[FROLO]
The Blackwaters had not been expecting a visitor. Not in the middle of the greatest show they had ever had.
They studied Sergei.
His people and even how they operated.
They knew getting to Sergei would be a sport, which was why they were waiting.
For Sergei to finish his public battle with the realm. For Sergei to get exhausted trying to eliminate everyone who had gone after Katya. Everyone who had done things Sergei considered unforgivable.
It was really that simple.
Because at the end of the day they needed what was inside Sergei’s head.
And what better way to extract information than when he was already at his weakest? When he was tired and only wanted to rest?
Because even beasts like Sergei sought rest.
They sought out the familiarity of home.
The warmth that could only be found in one place.
And the Blackwaters had figured it all.
Sergei’s home was Katya and Yaroslav. Just those two. And maybe that was why he’d alienated everyone and chose to get to the battlefield with his perspective alone.
Not the Romanov soldiers and friends.
Just Sergei and his gang of psychos.
But then when the door opened, and Zhenya Levin walked in, the Blackwaters didn’t hold the same excitement.
Tyler, for a fact, didn’t.
Because Zhenya Levin was never a house guest.
And if he ever was, if he went through everything just to get to being a house guest, then the alarms would already be blaring.
So it wasn’t surprising that Tyler tried to run toward the different door at the top.
Tried to escape because Zhenya Levin was, after all, just another alpha, right? And Blackwater had inhibitors for alphas.
Shit that controlled the alphas they worked with.
And frankly, when Taylor deployed them to give her brother time, she had expected it would work. The simple solution that gave peace and whatever the fuck was pending.
Only that Zhenya Levin...
He was not here to play games.
Zhenya was here for answers.
Perhaps that was why he was across the door before anyone had the chance to blink.
He was too fast.
So much so that if everyone didn’t already know he was a high-ranking alpha wolf almost at the same level as Sergei...
They would’ve thought he was a vampire.
But Zhenya didn’t care about assumptions right now.
Because he had done his homework.
He had gotten his feedback.
And while he had not given Sergei the name he was supposedly seeking, Zhenya Levin had sought him out himself.
"Stop wasting your resources; they’d never work on me," Zhenya said to Taylor before he turned to Tyler, whom he’d caught by the neck.
Zhenya’s huge hand was already wrapped around that neck, squeezing the life out of the man.
To be fair...
Tyler had run.
Tried to... Anyway.
And that was the greatest giveaway.
Even before Zhenya could ask his questions.
"Latif!!" Taylor shouted into the phone.
She knew better than to try and fight a man like the president’s chief of staff. That man was huge and could murder her in an instant. And he wouldn’t even feel shit about it.
Soon Latif rushed in.
His gun aimed at Zhenya. He’d come with a few Blackwater operatives too; after all, this was about one of the Blackwater twins.
There was no time to waste.
"You know, Tyler, for someone whose sister’s heart is dependent on a pacemaker, you really know how to make terrible decisions," Zhenya chuckled, and eyes widened in the room.
Taylor.
Her pacemaker.
Shit.
"What?" Tyler managed, but not before his sister dropped to the floor with a thud.
Unconscious... Perhaps.
Dead? Most probably.
"You’re not the only one with tech apparatus, Blackwater. Some of us have been in this business long before you were conceived," Zhenya said, gripping Tyler’s throat even harder.
Then he turned to Latif, the loyal guard dog who’d been with the Blackwaters for nearly eight years now.
The man who had committed crimes that normal people would be terrified of.
"What did you do to her?" Latif demanded, his gun still pointed at Zhenya, who just chuckled like that was the stupidest thing he had ever seen this evening.
Surely they need to have better brains, right?
On the screens in the same room was footage of a drone following Sergei and his operatives.
Sergei had seen it.
The operatives too.
They’d even made hello gestures and promised not to shoot down the drone.
Yet the Blackwaters had still kept at it with the drone.
They were either stupid or had nothing left to lose.
But then they were up against someone who had absolutely nothing to lose.
Sergei had nothing.
Absolutely nothing to lose.
Not anymore.
Yaroslav and Katya were not even considered variables for this version of Sergei. And the city had to know it.
So what the fuck were the Blackwaters hoping for, playing roulette with a man who had absolutely nothing that he could be worried about?
"She is dying. Now, we don’t have to let poor Taylor die just because we’re all hungry for blood, yeah? Besides, if it’s any comfort, I didn’t come to kill Tyler today.
"I will come to kill him and all of you some other day, but I assure you it’s not today," Zhenya said, and Latif, who had never been shaken by anything...
Stared in confusion.
He didn’t understand.
He couldn’t tell whether this man was being real or not.
But there was a woman on the floor whose heart was not working.
It was just a matter of time before she was dead for real.
"What do you say, Latif? I see you have better brains than Tyler here," Zhenya said, and Latif looked at Taylor on the floor again. And this time he signalled the operatives to put their weapons down.
Hell, he put his down first.
"Fix her then," Latif said, and Zhenya smiled.
"Okay," he said and then tapped his earpiece thrice.
And Taylor gasped for air.
"See, it wasn’t very hard. Tyler and I will be in the back garden, alright? If you try anything, she will die. And if you think of trying to come for my earpiece;
"...I hope you’re not stupid enough to believe three taps on an earpiece could restart a heart. But you’re welcome to try," Zhenya said, pulling his earpiece off and breaking it on the ground with his feet.
The Blackwater operatives just watched helplessly.
They had no choice.
And when Zhenya walked out with Tyler to the back garden, they just let the man.
After all, he had said he’d come to kill them later.
Was that supposed to be relieving or terrifying?
Because even Latif had to be shaken by the sight.
And he had seen Zhenya at work a few times too many. This man...
Fuck.
It didn’t help that no one really knew what or who Zhenya was made of or really was.
They only knew him as the president’s chief of security...
Who had apparently decided to make a home visit to the Blackwaters.
How comforting, right?
And so they rushed to help Taylor.
Meanwhile, Tyler and Zhenya stared at each other, especially now that Zhenya had let Tyler be.
"Why did you run?" Zhenya asked calmly, sitting on one of the benches like he had nothing to worry about.
"Have you met YOU?"
"Yes. I am a nice person... Also, that insinuation is mean," Zhenya corrected.
And Tyler knew he was fundamentally screwed.