Chapter 154

Vladimir:

I watched as Konstantin walked out of the room, not even bothering to look at Elena who was still on the floor.

I looked at the man over my shoulder, hearing his footsteps as he walked down the stairs before I walked toward her. Her eyes met mine as I extended my hand, and I nodded in encouragement, ushering her to listen to me. She hesitated for a moment before taking my hand as I helped her stand. 

She didn’t say a word, she didn’t need to. Her eyes spoke more than her lips ever would, and when she wrapped her arms around me, hugging me, I wrapped mine around her, hugging her back just as tightly, wanting to cradle her in my embrace. 

I knew that we were going to have to be fast and discrete, but at least I let her know that I was willing to do what it took to defend her against anyone who dared harm her. I kissed the crown of her head before pulling away to look her in the eye. I nodded in assurance and gave her a quick wink before taking a step back. 

“I’ll see you tonight,” I whispered before walking out of the room. I knew not to wait for a response from her, and considering the fact that I could hear the maids rushing toward her room after hearing the racket downstairs, I knew to be quick to leave. 

“Sir…”

“Stay with Mrs. Elena,” I said, looking at one of the maids who wanted to ask what to do, clearly panicked with what she was hearing. The sound of glass breaking took me off guard, and though I wanted to smirk, I knew to control myself so as not to give out how amusing I was finding this. I knew that Konstantin was furious and though I had to admit, I didn’t expect him to be, I was glad to know that this was another step closer to getting rid of the fucker’s right hand. 

“Who the fuck did you think you were to lay a finger on my wife?” He asked, pinning the man against a wall. “You were ONLY allowed to escort her out of the room while she walked with the maids. You were not to touch her or speak to her!”

“I thought that she killed…”

“YOU DO NOT REACT WITHOUT MY ORDER!” Konstantin yelled, stopping the man. I knew that it was time for me to interfere. Nothing would be better than having a fucker like Batrov owing me something, and this was the most that I could settle for, for now. The man was going to do his best not to push his luck, and that only made my job easier.

“Konstantin, enough,” I said, wrapping my hand around the man’s shoulder, pulling him back from his right hand. He glared at me and I could tell that he wanted nothing more than to punch me in the face, but he knew better than to do so if he wanted to keep his hand after the earlier stunt of his. “You are going to end up killing the man.”

I looked around the room that we were in, it was more of a bar and office, and I couldn’t help but frown at the number of broken bottles and scattered papers. The liquid from a few bottles poured, and a woman, not older than twenty, sat in the far corner wearing nothing but a bodice and panties, shielded her face as if afraid that she was next in the reign of terror that Konstantin was inflicting within the house’s grounds. 

Batrov dropped to the ground, his face badly bruised and cut. I had already left the two of them for a few minutes as I tended to my mate and the man’s face was already rearranged. And though it was a sight to see; I knew better than to show how pleased I was with this. Plus, there was also the fact that I knew that the fucker had hurt my mate and I was yet to make him pay for it. 

“You interfere in my businesses one more time, and I swear that not only would I send you back as a corpse…”

“I am not a man for you to threaten, Konstantin. Heir or not, you are going to mind your limits with me before I force you to, and you know for fucking fact that you do not want to find yourself in a problem with me.” I said, stopping the man, reminding him of what happened between the two of us earlier. “There is a lot for you to explain and I am excusing your anger right now, but you are going to kill the man. I doubt that it is something that you can or should afford to do when you have no substitute to someone that you trust with everything that you have within your Estate, home, and grounds.” 

“And that should interest you…?”

“It does not,” I said, stopping him. “Batrov is the last man that I would be caring about. But I was Killian’s second hand and no one, not a single person, knows his Pakhan, his plans, and what he has to work on more than a second hand, and with no one that you trust; you would be foolish enough to let the man go. Mind you, I doubt that you even have the time or energy to find yourself the right man.”

“Oh, you really don’t know who you are looking, speaking, or referring to when you say that I wouldn’t find the right man.” He said, looking me dead in the eye. He looked at Batrov for a second before shaking his head. “You should be thankful for Vladimir here. Had it been up to me, you would have been long dead.”

“Boss…”

“Starting today, you are no longer my second hand. You are stripped of all your titles and you would be no more than a fucking doorman. You can choose the door that you want to take charge of and make sure that it is not one that I would lay an eye on you. Death would be too easy for you and you have made more mistakes in the past couple of weeks, making me wonder why I even hired or trusted you in the first place.” He said, stopping the man. I frowned in confusion before he looked at me. His eyes met mine and he smirked. “And you, son, are my secondhand.”

Batrov’s eyes widened and I could hear his heart racing as he processed his boss’s words. They were the last thing that even I expected to hear, but knowing that, I knew that we were both one step closer and ten back as I knew that his eyes would be more on me than ever.

“It is time that we start training you to be boss.” He said, looking me dead in the eye. “And this is how we are going to start…”