Chapter 136: Leverage

I struggle underneath Derek as he refuses to let me get up. I want to know if Felix is ok and what has happened. I hear a few more shots and then Logan shouting.

“Don’t let the bastard get away!”

“Stay here, Lily. I mean it. Logan needs my help but I can’t be worrying about you,” Derek tells me. He jumps up and runs after Logan. The gunfire has ceased and I look around. I raise my head carefully and see a couple of Ivanov’s men and one of Logan’s dead on the floor of the restaurant.

Felix is nowhere to be found and I breathe a sigh of relief. Then I see Nicholai, the owner, staring at me with vacant eyes. He must have gotten caught in the crossfire. I slowly rise to my feet and then move towards the kitchen where I saw the guys run. The staff is all on the floor with their hands covering their heads. They don’t look afraid so I imagine they have dealt with this sort of thing before. Not surprising considering their clientele.

I walk briskly through the kitchen and see a back door swinging open. Once I reach it, I see Derek and Logan running from a distance. A sound makes me jump and I turn to my left to see Felix slumped against the building with his head in his hands.

“Felix? Are you ok?” I ask him, crouching down and putting my hand on his shoulder. He looks up at me with bloodshot eyes and a devastated expression.

“He got to her. I swear I was careful. I covered my tracks, made sure she was far away with a new identity...I was so careful…” his voice breaks and his whole body starts shaking. I lean in and put my arms around him.

“You did everything you could, Felix. It’s not your fault,” I tell him soothingly. He sobs and shakes and I try to comfort him, but I have no words that can make up for what has happened to that poor innocent girl. My blood boils and I pray that Logan puts a bullet between his eyes.

After a short while, Derek and Logan come back with the other men looking defeated. Felix has calmed down but he’s just staring at nothing in complete silence. Derek shakes his head when I look at him with a questioning gaze.

“We need to move. It will only be a matter of time before Ivanov gathers men for retaliation,” Logan says.

“What about his brother?” I ask him.

“My men have him, or whoever it was that Ivanov had locked up in that warehouse. They already had instructions to extract him when I gave the word. He seems to be a little malnourished and beaten up but he’s alive,” Logan replies. Felix barely registers what we are saying and Derek moves to help him up. He brushes him off and stands on his own. He seems to have gone inside himself, but he is coherent enough to understand us.

“Let’s go to the rendezvous point and then we can head back to the safe house to make a plan,” Logan suggests. We make it back to the car and it’s a quiet drive to an abandoned glass factory a few miles away. Logan’s men make sure we weren’t followed and escort us into the building, which is so dilapidated I’m concerned it’s going to cave in on us if we make any sudden moves. Once we get inside there is a scrawny man with stringy blonde hair and eyes the same color as Felix.

“Oscar?” Felix says cautiously. The man looks up and his eyes widen.

“Is that you Felix?” he says in a scratchy voice.

“I thought you died in the fire,” Felix replies.

“I thought you did too,” Oscar says.

“I went out that night and came home to see it burning. Where have you been all this time?” Felix asks him.

“Here and there. I was so scared. I heard Mama screaming and I thought everyone was dead. I just ran and kept running until I hit the next town over. Some nice people took me in for a bit but I got restless. I didn’t want to be anywhere near home anymore, so I just grifted for a while from place to place,” Oscar says. It seems odd to me that he didn’t bother sticking around to see if any members of his family survived, but I keep my mouth shut.

“I can’t figure out how Ivanov found you,” Felix remarks.

“I worked for him. Then one day his men came and locked me up. I have no idea why,” Oscar replies.

“Did you ever tell anyone about the fire?” Felix asks suspiciously.

“One guy. He and I were both couriers for Ivanov and we became...close,” Oscars says and his face turns beet red, like he’s ashamed for some reason.

“Ivanov asked me when we met if I had any family that would miss me and I told him my whole family died in a fire. He must have put two and two together. When I betrayed him, he must have thought he was pretty clever having that leverage,” Felix says.

“Jerome would never have betrayed me! Like I said, we were close,” Oscar insists.

“You’re in a relationship with him?” Felix asks. Oscar looks away, confirming my suspicions that he is gay.

“I was...they shot him in the head...right in front of me,” Oscar says in a broken voice. Felix looks at him with sympathy.

“I’m sorry, Oscar. Ivanov is an evil man and you didn’t deserve that. He was angry at me and you paid the price. This is all my fault,” Felix tells him. Oscar looks up at him with wet eyes and an odd look on his face.

“No, Felix. It is what I deserve. I killed our entire family,” Oscar admits quietly. Felix looks at him with a shocked expression.

“What are you talking about?” Felix asks.

“I’m the one that set the fire,” Oscar replies and hangs his head in shame.