Chapter 86 Clearing the Decks
“They are already in the van, boss,” Val announced just as he opened the door to Kael’s office in his villa.
He was looking up at the ledger that was perched atop all of the other papers that he had just completed signing while he was seated at his antique oak desk. Clipped in between the pages were the incident scenes and the images of Flavio’s mangled body splattered on the concreted ground, almost unrecognizable. His skull had been shattered in half, and his brain had been liquefied. There was blood everywhere. Now he realized the reason why Lilia had such disturbing dreams. This wasn’t the sight that those were of the fainted hearts.
He resigned a long sharp breath and looked at Val, raked his fingers on his head, and flipped the ledger close. Kael reached out the bottle of whiskey sitting on top of his desk and poured himself a glass of it, then chugged it down in one go. The burning taste ran down to his throat, but it seemed to have roused up his sleeping disposition.
“Is everything alright?” Val asks. He saw him in his peripheral vision, looked at him with narrowed eyes while walking closer, and took the chair right in front of his desk.
“Yeah, just clearing things up before you leave.” He put down the glass and poured more whiskey. This damn drink doesn’t even feel that strong. It just tickles his throat, and that’s it. He needed something that could clear his head. He doesn’t want them to leave Italy yet, but things in Russia are not getting any better when he’s not there.
Kael drank up the whiskey and threw his head on the backrest of his swiveling chair, feeling the burning sensation slowly trailing down to his chest as he stared blankly at the ceiling. Lilia’s scared face reappeared in his mind. She was terribly shaking last night, her eyes wide in terror, and she mentioned something about a man. He noticed her mumbling incoherently in her dreams, sweating profusely, and if he didn’t wake her up that time, it could have ended in sleep paralysis.
“What did the authorities here say?” Kael tilted his head towards Val, looking at his most trusted man in his field of business. He scoffs, knowing how the authorities here in Italy suck. Well, obviously, almost all nations do, especially when it comes to matters pertaining to money. He can make a story out of his own and have it reported as truth the next day. All is possible with just a snap of his finger, and the rule of laws will be on his side.
What happened the other day when Lilia and Aya got kidnapped, he could call a battalion back up if he wanted to, but he already had a hot name for everyone in the mafia, and the country knew he was here, so as his enemies.
If they know anything about Lilia, that he had gone crazy over a woman, they could see it as his weakness.
“Flavio Clemente was one of the most wanted criminals on their list. He also committed other crimes, including robbery, in addition to the many innocent persons he had already murdered. No surprise he got a lot of money to pay those hooligans,” he said, shifting back his attention towards the ceiling.
That bastard. Kael was glad that he was dead and for good. His death was something that he didn’t imagine would go, but he couldn’t ask for even a better scenario than turning to a smoothie. He wanted to kill him with his own hands, but what Lilia did, dragging him off the railings and making him taste his own medicine, was actually quite satisfying to look at, except for the part where he thought that his Kukla would die too.
Such a terrible feeling to have, but he was glad that phase was over. Yet that couldn’t mean that there wasn’t any danger that awaited them. Kael had a lot of enemies everywhere he went, and he didn’t know who was going to make the first strike. Some were already sending him a warning. Flavio Clemente wasn’t even the first threat to him using Lilia.
Now that he thinks of her. He left her alone in his bed this morning. He didn’t want to, but he received a call from Russia that something came up and needed immediate attention personally, cutting this trip short. He wasn’t done with his business here yet, but he could send Val along with the girls back to Russia. He trusted him enough to keep Lilia safe, and he’s confident that whatever it is, he will be able to handle that in his stead.
“The girls, are they safe? Lilia, is she okay this morning? Is she acting unusual?” Worry griped him thinking about his Kukla. Last night they had spent together was something that he had not expected, assuming the trauma Lilia had gone through. Though it was also something that he could not forget. Even just now, thinking how hot it feels to be buried deep inside her aroused him, but he had to control himself, or else it could ruin his plans.
That woman could be his demise. To have her fingers wrapped around his neck and make him kneel down to her feet and kiss the very ground, she stepped in.
He doesn’t even know how to describe this kind of feeling. It was strange, alarming. Yet he was liking it. He felt terrible for leaving her this morning. He wanted to be the first person she saw when she woke up.
“I didn’t actually see them here, but I think they’re alright. They are on their way now to the runway. I’ll meet them there, don’t worry,” Val responded to his question and added, “And, oh, the old pervert died.”
Informing him that the old man who touched Lilia back in his auction house died. He suffered so much in agonizing pain. He ripped off a few of his nails, clamped out some of his remaining teeth, and tortured him to spill the beans.
Only he had told him that De Luca wanted something back.
He doesn’t know what it means. Kael was certain that the De Luca family had nothing to do with anything that he owned and possessed. They agreed to put their differences aside, give each other space, and do their own business, but now they are crossing a line that they had previously agreed upon. He already led the Russian mob while the De Luca nested here in Italy. Kael was born half Italian, and they saw him as a huge threat to them even though he wanted nothing from them aside from business deals and the passing of his cargo in this country.
“He’ll rot in hell,” Kael stated coldly, his jaw clenched at the memory of the old man touching Lilia, assaulting and scaring her.
A stretch of silence blanketed over them. Val stared at him as though he wanted to say something, but he was still sorting out the words inside his head before uttering them out. While Kael reached for his whiskey and poured another glass.
Val tapped his fingers on top of his desk. He heaved out a deep sigh before he opened his mouth and spoke. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? I can manage everything here in Italy, and you can go back to Russia with her.”
His suggestion made Kael freeze for a moment. The very thought of it was quite tempting, and for a second, he was trying to reconsider what Val had told him, but that was out of the option. He has already made up his mind and will stay here in Italy to finish his business before he can go back to Russia. He hated the fact that he’ll be away from Lilia, knowing all the dangers and threats hanging by a thread, but he couldn’t leave Italy just yet.
“No, I needed to face the De Luca personally and why they did send a rat in my nest,” he adamantly said in a stern tone, and Val saw the finality of his decision in his eyes.
“Alright, if that’s what you want. I promise to keep her safe,” his right-hand man nodded his head and stood up. Kael followed him with his eyes as he went closer to the door and twisted the knob open. Val threw him one last look over his shoulder and tipped his head in respect.
“See you.”
That was the last thing he said before finally exiting his office, leaving Kael to ruminate on his jumbled thoughts in the silence that followed.
A part of him wanted to dart outside and chase Val to switch places, but a bigger part of him thought that it was best to stay here and find out what the De Luca wanted.
“You’ll have to wait for me a bit longer, kukla,” he whispered, downing another glass of whiskey and slumping back to his chair.