V is for Violet (COMPLETE)

Chapter Nineteen- It is Way Too Soon For This Sh*t

Violet

Four days it took for Steven to crack the Russians' security code. After months of others trying before him, he did it in four days. I could see how impressed everyone was by the way the men kept glancing his way during dinner that evening, and I was proud to have helped in whatever way I could. I may have been a prisoner, but I felt like I'd finally done something to prove I wasn't against the Family, that I was just after Bill after all.

"I mean," I was telling Cheridan, "this has to make them believe me. I just solved a problem they've been trying to fix for weeks."

"Months," Cheridan corrected. She rubbed her slightly protruding belly as she spoke. "The problem with the Fedorov's has been going on a lot longer than you've been here. Ben's been stressed about it more lately, but the first attacks on our clubs happened all the way back in January."

I raised an eyebrow. "They've been going on that long and we, I mean uh, the Family hasn't retaliated yet?" I swallowed at my little catch in words, but Cheridan didn't seem to notice or care enough to point it out.

"I mean, they've been attacking our girls, not our men," she reasoned. "And at first, it was just harassment. Breaking the no-touch rules with the strippers, or trying to get some of our girls to leave the club, when there's a strict safety policy against it. But then it got worse, where they were even trying to get the waitresses alone. It wasn't until the first of the girls started getting kidnapped that the Family was ready to fight back, and by then, it was too late. Luca had betrayed more information than we could have possibly known."

I stared at Cheridan for a long time before whistling long and low. "I just keep underestimating you, my dearest friend," I noted with a grin. "First, you're 'secretly' seeing one of the Family members, then you're pulling guns on the Irish mafia, and now this. I mean, don't get me wrong, I know a bit about the criminal underground. A bit too much, maybe, but you never struck me as the type to know all the dirty secrets. You're just so sweet!"

"Sweet!" Shandy exclaimed, popping up between us. "You should have seen her when she still had periods. She was nothing even near sweet."

I laughed and shook my head. "Thank God for the pregnancy glow. That sounds scary, you gun-toting maniac."

"Real rich, coming from the girl who shot Bill Pfeiffer!" cackled Shandy, and I lost it.

The three of us laughed for a minute before I cleared my throat to calm myself. "Okay, but in all seriousness," I said finally, "How big is this thing? Like, what are we dealing with?"

"Big enough that our Family has officially declared war on theirs," Cheridan sighed. I swallowed hard and looked at her to continue. "Violet, we've rescued most of our girls, but there are about five, plus a good hoard of weapons, that are just gone."

"Dead?" My voice was flat, and I probably sounded insensitive, but I needed to know. I was far too curious and concerned for everyone in the Estate to care about being sympathetic. Well, everyone except for Fausto. He could rot in hell.

"Maybe, but probably worse," she sighed. I was about to ask what she meant by worse, but I'd heard enough in my years of learning about everything underground that I didn't need to.

"That's disgusting," I snapped. "When they go after those bastards the..." I motioned my hands trying to remember the name until Shandy reminded me.

"Fedorov."

"Fedorov Family, I wouldn't mind being in on it." It wasn't quite the mission to avenge my sister, but kicking some a$$holes in the a$$holes didn't sound so bad.

"Violet, you realize you're half blind right now," Cheridan reminded me, sounding more concerned than corrective. She was right though. I was still wearing the darkest sunglasses I could find while not in my candlelit room and doing eye flush treatments with the antidote four times a day. I could take a little bit of light if I had sunglasses, but I still had to limit the exposure to a few times a day and stick to candlelight otherwise.