Ruthless Heir: Chapter 14

“There he is,” Tytus says, crouching down. “The lion himself.”

“He looks pissed.”

“As he should be.”

Clenching my fists, I watch as the Irish lion stalks through the darkness below. His hulking silhouette is unmistakable.

“You say he’s been at this for how long now?” I ask. Reaching under my belt, I pull out the shitty handgun I beat off some worthless pimp earlier.

“The lion’s been hunting ever since you jumped in my car with the princess,” Tytus tells me. “I’ve been trying to watch him as much as possible, but for such a big and reckless brute, he sure can be slippery.”

“What’s his mental state like?”

“Unstable.”

That’s an understatement. And it becomes clear soon enough.

On the docks below, between the rows of unloaded shipping containers, are two or so dozen men. Most are scattered about, keeping watch in strategic positions, but about half are centered around one particular cargo load.

My blood boils at just the sight of them. These are the disciples Drago was talking about. Spoiled and rotten leftovers from the Reca days. These assholes glorify the fuckers who massacred my family.

I’ll gladly help Rian rip them apart.

I just have to hope the lion doesn’t turn on me afterwards… or before.

“There he goes,” Tytus warns.

Sure enough, we spot Rian discreetly approach two watch guards as they take a cigarette break. They have AKs slung over their shoulders, just inches away from their greedy fingers.

Those few inches give Rian all the time he needs to rip them from limb to limb. There isn’t even any time for either of them to scream out for help.

In the blink of an eye, a vicious punch has cracked across the first fuckers skull, sending him tumbling down into the darkness. Before his body can hit the ground, though, Rian has slipped around to the second guard.

With a brutal efficiency, he wraps his arms around the man’s face and snaps his neck.

But the lion’s deranged fury isn’t appeased. Not yet.

All we can do is watch as Rian crushes the two fallen skulls beneath the heel of his boot. We’re too far away to hear the cracking and the squishing, but we both get the point.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stick around for back up?” Tytus asks.

Down below, Rian is already moving towards his next set of victims.

“No,” I shake my head. “He won’t kill me. Not right away. No matter how deranged he’s become. I’m the last person to have been seen with Bianca. He’ll need to know where she is before he can rip my heart out.”

“I don’t know if I can sit back and watch if he tries to hurt you.”

“So leave. This is between me and him.”

“We’ll see…”

A few short, frenzied breaths get me ready for what’s about to come.

Pain. Violence. Death.

All of my life, I’ve worshipped those three horsemen. But now, shit is different. Now, I’m not just chasing a dream. I’m working to protect what’s locked up back home.

A dream in her own right.

Bianca.

I can still smell her on me. Still feel her body clenching around my cock. Hear her cries of pleasure and pain as I ripped away the last bits of innocence from her sheltered world.

She’s far from being completely corrupted. But there’s nothing holding her back anymore. Nothing to keep her from becoming the woman I’ve always fantasized about ruling beside.

My queen.

“Wish me luck,” I mumble, shoving my second-hand gun back beneath my belt.

“I’m sure you’ll have no trouble with those Reca worshipping fuckers…”

“It’s not them I’m worried about.”

“Well, I’ve seen you fight worse monsters than a lion before. If push comes to shove, I’m betting on you coming out of that fight alive.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” I grumble. “We’re both supposed to come out of this alive.”

“Well, then let’s hope the lion’s privileged upbringing has softened his edges.”

“Bianca’s disappearance may have sharpened them again.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Tytus sighs, taking a deep breath of his own. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

“See you on the other side, brother,” I nod, before slipping down the back end of the tall shipping container we’ve been surveying from.

“I’ll be waiting.”

Tytus’ voice quickly fades into the background, engulfed by the heavy shadows of the dock below.

Running a hand through my hair, I make one last mess of myself. I’m supposed to look as disheveled as possible. If this shit has any chance of working, I’m going to have to convince Rian that my last few days have been hellish.

If only he knew the truth.

I’m not on the ground for long before I hear the first shout come from up ahead. It’s followed by a scream, and then an explosion of gunshots.

The shallow wound on the back of my knee flares up against the noise, but I bite through the bad memory. This needs to be done.

Why exactly? Shit. I fucking hate that I don’t know. All that’s certain is that this is important. Otherwise, why would Drago risk losing his golden goose?

By the time I reach the opening where the main shipping container is, the battle is already almost over. Out of the half dozen figures that were huddled there, only three remain.

It’s quickly made into two.

Then one.

Then zero.

Fuck. Despite Rian’s lethal reputation, I wasn’t expecting him to be this hardcore. He grew up in absolute wealth, after all. The oldest son of the king of the entire American underworld, Aiden Kilpatrick.

He should be more sophisticated than this. Less brutally refined. But here we are, alone on the dark docks, surrounded by bodies he just single-handedly turned into corpses.

Well, maybe we’re not completely alone. Not yet.

As Rian marches forward, towards the fresh pile of corpses, I notice that not all of them are dead. At least one is still desperately trying to crawl away.

That was probably on purpose. Rian isn’t just here to let out some rage. He’s here for answers. Drago’s rumors have already taken hold of the underworld. According to the wind, it’s the drug smugglers who have knowledge about Bianca’s whereabouts.

Rian is going to interrogate the last living fucker here. Torture him until he spills more than just his guts. And that’s bad news for me.

If the questioning is already about to begin, it means I’m late. A single sound will turn the lion’s gun towards me. And I doubt he’ll hesitate to shoot.

His massacre happened too quickly. I have no way in…

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see a flash of darkness twitch through the shadows. Then, a glint of moonlight reflects off a raised gun.

There’s no time to think. Only to act.

Ripping out my own weapon, I fire at the bleeding fucker who’s just crawled from death’s door to get one last shot in at the lion.

He doesn’t get a chance to pull the trigger before my bullet rips through his skull.

But the danger isn’t over. Hell, it’s only just begun.

“You.”

Rian’s voice is a deep and guttural roar—it’s infinite fury directed entirely at me.

“He was about to shoot—”

Before I can explain, Rian has left his half-conscious captive by the container and begun to charge my way.

His gun drops from his hand, and I know I’m in for a real fucking treat.

Tossing my own gun aside, I get ready for the carnage.

“You!” Rian repeats. He’s gone completely mad. I only get a glimpse of his wild blue eyes before he lunges at me.

There’s no point in stepping aside. In trying to talk to him. He’s not in any state to listen. I’m going to have to snap him out of this stupor with my fists.

“Fuck,” I curse, just as the lion’s heavy shoulder connects with my chest. I’m thrown backwards, only stopped by the hard steel of a shipping container.

“Where is she?” Rian roars. Raising his fist, he charges again.

This time, I don’t take his fury head on. Ducking aside, I let him dent the wall of steel behind me. But you don’t survive these kinds of fights by being completely passive. So, I throw a punch of my own.

It lands against the lion’s thick cheekbone, snapping his neck to the side.

For a moment, I think the punch might have snapped him out of it. But then I see the knife in his other hand.

“I’m not here to fight!” I yell.

But it’s too late for that. All I can do to keep from being slashed across the chest is hit the ground and roll to the side. Still, the edge of Rian’s blade catches my shirt, and a huge gash is ripped open.

The new flap temporarily blinds me, and I have to tear my shirt clean off just so I can see again.

I manage to regain my vision just in time to see Rian’s fist connect with my temple. A sharp, violent pain cracks through my entire body as I’m tackled to the ground.

“You took her!” Rian roars, his bloody hands finding my throat. Before he can get a good grip, though, I throw a solid round of punches into his hard stomach.

It makes him flinch, if only just enough to give me the room I need to roll out from under him.

“I saved her!” I shout back at him, pushing myself to my feet as my lungs begin to burn.

“Where. Is. She?”

Rian’s shirt has been ripped down both sides as well, and he takes the short break in action to tear the useless material from his body.

That’s when I see all of the fresh cuts and bruises that litter his torso. Almost every inch of his exposed flesh has some kind of shallow wound jutting across it. The ones that were created tonight still bleed. But others are a little older. Two or three days old.

Shit. Rian really hasn’t just been sitting around since the ambush. He’s been putting his life on the line to try and find Bianca.

“She was taken from me,” I lie to him, steam rising up from both our shirtless bodies.

“Then you deserve to die for failing to protect her,” Rian sneers.

His knife glimmers in the moonlight as he charges forward again. Grunting away the pain, I wait until he’s just close enough, then I jump to the side.

Rian’s quick, though, and I just barely manage to grab his thick wrist before he can slash me across the face.

“I saw who took her,” I tell him, muscles flexing as I try to keep the lion’s hand under control.

“You took her,” he spits. “I trusted you.”

His free hand cocks back and before I can move out of the way, I feel his fist connect with my clenched stomach.

The force knocks me back, loosening my grip around his wrist just enough to let him break free.

“Listen to me!” I implore. “I want to get her back just as badly as you do!”

But Rian clearly doesn’t want to believe my lies. Not even for a second. He’s thirsty for blood. Anyone’s blood.

“Bullshit,” he growls, knife still drawn.

With our eyes locked, we begin to circle each other, blood dripping from our hands and steam rising from our shirtless bodies.

“I’m not your enemy,” I lie. “But I have a description of the man who is. I know who took Bianca.”

“So do I,” Rian challenges. “It was you. The fucker who bullied her in high school. The sneaky fuck who used my uncle to become her body guard. The ghost who disappeared with my cousin and never returned. Uncle Ray tried to tell me you were either dead or locked up in some torture chamber—that it was the only reason you hadn’t returned Bianca. But I knew better. I know who you are, Gabriel Corso… even if Uncle Ray won’t tell me.”

Rian’s blue eyes turn black and I know he’s about to charge again. But before I can jump out of the way, I feel a metal barrel press against the back of my skull.

The hot air freezes, and so do I.

“Enough of this.”

It takes me a second to recognize the voice. But when I do, I know this fight is over.

Maksim Smolov.

He’s got a gun trained to the back of my head.

“You’re coming with us, son.”

“Uncle… What the hell are you doing here?” Clearly, Rian wasn’t expecting the Russian general to appear out of the shadows either.

He must have been too focused on me to give away his uncle’s sudden presence… or was that why his blue eyes suddenly turned black?

“I heard about your plan to ambush this drug shipment,” Maksim says. “It was foolish, I had to stop you.”

“You’re a little late for that,” I point out.

“Not another word from you,” Maksim warns, digging his barrel deeper into my skull. “Rian, enough is enough. You’ll be no good to anyone dead. And you’ll only be a danger to those you care for if you continue with your reckless ways. Remember why you’re here. And why you can’t go back to New York. When’s the last time you slept?”

“I’m not sleeping until I find my cousin.”

“Then you might go mad before we do.” Dropping his gun, Maksim keeps his barrel fixed on me, but chooses to threaten my spine instead of my life. “We have our lead now. Either Gabriel here is directly involved in all of this, or, as he said, he can give us a description of who is.”

“He doesn’t deserve to take another breath,” Rian shouts. “At the very best, he lost the girl he was sworn to protect.”

“Settle down, nephew,” Maksim sighs. “We’ll deal with Gabriel. One way or another, he’ll tell us all we need to know. Now, do me a favor, and go pick up that half-dead body you left crawling back there.”

Without daring to move, I peer out of the corner of my eye. towards the shipping container surrounded by corpses.

That same fucker is still trying to crawl away from his dead friends. He hasn’t gotten far.

“Sure, I’ll go fetch another witness,” Rian huffs. Straightening up, he seems to briefly snap back down to earth. “But first, I have something to say to Gabriel here.”

There’s no point in trying to lunge aside. Maksim’s gun is still dug into my back.

All I can do is clench my jaw and grit my teeth as Rian takes his hardest swing directly at my already swollen temple.

I hardly even feel any pain.

The world just goes black.