Chapter 31: The Price of Resolve

Borzoff POV

I stood outside the warehouse with the men I’d brought, waiting for Boss and Diablo to finish questioning.

We had been ordered to remain outside, and no one questioned it.

Whatever information Boss wanted, he preferred obtaining it himself.

Several minutes passed in silence before a scream suddenly echoed through the warehouse.

Every one of us instinctively turned toward the closed doors.

It wasn’t the scream of someone being beaten.

I’d spent most of my life in the Bratva.

I’d heard men scream from broken bones, knife wounds, burns, and bullets.

This was different.

There was a level of desperation in that cry that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Another scream followed only moments later.

Then another.

Each one sounded more desperate than the last, until they finally stopped altogether, leaving an uncomfortable silence hanging over the warehouse.

None of my men said a word.

Even the veterans looked uneasy.

Whatever was happening inside wasn’t something any of us wanted to interrupt.

A few moments later, the warehouse doors slowly opened.

Boss stepped out first, his expression as calm and composed as when he’d walked in.

Diablo followed a step behind him, equally unreadable.

If I hadn’t heard the screams myself, I would’ve assumed nothing unusual had happened.

Boss’s eyes settled on me.

“Borzoff.”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Bring everyone inside.”

I immediately motioned for my men to follow.

The smell of blood greeted us the moment we entered.

Three men lay motionless on the concrete floor.

There were no obvious signs of a struggle, yet the expressions frozen on their faces were enough to make even my most experienced men hesitate.

A short distance away, Gideon Malick was still alive, though only barely.

His clothes were soaked with sweat, his breathing came in ragged gasps, and his entire body trembled uncontrollably.

The instant he saw Boss walk in behind us, the fear in his eyes deepened even further.

I’d spent decades dealing with dangerous men.

I’d seen fear, panic, and despair countless times.

This was something else.

Boss glanced at Malick before looking at my men.

“Treat his injuries. Make sure he survives.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Two of my men immediately knelt beside Malick and opened the medical kit while the rest of us remained where we were.

Without saying another word, Boss walked toward the nearest member of my team and rested a hand against the side of his head.

He kept it there for several seconds before moving to the next man.

Then the next.

One after another, he repeated the exact same gesture with every member of my team.

None of us understood what he was doing.

After everything we’d heard outside that warehouse, however, none of us were foolish enough to ask.

When he finally stopped in front of me, I lowered my head instinctively.

His hand rested lightly against my forehead.

I waited for something to happen, but I felt nothing at all.

After several silent seconds, he withdrew his hand and stepped back.

“You’ll remain here for one hour,” Boss said calmly.

“Once Malick is stable, free him. When he wakes up, tell him to report that a competitor attacked the convoy, killed his escort, and escaped before reinforcements could arrive. He’ll know how to handle the rest.”

“It will be done, Boss.”

He gave a slight nod, then turned and walked toward the exit.

Diablo silently followed behind him.

I watched them leave before turning my attention back to Malick.

He had watched Boss place a hand on every one of us, and each time it happened, the terror on his face had only grown worse.

I had no idea what Boss had done, nor did I intend to find out.

Some questions were simply better left unanswered.

Chris POV

The warehouse gradually disappeared in the rearview mirror as Diablo steered the car back onto the highway.

Neither of us spoke.

Under normal circumstances, my mind should have been occupied with everything I’d learned from Malick.

Mutants living on the dark side of the Moon alongside the Inhumans.

S.H.I.E.L.D.’s cooperation with them.

Black Bolt’s existence.

Every piece of information had the potential to reshape my plans for the future.

Instead, I couldn’t stop looking at my hands.

I’d washed them before leaving the warehouse.

The blood was gone.

There wasn’t a single stain left beneath my fingernails or across my skin.

Even so, I could still feel it.

I could still remember the warmth of another person’s body, the resistance as my hand forced its way through flesh, and the horrifying sensation of my fingers closing around a beating heart.

My stomach tightened, and I slowly curled my fingers into a fist as if that alone could erase the memory.

For years, I’d convinced myself that I could kill another human being without hesitation.

I’d believed that if the day ever came, I’d simply do what needed to be done and move on.

It wasn’t an idea I’d reached overnight.

It had formed slowly after everything that had happened in both my lives.

Arthur had been sent to the mines because of my decisions.

Countless people had suffered because of choices I’d made.

Some had probably died because of them.

Somewhere along the way, I’d started believing there wasn’t much difference between ruining someone’s life and personally ending it.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

For a brief, horrifying instant, my mind replaced the Hydra guard with Gwen.

Then Helen.

The image struck so suddenly that my hand had started shaking before I’d forced myself to continue.

Even now, I could remember the panic that flashed through me as I imagined someone stronger doing the same thing to them.

It lasted less than a second, but that single second shattered everything I’d believed about myself.

The reality was nothing like the fantasy I’d built in my head.

If I truly lacked empathy, my hands wouldn’t have shaken.

My stomach wouldn’t still be twisting itself into knots.

I wouldn’t still be replaying the moment over and over again, wishing I could forget how it felt.

I’d spent years convincing myself I could take a life without feeling anything.

Reality had proven otherwise.

What surprised me even more was everything that followed.

I could still hear my own voice inside that warehouse.

“Are you satisfied? Or do you want to see your own blood next?”

Then came the threats.

I told him exactly how I would keep him alive while taking him apart piece by piece.

Looking back on it now, I realized something that hadn’t occurred to me at the time.

None of those words had been mine.

I hadn’t been speaking from instinct or enjoyment.

I’d been performing.

Every crime documentary, psychological thriller, and movie villain I’d watched in my previous life had blended together inside my subconscious.

Without realizing it, I’d borrowed their mannerisms, their confidence, even the way they spoke.

I hadn’t become a monster inside that warehouse.

I’d simply played the role of one because Malick needed to believe every word that came out of my mouth.

A quiet, humorless laugh escaped me.

“So that’s what really happened…”

The car continued forward while silence settled between Diablo and me once again.

I tried to push those thoughts aside and focus on the information we’d gained.

The words Inhumans and Black Bolt immediately resurfaced.

Of all the revelations Malick had given me, those two were easily the most terrifying.

Black Bolt wasn’t just another powerful superhuman.

One careless whisper from him could erase me before I ever had the chance to react.

I’d already been planning around people like Odin, the Ancient One, and the Celestials.

Now I had another walking natural disaster to worry about.

“…Great.”

The word barely left my mouth before another wave of nausea rolled through me.

I swallowed, hoping it would pass.

It didn’t.

Instead, the sensation only grew stronger until it became impossible to ignore.

“Diablo,” I said quietly.

“Yes, my lord?”

“Pull over.”

Diablo didn’t ask why.

He simply guided the car toward the side of the road and brought it to a smooth stop.

Before the engine had fully settled into silence, I stepped out and walked toward a small patch of trees a short distance away.

The fresh air helped for all of three seconds.

Then my stomach gave up.

I doubled over as everything I’d eaten earlier came back up.

The nausea hit so suddenly that I barely had time to brace myself against a nearby tree.

Even after there was nothing left, my body continued to retch, leaving my throat burning and my eyes watering.

I remained there for several moments, breathing heavily, waiting for the dizziness to pass.