My father watched me carefully. He didn’t say the name, until my gaze narrowed, daring him to keep that piece of information from me.
“Zaal. Zaal Kostava,” my father said reluctantly. I nodded, committing that name to memory.
“And where is he now? A gulag? Is he alive and fighting to the death in a fucking prison too?” Silence roared in my ears as my father refused to divulge Zaal’s situation. Bones burning, I turned to the nearest wall, and sent my fist straight into a large mirror, shattering the glass to the floor. I swerved and glared at the Pakhan and my father. Pointing a bloodied finger at their faces, I snarled, “You will tell me where he is! I need to know this.”
My father stood and approached me. “Luka. Stop!” he boomed, and I froze. My jaw clenched as I fought to rein back my rage.
“Tell me!” I growled in a guttural voice.
My father stood strong, his expression ice-cold. “This family will never help a Kostava,” he replied grimly. “No son of mine will ever help one of them.”
“Then Zaal is alive?” Kisa said from across the room. My father’s shoulders tensed.
That was a fucking hell yes. Hope sprung in my chest.
“Where is he?” I demanded.
“Luka—”
“Where is he!” I turned and paced once again. “I don’t give a fuck who he is to us. Zaal is the brother of the man who saved my life. The man I had to kill because fucking Alik Durov threw him into the cage to kill me! When he should have been free!”
I stopped right before my father, and pushed, “Now tell me where he is. Now.”
My father’s shoulders slumped and he glanced back to Kirill. The Pakhan raised his eyebrow and sat forward, catching my attention. “We have no solid proof, Luka. But our sources have reports of a man Jakhua has in his clan.” The Pakhan laughed a humorless laugh. “I say a man. More a savage fighting dog, really, from what I gather. A man conditioned to Levan Jakhua’s every command. Drugged to kill. A mountain of a man Jakhua has experimented on for so many years he’s lost all humanity. He is insane, unsalvageable. A prototype, a demonstration of some obedience drug he’s started to sell on the black market.” Kirill’s face hardened. “Started to sell to other crime organizations in my fucking city. Just one of many reasons his pitiful mob needs to be squashed.”
My muscles seized with anger. Zaal had been experimented on until he’d gone insane. A forced killer. Just like me and Anri had been. But he was alive. He was still fucking alive.
In an instant, a decision was made.
Suddenly stepping up to my father, I said, “I’m going in to the Georgian stronghold to get him. I’m getting Anri’s brother out from that piece of shit Jakhua.”
My father’s nostrils flared and his face dropped, filling with redness. “Never. No Tolstoi will ever help a Kostava!”
I stepped even closer to my father, my chest brushing against his, staring him down. “Anri wasn’t a Kostava to me,” I informed pointedly. “His family name means fuck all to me. You need to get that straight, right now.” I pointed to Kisa without looking away. “He freed me from that gulag so I could reunite with my family and marry my wife.” I inhaled slowly, and added, “I promised 362 retribution as he died. And I will honor him by saving his brother and slaughtering those who captured him.”
My father’s cheek twitched. “You go in, and you’ll start a war with the Georgians.”
I walked over to Kisa and nudged my head toward the door. Kisa followed me to the exit without question. I then turned back to my father and Kirill. “Jakhua came back to Brooklyn to take us all down, we know this to be the truth. The fucking war’s already begun. Me going in for Zaal just speeds up the conflict’s beginning.”
As I turned the doorknob, my father said, “I’ll gather our best men to help you. I won’t see you killed over this. But if you get that Kostava scum out of there alive, take him the fuck away from me and Brooklyn. Or I’ll kill him myself. I never want to lay my eyes on that family ever again.”
I nodded my head once. “Understood.”
With that, Kisa and I left the room. Kisa, clearly seeing the look of determination in my eyes, reached down and took my hand.
I wrapped my fingers through hers, then drew to a complete stop. She cupped my cheek. “What is it, lyubov moya?”
Leaning forward, I pressed my forehead to hers. “I’ll kill him, Kisa. If I get a chance, I’ll slaughter Jakhua in Anri’s honor.”