One time, when he ordered me to forward the picture to mom and dad, I added a third email address to the recipient’s list without his knowledge or consent. I forwarded it to Tyler so I can easily see the faces of my kids if I wanted to. If I knew that his love for me would be the end of his life, I would have steered clear of him.
It’s so sad to think of a life without him, he deserves better. He is such a caring lover, and I wish I could trade places with him. I wish I can turn back the hands of the clock. I would never have agreed to this sham of a marriage. I would have done everything in my power to stop Tyler from falling in love with me and getting himself killed.
I’m all alone, and your anger and outburst won’t fill the void in my heart, you certainly can’t do anything to change my condition. All you need to do is to concentrate on finding that monster. And when you finally catch up to him, I’m going to do the honors, Drake. I’ll fucking kill him myself.” She let out fiercely, her face contorted in anger.
“No, Sey-Sey…
I can’t let you do it, it would take a toll on you. You will never be the same after taking a life. Killing puts up with toll on you, and it turns you into an unrecognizable monster. You will never be the same again, you will keep thinking about it every fucking day, and you will never forgive yourself. It will be like a burden on your shoulders and you will carry it for the rest of your life. I’m talking from experience, Casey. I need you to listen to me this time, I need you to trust me to handle it myself. I promise you, he won’t get away with what he has put you through. I will make him pay, I will fucking…”
“Bulshit!
That’s fucking bullshit!
No one will stop me from having my revenge on that monster!
He hurt me, Drake, and he hurt my kids too. He shot Tyler right in front of me and he was going to force me to bury my lover in cold blood. If you had not shown up to interrupt us, I would still be digging a fucking grave for Tyler.
It would be a cold day in hell before I can let you kill Austin. That monster is mine to slay, no one will stop me from killing him.” She swore. I kept looking at her in surprise. I know how she feels, but I can’t watch her get overcome by the pain in her heart. She will never forgive herself, it would hunt her for the rest of her life. I can’t let her go through all that, she may be hurt and broken, or even crazily furious, but the fact still remains that Austin Foster is the father of her kids. At one point in time, they must have shared a moment that will be worth remembering someday. Whenever she thinks of that moment, she would recall that she had killed him herself, and we will relive that moment over and over again.
Besides, her kids are too young to understand what is going on, they may ask her about their father someday, and she will not have any answers to offer to them. For all she knows, he could have lied to them about their mom. He could be spending time with them, teaching them to hate her. If they find out that she had killed him, they will never forgive her. It . ay create a rift between her and her kids, a rift that can never be amended. Will I be able to live with myself if I let her do this, how do I get her to stand down?
Am I overthinking it?
Maybe she is just bluffing, I mean, she can’t be serious about killing him by her husband, right?
I guess I’ll just wait until I find him first. I’ll sort it all out in due time, for now, I need to focus on the mission. She unlocked the phone and pulled up their pictures from the email she had sent to her boyfriend. I took the phone from her and I viewed the pretty faces of her kids. They look so pretty and sharp, I’m already falling in love with them and I have never even met them. They look so pretty and innocent, it’s hard to believe that they are being hurt by their father. I guess he takes quite a bit of time to get them ready for this picture. He is simply trying to take their eyes off his damn business, and he succeeded in tricking them all this while because I’m sure that my father would have investigated the matter to find out what was going on.
I transferred the picture to my phone, then I forwarded them to Liam, ordering him to make copies of the pictures and share them with everyone he has searching for them, including the dirty cops on our payroll. I need them to organize a secret roadblock and search every car and bus for the girls and Austin. They have their sources, so I’m sure they can get information for their snitches on the street.
When I was done with all that, I decided to pay a visit to the Bratva leader, also known as Pakhan. I need to know his take on the matter, I want to know what he has been doing all this while and why he hasn’t found Austin yet. I arrived at the headquarters in record time, and I went straight to his private office, ignoring the warning from his guards who claimed that he is with some visitors. I barged in on his meeting and I forced his visitors out of his office, then I took their position in front of him, looking him straight in the eyes.
“Eto der’mo s Ostinom dlitsya slishkom dolgo. YA dumal, ty budesh’ dostatochno umen, chtoby ostanovit’ yego, ne zlya menya. No, kazhetsya, ty poluchayesh’ koye-chto, nablyudaya, kak on razrushayet moyu sem’yu. Ty zhdesh’, poka on voz’met menya, chtoby u vas byla vozmozhnost’ svergnut’ mafiyu?
Yesli eto to, chego ty khochesh’, yesli ty igrayesh’ so mnoy v etu igru, to ya dolzhen predupredit’ tebya pryamo seychas, Pakhan…
Vy stupayete na opasnuyu pochvu, vam luchshe khoroshen’ko podumat’, prezhde chem vy reshite poyti protiv menya. ya tak legko ne sdamsya, ya budu drat’sya, Pakhan, i pover’ mne, ya budu drat’sya gryazno, – strogo predupredil ya yego, ne shutya.
This shit with Austin has gone on for far too long. I thought you would be smart enough to stop him without pissing me off. But it seem you have something to gain from watching him destroy my family. Are you waiting for him to take me out so you can have the opportunity to overthrow the mafia?
If that is what you want, if that is the game you are playing with me, then I need to warn you right now, Pakhan…
You are treading on dangerous grounds, you better think carefully before you decide to go against me. I don’t go down easily, I’m going to fight back, Pakhan, and trust me, I’ll fight dirty.” I warned him sternly, not mincing my words.
“Konechno, net, Kapo. YA by nikogda ne podumal poyti protiv vas. Tol’ko gryaznyy osmelilsya by poyti na voynu s Krestnym ottsom, i ya ne durak, ne zabluzhdaytes’ na etot schet.
Ostin Foster ochen’ khitryy chelovek. On perekhitril menya kazhdyy raz, kogda ya pytayus’ ostanovit’ yego. On byl odnim iz nas, i on dostig polozheniya kapitana, poka byl zdes’. On obuchal svoikh soldat byt’ sil’nymi, i u nego luchshiye iz nashikh lyudey, to yest’ moi lyudi.
YA ne slepoy, Kapo. ya vizhu, chto on delayet, i vy dolzhny mne poverit’, ya pytayus’ ostanovit’ yego, ya deystvitel’no pytalsya. No kazhdyy raz, kogda my vstupayem s nim v voynu, my zakanchivayem tem, chto ubivayem drug druga, a eto nepravil’no. Yego voiny po-prezhnemu nashi brat’ya. YA ne mogu prodolzhat’ drat’sya s Ostinom, eto prosto sdelalo by menya chertovym litsemerom.
Prosti, Kapo. No vy sami po sebe. YA khotel by pomoch’ vam nayti yego, ya takzhe khochu yego unichtozhit’, no eto protiv nashikh pravil ubivat’ nashikh brat’yev, – solgal on skvoz’ zuby, pritvoryayas’ grustnym.
“Of course not, Capo. I would never think of going against you. Only a foul would dare to go to war with the Godfather, and I am no fool, make no mistake about that.
Austin Foster is a very tricky man. He outsmarts me every time I try to stop him. He was one of us, and he attained the position of Captain while he was here. He trained his soldiers to be strong, and he has the best of our men, I mean, my men.
i am not blind, Capo. I see the things he does and you have to believe me, I try to stop him, I really tried. But each time we go to war with him, we end up killing each other, and that is not the right thing to do. His warriors are still our brothers. I cant continue fighting Austin, that would simply make me a bloody hypocrite.
I’m sorry, Capo. But you are on your own. I wish I can help you find him, I wish to take him down as well, but that is against our rules to kill our brothers.” he lied through his teeth, feigning sadness. It’s easy to see that he is faking it, and I wondered why he would chose to mess with me at this point when I’m looking for someone to vent on.