Chapter 37 - Turning The Cards

Chapter 37 - Turning The Cards
~ Erik ~

“How is she?” I immediately asked as soon as Amano stepped out of the private hospital room. Four hours had passed since the abduction of Daniella and I am yet to find out the details from Suri who had sustained a gunshot wound in her left thigh.

I am extremely fidgety and itching to kill someone right now, but since I needed to ask Suri first, I stayed the whole four hours in the waiting area.

“Suri’s doing fine, Prez,” Amano replied with relief in his eyes. Just a few hours ago, he was beyond containment insisting on being by Suri’s side during the operation. Vincent had talked him through it and he had calmed down a little bit since then.

“The bullet that had lodged in her thigh has already been taken out. She is under recovery now.”

Good. Now I can go on asking her.

“Can she talk?” I said, drawing wrinkles in my brows. “Is she allowed to? I need to ask her all that had happened in the restaurant.”

He sighed and made a faint smile.

“Actually, she needs to rest, but you can talk to her now. The surgeons said she’s been asking for you even before the operation started.”

Huh. That’s Suri alright.

With a quick nod, I pushed the white door to enter.

Suri was lying on the bed with two pillows propped up behind her. Intravenous line was attached in her left hand while the injured thigh was elevated with a pulley. She was looking at me already, eyes expectant and overshadowed with sadness.

“Prez...” she uttered weakly.

I strode to her side and sat on a vacant chair; my hands clasped on my lap. “I want you to tell me everything,” I ordered without preliminaries.

She nodded once and started in a raspy voice.

“Men wearing black masks took her Prez. I’m sorry. I really am. I wasn’t able to save her.”

“You did your duty,” I stated, assuring her that my anger was not directed to her. “Now tell me about those men.”

She drew her eyes to the ceiling as if recollecting the earlier bullet-flying scene. Then, she took a deep breath and looked at me with certainty.

“Their actions were coordinated, Prez. They weren’t there to rob the restaurant or the customers. It looked to me that Daniella was their target since the beginning.”

I remained silent and took in the information with great control. I had suspicion this was the case. I only want to hear it from Suri firsthand to confirm it.

“Prez, I am not so sure about this, but I have a feeling that this is the work of Iopata,” she continued and my mouth hardened into a thin line.

“Iopata doesn’t know her,” I supplied. “I don’t see any reason why they would target her. She maybe a club member but she is harmless.”

“I think you know the answer to that, Prez,” she looked at me with enough depth to say that she knew of my attachment to Daniella.

“It can’t be,” I clenched my fists. “I don’t think they know about our relationship.”

“There’s always a possibility for everything especially when it comes to your father,” she asserted.

A sense of dread rushed through me.

Closing my eyes, I realized that Suri had a logical point. The possibilities are endless when it comes to my father. But how? They don’t know the Club existed to exterminate their brotherhood. They don’t know that I am still alive. I had made sure of that. They don’t know about Daniella. So how? How did they found out?

“Has Daniella said anything to you?” I asked another question once I looked at her again. “Maybe something that you can find weird?”

Suri shook her head weakly and answered, “No, she didn’t. We mostly talk about common things, Prez, but she did say something about a birthday party project that will be held in the chateau this coming October nine. I don’t consider it weird, but I’d like to know if you heard about it from her?”

“No,” I quickly replied, “she said nothing to me about that.”

Her brows furrowed and she would have commented something about it if not for the sudden opening of the door.

“Prez!”

Karl quickly entered the room with Amano and Rohan following behind him.

“We have news!” he said a little winded.

I bolted up from the chair and stood almost growling at him.

“What is it? Tell me!”

He eyed Rohan first and then back to me and said, “Luca said that Mr. Svanetti will be in NY today for a meeting with another drug cartel.”

I arched a brow finding that Luca himself didn’t report this information to me.

But to hell with it. I don’t even care at all about this big news.

“I don’t want to know that!” I shouted which had them taken aback. “What I want to know is Daniella’s whereabouts! Who kidnapped her and where did they take her!”

Karl looked down on the floor with saddened eyes and inhaled deeply. “I’m sorry Prez. I’m still working on it. Her cellphone was left in her bag and the bag is now kept in the police station for evidence purposes. The traffic cameras of the Land and Transportation Department that I’ve hacked didn’t show enough angles of the crime scene and their getaway. I’m still monitoring the 911 line for any telltale signs of the black van.”

“Then double time Karl. I need results ASAP,” I reminded him darkly.

If anything happens to her, I don’t know how I will be able to manage it.

“Prez,” Rohan stepped in and asked for my attention.

“What?” I huffed.

“In the meantime, I think it is wise that we should increase the surveillance of Iopata. For all we know, they are the ones who took Daniella.”

He looked at me without blinking. Probably, if I wasn’t in a fouler mood, he would have teased me about the fact that Daniella and I spent the whole day yesterday together in my room.

My shoulders relaxed a bit at the thought of it. Daniella... My precious Sweet Rose... My fiery nymph writhing in pleasure under me....

“You and Suri have the same thoughts, Rohan, and I reckon all the other Club members share that,” I stated after keeping my wild thoughts at bay.

He cleared his throat while the other two diverted their eyes away from me.

I am yet to announce that Daniella and I are official, but it seems they were aware of it already.

“Okay, up the surveillance of Iopata Karl,” I ordered after a deep breath.

“Ye-yes Prez!” he frantically replied as I walked past him and out of the room in quick strides.

Driving my Ferrari like a mad man, I arrived in the chateau for less than five minutes. The information Suri told me about the party project Daniella was organizing seemed to catch my attention more than usual. When I reached the second floor, I immediately went to Vincent’s studio hoping to catch him there.

He wasn’t, so I dialed his cellphone just as I marched to my club office.

“Vincent, where are you?” was my immediate question.

“I’m still here at the Beverly Hills police department, Prez. Why?”

Of course, I remembered that he volunteered to go there to get some firsthand info about the investigation of Daniella’s case.

“I need to ask you something.”

“What is it Prez?”

“Have you authorized a birthday party to be held here six days from now?” I asked, almost arriving at the door of my office.

He was silent for a moment and then replied, “Uh, yes, Prez. I have authorized one that will be at the President’s Hall. It is organized by Daniella and her team.”

“Where’s the request form?” I pushed open the door with my free hand and strolled directly to my executive chair.

“I placed it in your office desk. Why? Is there something wrong?”

I didn’t reply. Instead, with great focus, I checked on the forms that were pilled up in front of me.

“It is sponsored by a Mr. Hyde Startsev to his friend, Nikola Antov, Prez. I haven’t heard about their names but it seems they are wealthy people.”

My scanning of the papers stopped abruptly.

“What did you say?” I stated just as I found the form that I was looking for.

“I said it is sponsored by a Mr. Hyde Startsev to his friend—”

“Shit,” I cut in. My jaw clenched as I read a certain familiar name in the client box.

“Prez, what’s the matter?” Vincent’s voice broke out through the receiver.

“That Hyde Startsev, Vincent, is a henchman of my father,” I announced through gritted teeth.

It had probably dawned on him a little bit late because when he did, after several seconds, he exclaimed, “No, Daniella!”

Just as I expected, he had the same conclusion as me.

Still holding the phone in my ear, I strolled out of the office with angry strides.

“Leave that place Vincent. You’ll find no development in there other than your time wasted,” I instructed him, knowing that the police have no clue that they are dealing with a Russian mafia.

“Are we going to New York, Prez? Luca says your father is there.”

“No,” was my clipped reply, “You stay here and lead the others.”

“Are you saying that you will go there alone?!” There was half-panic, half-disbelief in his voice.

I pressed the button of our private elevator and just as the doors slid open, I answered with a determined voice, “It’s time to resurrect the Nikolai Svanetti name, Vincent.”

I heard him gasp through the mouthpiece and yelled, “You are showing yourself to your father?!”

I sighed.

“I don’t have a choice. If Hyde is putting Daniella under hostage because of me, it won’t be pretty. He can do appalling things to her before this day is through!”

“But Erik!”

There, with him using my name, I knew then that he was serious.

If he was here with me, he would have probably looked at me darkly with those stormy violet eyes - the same ones in his blood thirsty past.

I stepped inside the lift and just as the doors slid close, I told him this: “You know what to do Vince. Do your job and I will do mine.”

~ Daniella ~

I woke up quickly sitting straight and gasping for air amidst the spacious and properly ventilated room. My hands were pressed against my burning chest and my dry mouth open as I let in a large volume of air into my lungs.

“Suri... Suri!!!” I yelled in panic, my eyes widening as flashbacks of memories replayed in my head from the time when Suri fought like a trained Amazon warrior against the two masked men and from the time when she lay limp on the ground with a wounded thigh, unconscious due to the hard blow she received from the supposed leader of my abductors.

It hurt to remember her like that and just as expected, tears pooled in my eyes.

“Suri... oh God, I hope you’re fine!” Clasping my hands and keeping my eyes shut, I prayed silently until I heard a familiar voice from the right side of my bed.

“You’re awake already?”

Glancing at the source with a surprised face, I saw a man sitting in a solo sofa; his features unrecognizable because of the wetness of my eyes and the dimness of the room lighting - specifically the fire burning in the hearth.

If I remember correctly, the rooms in the chateau were modernized, ridding all of the outdated fireplace and exchanged with a heater. If there was one in front of me, then that means I am not in the chateau anymore.

Fear rose in my throat.

“Who are you?!” With a shaky breath, I asked on impulse, knowing that the familiar voice came not from Erik or any other club members.

I remember clearly that I was abducted by the masked men. I fought on my freedom, but failed right after they forced an injectable blue liquid on my vein, looking similar of that Lotus Spade drug I had inadvertently ingested. I lost consciousness minutes after that, but it was enough for me to realize that these men might be connected with Iopata Bratva.

“You forget me that easily?” he asked sounding really disappointed amidst the tone of surprise. He stood up casually from the chair and then stepped into the light.

From there, I saw who he was and my mouth dropped open.

“Luca?!”

“Ah, there!” his eyes seemed to twinkle against the firelight. “It makes me happy that you acknowledge my presence.”

He crossed the little space that distanced us, but before he could come nearer, on instinct, I stood up. I immediately found that I can’t step further away from him though. Why? Because my right wrist was loosely on a handcuff, connected to a long thin chain attached to the headboard. I didn’t even realize that I was in restraints until now.

“What’s this?” I asked, finding the handcuff weird when I am not Luca’s prisoner.

“Precautionary measures. The boss doesn’t want you escaping or attacking him,” he answered, standing inches away from me and wearing a slight grin.

“What are you talking about?” Confused, I arched a brow, but then after a moment of scanning the room and putting the facts together, my eyes rounded. “Oh no... Are you one of them?!”

And like the bored man that I think he was, he just shrugged his shoulders and asked, “What do you mean one of them?”

I hissed. “Don’t toy with me Luca,” I grounded. “Iopata. Have you changed sides?”

As much as it was nauseous to think about it, I had to. The safety of the Club was at stake here!

“No, I simply transferred to the group who pays better,” he answered me nonchalantly.

The bastard.

“But the Club trusted you!” I yelled at his face. “They fucking trusted you!”

“Then they shouldn’t have!” he abruptly retorted. He leaned close to my face and continued, “Trust is very valuable when one is living a dangerous life, Daniella. They shouldn’t place it in a man who had been an Iopata dog for years.”

“But you were spying Iopata! That’s what you are supposed to do! Not be part of them!” I clenched my teeth in frustration.

“Survival of the fittest babe, or in my case, survival of the cleverest. I am supposed to be a spy, but the boss found out about me. Of course, so that I wouldn’t be killed, I had to switch sides and give him information about the Club and your President.”

“No... you bastard!” I spat out and glared at him full.

He grabbed the chain that shook with my anger and pulled it along with my wrist. His free hand reached for my waist and pulled me close against his chest. I pushed back but he yanked the chain down. I came along with it, clashing back into his chest, face first.

“Hmmm, still feisty even when handcuffed huh?” he breathed above my head. I scowled at his neck, daring not to lift my head to see his traitorous face and risk being kissed again. “Let’s see what will become of you when you meet the boss.”

“I am in no mood to meet Erik’s father!” I proclaimed, putting one hand in between us.

“Oh? So you know already his true identity?”

His free hand grabbed my jaw and raised my face to see his amused expression.

Instead of answering him, I gritted my teeth.

“Ahhh... as expected of the President’s whore.”

I am not a whore! my thoughts immediately reacted. The tears that I had held back because of the memory of Suri now flowed easily down my cheeks. I was crying not because of the word he used to name me, but because of the helplessness I was feeling.

Most likely, the Club didn’t know that Luca was a traitor. I wanted to tell them about it, but I was already in a hopeless situation.

“Erik will find out about this and when he does, you will be sorry!” I announced attempting to lift my spirits and ruin his.

But then, he just released me (my butt hitting the mattress in the process) and chuckled confidently. “Oh yes, I’m looking forward to it babe. I’m looking forward to it.”

I would have answered sharply back if not for a short thud on the door demanding our attention.

“Ahh, it seems the boss has arrived,” I heard Luca say just as I drew my eyes on it.

“Show some respect if you don’t want anything to happen to you,” he advised as if I needed one, but on second thought, it might do me good to remember it when facing the most wanted mafia boss that was Erik’s father.

When the man stepped inside though, my mouth dropped a lot wider than earlier. I expected the boss to be a tall, menacing old man with a beard and sideburns but no. The person gliding towards me was the complete opposite of it. He was tall, young, and darkly handsome.

“Hah!” I gasped and stood up straight as if he demanded me to do so through telepathy. “Er—Erik!?”