The Monster's Protege

Five

M A R C O

Past

"Seriously, Viktor?"

"What on earth took you so long?" he groused, stepping inside the house.

I slammed the door with force and turned around to face him. "What the hell are you doing here at this time?"

His gaze zeroed in on the pink woollen scarf of Jessica lying near the sofa and darted back to mine, questioningly. Then he muttered with a smirk, "Of course. Is she gone?"

"No," I said, walking towards the kitchen island.

I grabbed the bottle of scotch, and two glasses and went back towards the sofa where he had already made himself at home. His presence ensured that I would be having a crappy night so I thought I might as well get drunk for that. His suit jacket was tossed over the arms of the sofa by now, while his legs rested on top of the table.

Viktor Romano was the present Boss, after his father, Alessandro Romano, stepped down, handing him over the reins of the criminal empire. Viktor, as the youngest Boss of the Mafia family, was invincible so far. It was difficult to say whether people bowed before him out of fear or out of respect–but either way, he didn't care. If I had to put my money, I'd say fear. He was ruthless, but he was also a headstrong strategist. In short—he was the eye of the storm.

While his brother, Dominic Romano was the second-in-command, I was his enforcer. A couple of years back, I would have been a happier man, engaging in the street fights, managing the clubs and spanking the women of my choice but this fucker had to drag me back to this godforsaken place.

Had it been anyone else, I would have flat-out refused. But I couldn't refuse him. He may not have been my blood, but he was more than that. He was both a brother and a friend. The man knew what loyalty was, honoured it with his blood and for that I respected him.

But he was also a crazy fucker who thought it was okay to pay me a visit at 2 AM.

"You need to get laid," I said, nonchalantly and passed him the glass of scotch.

Viktor chugged down the whole glass in a swig in an instant. "f**k. I needed this." Then he c****d his head to the side, looking at me. "Lock the door," he said, pointing to the room where Jess was fast asleep, I presumed.

"Door's locked. She's asleep and every room is soundproof," I assured him.

Viktor wasn't paranoid, but cautious. His business, the mafia business, wasn't exactly something that one could discuss so casually. We didn't know who wore what kind of masks until the facade dropped and a bomb blew up in our own faces.

He scrubbed his face with his hands and slowly nodded. "I have an assignment for you."

I smirked knowingly. "Tell me the name and whoever he is, would be six feet under by tomorrow." That was how things had worked between us. He would give me a name and I'd finish the job for him. As simple as it got.

But this time something else happened. He ...smiled. f**k. Now, I realized this was bad. Actually, way worse.

Viktor's default mode was anger or impulsiveness. The fucker never smiled unless he was really mind-f*****g with the other person. And this time, I think, the other person was me.

The glass in my hand stopped midair and confusion stirred in my brain.

"You don't have to kill anyone," he said and gave a dramatic pause. And I actually f*****g held my breath for what was coming next. "You have to train someone."

"What?" I spat out. Putting down the glass on the table with a loud thump, I turned to face him.

"It's a girl," he said and took out his phone. Punching in some security code, he opened a document page and passed it to me.

While my eyes raked over the picture of some young girl along with informative details, he continued blabbering. "Her name's Aurora Hall. Juvenile, convicted of the homicide of her father. Currently, an escaped convict."

"Where on earth did you find her?"

"She found me."

Next, he narrated how this girl was stealing powder from the warehouse, stabbed a couple of his men and lunged at Viktor with her knife. For that act, I would actually praise her. Because grown men tend to piss in their pants in front of Viktor Romano and if she'd dared to take a shot at him-it surely was a big, f*****g deal.

But why drag my ass into this mess?

I slid the phone to his side with a snicker and decided to lift the bottle directly to my lips. And when the alcohol sufficiently burned some composure into me, I plopped it down.

"No f*****g way. I don't do kids," I said, shaking my head.

"No one's asking you to bend her over and spank her ass, asshole," he snickered. "I am asking you to train her, to teach her how to fight and kill. I need a trained woman in my army."

"Spank or fight-I am not interested, Viktor. Look, man, you want me to kill someone or torture someone; I'd be more than happy to do that for you. But I can't babysit a child for f**k's sake. Tell Dominic to handle this."

"Dominic is not the right person to do that. Besides, this girl," he pointed at the phone screen, "can't be handled by my brother. She's feisty but in every wrong way possible. You're more experienced with a blade and a gun, you know how to discipline and hence, you can handle her better."

I wanted to bang my own damn head to the wall.

"What if she's some bloody rat?"

Viktor snorted, throwing me a hard look. "You really think I wouldn't do a thorough background check until I am one hundred per cent sure?"

Of course, he would. His Intel has been impeccable so far and accurate. Besides, he had a knack for identifying rare talents. If he was so hell-bent on turning her into a little female Frankenstein, he would actually go on to any length to do that. Stubborn jerk.

I picked up the phone once again and looked at her picture intently.

"This is a bad, bad idea," my alcohol-induced brain screamed.

Aurora—this girl—had medium-long, dark hair, hazel brown eyes, and almost olive skin. Everything about her was delightful, vibrant, and verdant. In fact, her appearance justified the meaning of her name—the dawn. How in the name of hell did she end up killing people was beyond me. Not that I was judging her, but the cruel act seemed slightly beyond her.

I sensed that wheedling out of this situation would be slightly impossible because Viktor wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. If he had the urgency to drive himself here for this at two in the morning, he was dead serious.

"So?" he pressed.

"One month," I said decisively. "I can do this for one month, and after that, you can take her back. Not a day more than a month. That's the deal."

With an arrogant smirk quirking at the corner of his lips, he picked up with a bottle of scotch, which was half empty by now, and poured us a generous amount.

"Ok, I get it," he said. "One month then. But if she has the potential which I think she does, you'd be the one to train her for me after the given time. Do we have a deal now?" he asked, handing me my glass.

Unsure, I took the glass from him curiously. "And what would you do with her after I send you back to her?"

Viktor clinked his glass with mine and poured the contents directly down his throat.

"I'd kill her then." He shrugged. "She won't be any use to me without the training. And keeping her alive would be a liability. She would know a lot by then."

And I knew he actually would. Love, compassion or sympathy wasn't running through his veins. He was a monster and wouldn't show mercy unless he was getting something in return.

In this case, he wanted her loyalty. Rather demanded.

He stood up, buttoning his suit jacket and turned to me. "I will bring her to you tomorrow. She will stay with you here, in this house. And yeah, you might want to hide your paddles, whips, butt plugs and n****e clamps."

"No way in hell I am touching her in that way. I might be a bastard, but I am not a paedophile."

He shook his head. "No, I am not worried about that. She is an abuse victim, it really ticks her off. I thought you should know."

So, he was okay with killing her off, but not mentally tormenting her? Some twisted fucker he was!

"Noted. No more spanking subs in this house," I agreed with a nod. "Anything else?"

"But don't go easy on her training. She'd be one hell of a challenge to control, so I am warning you ahead of time."

I grimaced. "You're really not making this easy for me, asshole."

Viktor chuckled a little. "I am actually not making it easy for her." He strode towards the door and twisted the knob and then stopped, looking over his shoulder. "Oh, and by the way, she has a phobia of spiders. I thought you might want to use it as leverage. "

"Bloody asshole," I muttered, but the slamming of the door drowned the sound of my curse.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Cracking skulls, putting a bullet into someone's head, interrogating dickheads were my thing, inter alia, spanking grown women, and mind-boggling s*x.

But training a young girl? f**k. I didn't see that coming.