All Of Me (Book 3 of Lastor Series)

Chapter 6

I slung my coat around my shoulders as I walked away, my body humming in the sweet, sweet relief of releasing my control over myself after being caged for such a long time. It was almost just shy of enough to sate the frustrating boredom tormenting me.

Ah, if I could just f**k right now.

As I stepped out the doors, everyone stiffened in attention, their eyes pinned on me as if marveling at the spectacle of my living. I looked out into the other side where Malachi's comrades waited and slowly made my way to them. Artie was the only one who had his senses and yelled out an order to follow me. They snapped out of their daze and moved, coming up behind me. I heard someone from the other side declare to their men to prepare for contact as they raised their guns. I held up a hand and my men halted their advance while I continued, stopping at the front line.

"Who's second-in-command?" I called out.

A tall man wearing the same black combat fatigues as Malachi broke away from the ranks, approaching me. "I am."

He had a black mask covering the lower half of his face and a cap over his head, and I couldn't gauge his expression but when he stopped in front of me, black ringed grey eyes steeled on me with sharp focus. Just like when I met eyes with Malachi's moss green pair, I felt a burst of anxiety. Both of them had such a heavy stare, as if they were seeing every little thing on the surface and beyond it, but unlike Malachi who was clearly in awe of me, this man so vividly wished death upon me.

"Do you mind?" I asked, gesturing at the lower half of my face. "I don't like not seeing who I'm talking to."

His eyes narrowed slightly. "I do mind and I care not what you dislike."

There it was again, that accent I couldn't place. It wasn't purely American nor any European accent but at the same time it wasn't neither. It was somewhere in between. Ah, wait. Time. Their accent was from a different time period. Maybe early 20th century, basing from their conversational habits. Then there was the habitual formality in their manner of speaking, like they were f*****g aristocrats or some s**t.

I raked my eyes over him, my mind running amok. I couldn't make a conclusive analysis on their characters. There were too many nonsensical variables and unknown elements. It was proving to be a bother, dealing with them.

"May I at least know your name?" I requested courteously.

He paused briefly, considering it. "Jakob."

I nodded, closing the distance between us. "Do you want me, Jakob?" He stared, looking unsure of how to answer. "Malachi was desperate for me. Are you the same?"

"No. I'd rather kill you but we have orders to bring you alive," he said flatly.

I smirked. "So? Can you take me then?" He looked behind me, taking in the barricade of men at my back and grudgingly admitting his defeat as he lowered his head. "You're about several brain cells too short to challenge me," I said in amusement. "Though I admit, the element of surprise really did give your revelation an impact. Maybe with a more inept or easily shaken target, your objective could have been accomplished flawlessly." I tucked a lock of hair covering my eye behind my ear, looking up at him through my lashes. "But I am neither inept nor easily shaken."

He didn't react in the way most men did with my alluring attempts. He almost looked annoyed. As if I was insulting him by flirting with him. I guess I didn't look too desirable right now.

"Would you be mine?" I asked.

He blinked at me. "I... I beg your pardon?"

I folded my arms across my chest, licking my lips. "I think you and Malachi would be a nice addition to my ranks. You just need a little tending to." I tilted my head, looking behind him. "Are there others like you two within your team?" He didn't respond and I looked at him again. "Your current employer, what do they provide you with? Whatever it is, I can exceed it."

His eyes brightened with fury. "We are not for sale," he hissed.

I arched a brow. "Oh? So all this..." I gestured around us. "Were done out of... devotion? Not profit?" I smirked. "Now I really want to make you mine."

"We will never be," he spat back. "We only have one master and we live, breathe, fight, and die for him."

"Him?" I echoed. "So you were sent by a man who wants to use me to wage a war against the Lastor family." He faltered and I chuckled. "That narrows the variables a bit." I sensed him raise his defenses, his eyes suddenly becoming vacant. "Your master is right. I can help him destroy my family. Alone, I could do it if I just gave the effort but I don't have the motivation to endure the bother it would be. So come back and give me one." I stepped closer. "Make it worth my submission and I will lay myself at your master's feet."

He looked at me suspiciously. "You... are sparing us?"

"No. I also have orders, which is to support Malachi's extraction in exchange for letting me have my way with him," I said with a smile. "But the order didn't explicitly require me to be in command so you'll have to bear with my protégé. Gia, come!"

She shuffled through the men, coming up beside me. Jakob eyed her with such gravity that it would have crushed a common person. The brat just looked at him as if he was the dirt on the soles of her designer knee-high leather boots.

"This is her first war," I informed Jakob. "She's been a failure for most of it, which is more my fault than hers. I hadn't predicted it would come to this and she was unprepared. My intention now is for her to learn from this failure so give her your best, though I ask you spare her life. Otherwise, we will all have to deal with her father's wrath."

"Angel," Georgina hissed.

"I... I don't understand," Jakob mumbled, his guard dropping slightly. "Are you... mocking me?"

I chuckled. "Why, of course not. I only want to give you a chance to retrieve Malachi so he may come to play with me again." He stiffened, his eyes snapping towards the warehouse. "Yeah, he's alive."

He snapped his eyes back to me, raking his gaze over my beaten body. "What have you done to him?"

I arched a brow. "I just collected his partial payment, is all."

I reached up, flicking the rim of his cap. He flinched, shifting his stance and gripping his rifle just as I put my hand on it. I twisted it out of his grip and tossed it up, letting it fly over his shoulder as the strap hung against his neck. He leapt back and quickly pulled out the pistol on his holster. When he raised it, I thrust out my arm and grabbed the barrel, pressing the magazine release with my thumb and letting it drop on the ground. I yanked him forward, snatching the dagger tucked on his hip and holding it to his neck. He swallowed, breathing heavily as he looked down at me with the typical shock in his eyes that big men often had whenever they found themselves at my mercy.

"You and Malachi are quite highly-trained. Near perfection, I must say," I praised, pressing the tip of the dagger against his skin. "But in your perfection lies your downfall. You both move the way a text book says you should. It's predictable." I tilted my head, reaching for his mask but he snapped his head back, glaring at me. "I want to remember you," I murmured softly.

He looked at me in confusion. "What?"

"I find you and Malachi fascinating anomalies of a different nature than those I've encountered so far," I explained, boring eyes into his in attempt to see more of him. "It's rare for me, to come across something I can't grasp. It's... exciting." I sighed in dismay. "It's a waste though, that your master doesn't seem to appreciate how valuable you are. If you were mine, I'd never send you to your death." I let him go, turning to Georgiana and placing my hand on her shoulder. "Tag. You're it," I said as I walked away.

I flipped the dagger in my hand and sent it flying to Jakob who easily dodged it. I gave him a parting smile before turning my head to face front, walking ahead.

"Retreat the half," I ordered to Artie as I passed him.

He relayed the order before sidling up next to me as I headed to an awaiting SUV. We climbed into the backseat and the driver pulled out, the sound of Georgiana commanding my remaining forces following our wake.

"Are you sure it's wise to leave them be, Miss Lastor?" Artie asked in a quiet voice. "They will surely come after you again."

I sighed, shifting to lean my head on his arm. "And I'll face them again," I replied. "And I'll spare them so they can keep coming until they prove they are worthy of everything I am and have."

"You're interested in the person they serve."

I nodded. "A person who can completely own such deadly anomalies that they would break themselves just to uphold his command." I sighed, smiling faintly. "What a master he must be."

*********

I sat on the floor, going through all the documents we gathered from Leonti's office and deciphering the sloppy codes he had used. Artie and his assistant gathered the finished files, compiling them and categorizing them to be archived, and bringing me more.

I caught Georgiana entering the suite, seemingly less perfect now that she's truly become a Lastor. The extraction had been a failure, apparently, and she'd spent the entirety of yesterday being yelled at by my brother. I would have felt sorry for her but I'd given her the resources to conduct the extraction, she was just too incompetent. For now. Once I was done with her, this failure would be just another brick on the foundations of her empire.

"How can you still keep working?" she asked as she dropped herself on the chair across from me. "I can barely think."

"Pain helps me stay focused."

She scoffed. "God, you're so damaged."

I snickered. "How's the interrogation coming along?"

"Nowhere," she replied, sighing.

I snorted. "You'll be fine. Just keep at it."

"I lost a team of valuable agents, two of which were our blood, Leonti's dead, and Malachi is gone. How is that fine?" she spat.

I shrugged. "We have all of Leonti's files on his operations. It will be fine."

"It will take weeks to decode all of this," she said in frustration. "We don't have the luxury of time."

I sighed, tossing the file to my right and taking another from the pile on my left. "That's not really my problem."

She scoffed. "Yes, it is, you just don't want it to be."

I rolled my eyes. "You're interrogating his second-in-command, yeah? He probably knows just as much as Leonti. Keep working on him."

"We have been. He won't break," she muttered weakly, tilting her head back against the couch.

I took a drag from my electronic cigarette, the sweet taste of strawberries filling my mouth and even sweeter pain shooting through my upper body as my bruised ribs contracted from the deep inhale.

"Maksim just had his first grandchild," I mumbled, adjusting the sling on my right arm to make it easier to type. "He's a shitty father and husband but so far, he's doted on the boy."

"You found records of his family?" she asked dubiously.

"Here? No," I muttered, transcribing the file to my laptop. "But I had an asset on him. He kept them hidden to avoid being used against him and he never saw them in person so it was effective but when his daughter died during a complication while she was giving birth, he went to the funeral. He was greatly affected by her death and seems to have become attached to the boy. He visits him every few weeks now."

"I'm not gonna harm a child, Angel."

"I didn't say you should but knowing you have that information and can easily take advantage of it will chip away at his resolve." I took another drag, exhaling the thick fog of smoke through my nostrils. "Torture is complex. How you conduct it depends on what you want to gain out of your subject. If it's submission, you take away their hope and unravel their minds but that s**t takes time and commitment. If it's simply interrogation, you can just pile pain on pain until they give in but I've found that whatever information you gain through that is mostly unreliable. Personally, I prefer using psychological and emotional torment. Physical pain is direct and temporary. But if you plant terror in their mind, they can't help but nurture it with their own terrors." I tossed the file and took another one, typing up what I found as I went through it. "If you do it right, the growth is exponential and they will break under its weight in no time."

"What makes you so sure?" she countered. "This man... he's murdered hundreds of people. Human life is inconsequential to him, he said so himself. I don't expect him to care more about one life than his."

I scoffed. "Very few people are truly alone in this world. It's in our nature to seek and cherish the companionship from others." I flipped the pages, scanning the rest of the details and finding them irrelevant. I tossed it and took another file. "All it takes is caring for one life that isn't your own and everyone can be broken by it. The more intense your feelings for that person is, the easier you are to break. No matter how evil and heartless you are, once you care, you're done. Whatever he claims, his grandchild is the most precious thing in the world to him." I lifted my head to look at her. "If not, then I guess you have to use pain."

She stared at the table, seemingly contemplating my words. "What's the child's name?"

I brought my attention back on the file, typing as I went along. "Pavel. He has this beautiful thick head of hair and a dimpled chin like his grandfather. Maksim calls him Pasha."

"You're despicable." She sighed, getting to her feet. "Oh, right, I was told you found something?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well? Are you going to tell me what it is?"

"Sure, it's gonna cost you though," I muttered, carrying on with my work. "My services are no longer free at this point."

"What do you mean? You said-"

"I was clear, wasn't I?" I cut in. "I would support your operation. The operation was completed, albeit a colossal failure. If you want my continued support, you're gonna have to pay just like everybody else."

"Are you seriously doing this right now?" she hissed. I shrugged. She groaned, stomping out of the room and coming back a few minutes later in a fury. "Master Jude has issued an order for your cooperation."

I smiled, closing the file and tossing it aside before looking at her. "Then let this be an official motion to disregard his order. Could you pass it along?"

She glared at me, not responding. I went back to work, humming as I read through a file. She walked out again, slamming the door behind her.

"You can't disregard a direct order from the Head, Miss Lastor," I heard Artie say from the dining area where he worked on his share of the files.

"I know, but I'm trying something," I mumbled, noting the common pattern the file I was reading had with a few others.

Georgiana stormed back inside in a huff. "He's denying your unreasonable motion."

"Okay." I pushed myself up to my feet and grabbed my boots. "I'm gonna go pop in at the hospital and see how everyone's holding up. Art, you coming?"

"No, I'd like to finish these as fast as possible, but please take care."

I shrugged. "See ya later, then."

Georgiana blocked my way, looking at me in confusion. "What- are you... are you being spiteful out of boredom again?"

"No, but if I continue working on this, my ignorance will be further compromised." I gestured at the pile of folders to my right. "I've isolated a number of files showing a pattern that is shared across several high value transactions between Leonti's organization and one single client." I opened my laptop, showing her the compressed version of the files relating to the client. "The transactions stand out because it seems to be a recently acquired client, less than a year to be exact, and yet Leonti made shipments of various goods twice as much as any large scale organization for them. I have an awareness of all organizations that require a regular shipment of arms and soldiers, most are warlords and drug cartels. I know which clients are poached and where they've gone." I shut the laptop when she leaned down to read the screen. "This client's transactions with Leonti do not coincide with any organization's business he acquired in the past year. That can only mean they have never done business with anyone else but Leonti, which means they're newcomers. The volume and specificity of their purchases say otherwise, so that can only mean that though the organization is new, the management is high level and recently left their original organization. Now, from there, narrowing down possible identities of the client in question is basically child's play. Quite frankly, trying not to think of it is more taxing." I paused, yawning. "This entity is clearly preparing for a violent war and the oddity of the Lastor family having any bad blood with a trafficker is too unlikely, which means Leonti isn't really who you're after. You want this client, who Malachi and Jakob work for, which is why when Malachi presented himself, you didn't care about Leonti anymore. The existence of a mercenary as skilled as Malachi in the equation speaks of the influence and wealth this client possesses, and I'm sure he isn't the only agent of the same caliber they have. Jakob certainly looked capable enough." I slid my left arm into the sling my right was constrained in, tilting my head. "Now, according to the parameters of the agreement I have with the council, I am not obliged in any way to be involved in conflicts or business ventures the family and the company is in the middle of. Though, I'd be willing to provide my services for a price. How does granting my niece her freedom and autonomy sound? Stella asked me to be Lily's godmother and I couldn't think of any decent gifts."

She just stared at me and I turned my head away to avoid reading her. She was so f*****g transparent.

"I... I need a minute," she whispered, hightailing out of the suite.

I dropped myself on the couch, taking another drag from my electronic cigarette and tilting my head back, blowing out the smoke and letting it fall over my face. Georgiana came back a few minutes later, looking all stiff and wary as she approached me.

"Before I respond to your offer, tell me, what is the name of the client?" she demanded.

I sighed, closing my eyes as it became too exhausting to keep them open. "Unfortunately, Leonti used non-descriptive codenames for all his clients. This particular client's codename... well, that's classified information I can only provide to my clients."

"So you don't know their identity?"

I sighed again. So f*****g transparent. "If I let myself, I could figure it out, but it's clear that you don't want me to know so I won't dig further unless you employ me. Like I said, I have no interest in getting involved. At least without profiting off my efforts."

"Then we're rejecting your services," she declared. "All files relating to the client you isolated will be surrendered to me, along with the decryption keys."

I scoffed. "Decrypt them yourselves."

"We had an agreement that any intel gathered from this operation would be shared between our parties," she protested firmly. "And after indulging your whim, you should at least cooperate this much."

I sensed her move and I extended my leg, resting a foot on my laptop while remaining seated. "You can have a copy of all the files," I said, opening my eyes and looking at her through the tip of my nose. "But whatever we found through our own efforts are out of the scope of our agreement."

"If you do not-"

"I paid for my freedom." I rose to my feet, walking over the coffee table. She backed away when I closed the remaining distance between us. "Allowing their lackadaisical operation to be conducted within mine was a courtesy. A gesture of respect. Not an invitation to impose upon me. If they want to use me further, they must pay in kind."

"We are in the middle of an impending attack from the greatest enemy our family could ever face," she hissed, standing her ground and towering over me in her high heels. "If you actually cared about your niece's life, you would return to your place beside your brother because right now, you're costing us losses we cannot afford."

I tilted my head. "If this enemy is really that much of a threat, then wouldn't it make sense for my brother not to spare any expense or resource in the effort to rid of it?" I asked, arching a brow. "The price I ask is for his daughter's freedom and autonomy, he should be glad to pay it but he won't because he doesn't really want me involved." I stepped closer to her. "Leonti didn't start actively trying to challenge me until a few months ago and he had no reason to anyway. We had a non-compete agreement. We didn't poach each other's clients and any time we had conflict in the past, we resolved it pragmatically. Leonti was a business man, not a war freak. He always chose profit over blood. This war was too costly for him, I don't doubt he was aware of that, and yet he never entertained our efforts to negotiate a resolution. It didn't make sense before but now, I realize he wasn't really the one in control. Malachi implied he used Leonti to get to me. Malachi was sent by his master. A man Jude doesn't want me to be aware of to the point that he'd disregard his own daughter just to keep me from knowing their identity." I sighed, shaking my head. "Jude doesn't trust me. So why should I devote myself to this war?"

"Because it is your duty as his right hand," she fired back.

I scoffed. "I've been released from my duties to him. I don't owe him my loyalty."

"You were brought into this world to serve Master Jude!" she snapped. "You were plucked from the shadows and acknowledged as a Lastor! You owe him your existence, you ungrateful bastard!"

It was clear she regretted her words the moment she realized she'd uttered them. But it was too late.

Before I could restrain myself, I had slammed her against the wall and was holding her neck in one hand, wishing I could crush it. She was wide eyed and ashen-faced as she stared at me, looking like she was seeing the devil and she was gonna scream. But her mouth just stayed open as if she wanted me to shove my arm down her throat and rip out her guts.

"Do you think it's easy?" I whispered, tears blurring my sight of her. "Living for myself? Because it's not. But don't you see?" I jostled her. "I can't give him my life anymore, not with the way I am now. I'm nothing. How can I be his equal when I'm nothing?" I tightened my grip around her throat and she started choking, grasping at my arm. "He made me this way. He took Father and now I'm nothing. Worthless. Weak. Useless. Pitiful. Filth. Dis-"

"Miss Lastor!" I heard Artie call. "Let her go. Please, for your own sake."

I gritted my teeth, letting her go and hitting the wall in frustration until my knuckles burned while Georgiana screamed. The door was suddenly kicked open, followed by a rush of footsteps and the sound of guns being drawn.

"Step away from Lady Georgiana!" one of her guards snarled.

"Lower your weapon!" I heard Aran snap back.

They started threatening and yelling at each other. I laughed, amusement at this absurd situation ridding me of my rage.

"Ah, my bad," I mumbled, resting my forehead on Georgiana's shoulder and hitting the wall again. This time, to punish myself. "I've been away from my love for too long. I'm starting to go bad again." I raised my head, cupping her cheek with my bloody hand. "You need to be careful now, Gia. I might break and no one here is equipped to put me back together."

"I... I'm sorry," she whispered as she shook against me. "I didn't-"

"You meant it, don't lie," I murmured quietly, pushing myself off her and backing away. She gasped for breath, sliding down to the floor while her trembling kept on. "I may be unworthy to stand beside my brother but that doesn't mean I can't be used as a weapon. Tell him that," I said before heading to my bedroom. "Though the fee for my services stands as stated."

As I shut the door, I fell to my knees as the unwitting loss of my control triggered an onslaught of panic. I scrambled to take out my phone from my pocket, the blood from my hand making it hard to get the f*****g screen to work. I managed to press call on Rick's contact number and held it to my ear as the line rang while I struggled to keep myself from breaking all over again.

"Angel, I'm at work and I'm not ready to talk to you yet," he said when he answered. "I'm still-"

"Babe," I choked out. "Help."

"s**t," he bit out, recognizing the situation instantly. "Breathe, baby." I took in a gasp of breath, clutching my chest as pain burst from all over. "Focus. Don't let it take over. Stay in control."

I did as he said, consciously taking back control over myself and subjugating everything inside me, forcing it all back in the cage I'd made for it. I kept breathing deeply, clawing at my chest as I tried to loosen the tight knots that made it hurt so bad.

"Fait mal," (Hurts) I cried in between gasps of breath. "Allez-vous en." (Go away.)

"No, no, are you scratching? Stop," he said urgently. "Just... shut down. Right now."

I bent over, pressing my forehead to the floor and consciously making myself shut down. I ripped the sling off my right arm and wrapped both arms around myself, raking my nails down my skin and focusing on the pain. Pain was my salvation whenever Rick couldn't give me peace.

When I finally regained control over my mind and breathing, I sat up, disregarding the nausea that lingered.

I picked up the phone again, holding it to my ear. "Babe?"

"I'm here," he responded immediately.

I sucked in a breath, screwing my eyes shut as my unstable hold on my control wavered. "I'm going bad."

He let out a harsh breath. "You'll be okay. Just come back to me."

I bit my lip, smothering a cry. "Are you still pissed?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry."

"I don't need you to apologize. I just need you to come back so I can take care of you properly."

"I'm going to be f****d up for a while again," I said, clutching my forehead as it throbbed. "Is that okay?"

He took a deep breath, sighing. "I'll help you get better again."

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "It's so hard to love me, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but the morning blowjobs make up for it."

I smiled. "You're such an ass."

He sighed. "Don't be cute. I'm pissed at you. When you get back here, I'm going to scream at you."

I laughed and just in this moment, my life didn't feel so pointless and I wasn't nothing.