Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
LUKYAN VOLKOV
“Knockity, knock, knock,” I said, rapping my knuckles on Aleksandr’s office door. I opened it without waiting for a response.
Aleksandr was sitting behind his desk, face grumpy and stoic as per usual.
Father sat in one of the two chairs in front of him, looking a little worse for wear.
Understandable, given he was still recovering from, you know, almost dying.
He was slightly pale, and looked as though he was trying to catch his breath.
“Uh-oh,” I sang, walking in and taking the free seat beside him. “Does Autumn know you’re out of bed? I thought you were only allowed one hour of activity a day?”
He glared at me. “I am a grown man. If I want to get out of bed, I will get out of the damn bed.”
“Oh, really?” I pretended to reach for my phone. “Should we tell Autumn that?”
“No!” Father lunged forward and immediately winced, grasping his chest. “Okay, fine! She doesn’t know I’m out of bed, alright? She’s doing a grocery run, and I snuck out. Happy?”
I smiled. “Yep.” Sometimes, I just liked fucking with him. It was so much fun.
Autumn had been nothing but vigilant when it came to Father’s recovery.
She had a doctor on standby twenty-four-seven in the event of an emergency, had voice recordings of the doctor’s instructions with how much medication to give him and when to administer it in case she couldn’t remember, and kept Father on a very strict exercise regimen.
Only an hour of physical activity a day. Not a minute more or less.
I crossed my ankle over my knee. “What we talkin’ about?”
“We’re finalizing the details for Mikhail,” Aleksandr grunted, tip-tapping away on the laptop in front of him.
“Ah. Right. I’m still surprised he agreed to go.”
“Of course he would agree to go.” Father leaned back into his chair, blowing out a sigh of relief. Maybe I should text Autumn. It was clear the old bastard was overdoing it. Again. Fucker had a hard time keeping still. “It opens up a whole new market for him.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. But it also creates a fuckton of work for him, too. As your liaison, he’ll be overseeing all Bratva business in Russia for you, right?
” With Sergei gone, we needed someone to oversee affairs in Russia for the foreseeable future.
Father would be the obvious choice, but he’d chosen to remain in Vegas.
He didn’t want to be away from his children—and now, grandchildren.
Life was fucking short, as we’d all come to see.
Father wanted to spend what time he had left in this world with the people who mattered the most to him.
Going to Russia and being Pakhan would have taken that away from him. He didn’t want that.
Aleksandr was Pakhan here. He couldn’t go. Nikolai and Tati had built lives in Vegas. Tati had her father and school, and Nikolai was Aleksandr’s second, so they were out. Illayana, of course, was Queen La Cosa Nostra. And me?
I just didn’t want to do it.
Plain and simple.
I was capable, sure. If I had to, I knew I could fucking rock it. I just didn’t want to. All my family was here. Not to mention the fact that I was a little preoccupied at the moment, searching for the love of my fucking life.
That was when Mikhail, one of my father’s oldest friends, offered to handle things in Russia for a while. He was probably the only other person Father trusted to do it.
“Yes.” Father nodded, answering my question. “He’ll be in charge, and given leave to act as he sees fit. Once a quarter, he’ll report to me with the business earnings and inventory levels.”
“That will keep him pretty busy. Shit’s calm now, but it always picks back up again eventually.”
“True.” Aleksandr placed his elbow on the table and touched his chin thoughtfully. “But Mikhail can handle it. I don’t think he would have offered unless he was sure he could do it.”
Hmm. Maybe. People agreed to shit all the time without truly understanding what they were getting themselves into.
For as long as I could remember, Mikhail only had to worry about himself and his business.
He was a cool dude. I liked him. He was kind of like our designated uncle because our real one was a piece of shit.
Mikhail ran his own business as a loan shark.
He would lend people money—outrageous, obscene amounts of money—and give them ample time to pay it back.
Some did and some didn’t. The ones who didn’t had to work off their debt in other ways.
He was fair, and didn’t abuse those who worked for him like a lot of other people did, but he could also be vicious as hell when the occasion called for it.
“It’s not like he’s getting nothing out of it. I doubt he would have even offered if that were the case.” Father chuckled. “He’ll be working closely with our clients, both new and old. The potential to build up his own business in the process is staggering.”
“It is,” Aleksandr agreed. “Nikolai ran the numbers. Fucker’s likely to pull in more than us by the end of the year.”
We were just entering March, so that was saying something. “Guess he’s not totally selfless.” I laughed. “When does he leave?”
“He already has.” Father reached for the glass of water on the desk, and struggled. I rolled my eyes as I got to my feet and grabbed it, handing it to him. “Not one word,” he warned, taking it and relaxing back instantly.
I raised my hands in surrender, walking back to my chair.
He gulped it down like a man getting his first taste of water in days before exhaling heavily. “He left a few hours ago. I’ve been in touch with Rurik. He was my contact in Sergei’s ranks before the takeover. He will show Mikhail the ropes until he can do things on his own.”
“And you’re sure Rurik can be trusted?”
Father nodded and held out his glass to me. I took it and placed it back on the desk. “He’s loyal. He was loyal to me even when Sergei was alive.”
Didn’t hurt to ask.
The sound of a door slamming shut made my father jump.
“Dimitri-fucking-Volkov, you better not be out of that bed!” Autumn’s voice rang throughout the house.
“Oh, fuck,” Father blew out under his breath. He waved his hands back and forth in the air quickly. “Help me up. Help me up.”
“Uh-uh. No. Way,” I said, shaking my head.
“I’m not getting on that woman’s bad side.
I heard about what she did in California three years ago to that MC gang.
She slaughtered all sixteen of them on her own, all because she was pissed off.
” I continued to shake my head. “I ain’t getting in her way. Sorry, Pops. You’re on your own.”
Aleksandr arched a brow in surprise, no doubt at the Pops comment, before chuckling softly.
Father glared at me.
“What?” I asked innocently. “I’ve got a point. You know I’ve got a point. Zander, tell him I have a point.”
“He has a point,” my older brother agreed immediately. “Even I wouldn’t cross her.”
“Scaredy-cats. The lot of you,” Father hissed.
Loud, thunderous footsteps followed next, and then Autumn stormed into Aleksandr’s office like an inferno, eyes zeroing in on Father like a sniper scope.
“I knew it!” she blasted, marching forward.
“I knew you wouldn’t stay in bed. Dimitri!
The doctor was very clear! No strenuous activity, and you’ve already reached your allotted time for the day! ”
Father smiled. “Hi, baby.” His voice was soft and sweet—two things I would have never associated with him in the past.
Autumn narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you ‘baby’ me. You promised.”
“Technically, I didn’t break that promise,” he rushed out, holding a finger in the air. “I’m sitting down. I’m still resting.”
“Oh, really?” She folded her arms across her chest. “Grab that glass on the desk.”
Father’s eyes darted to me and then back to Autumn.
It took everything in me to hold in my snicker as Father reached forward, his face twitching as he tried to hold back the agony he was so clearly feeling at the movement.
A pain-filled groan rumbled in the back of his throat.
He still kept trying to reach for it despite the pain, refusing to admit what we all already knew—he shouldn’t have been out of bed.
Stubborn old bull.
“Okay, enough,” Autumn said, slicing a hand through the air.
She marched over and slapped his hand away just as his fingertips grazed the glass.
“You’re not well enough to be out of bed and you know it.
” Her gaze whipped to Aleksandr and me. “And you two shouldn’t be enabling him.
If you need to conduct business, do it from the foot of his bed. You”—she pointed at Father—“up.”
Father didn’t even try to argue. “Yes, dear.”
There was no stopping the snicker that time.
Autumn grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet. He groaned again, leaning into her and resting more than half his body weight on her. Aleksandr and I immediately got up to help, but she waved us off.
“It’s alright. I got him.”
I wiggled my fingers, smiling. “Bye, Pops. Enjoy your rest.”
He just narrowed his eyes.
Yeahhhhh. I would pay for that later.
Aleksandr said his goodbyes and moved to shut the door behind them. He turned, plastering his back to the door, and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Go ahead.”
I dropped the facade and let the anger take over. “FOR FUCK’S SAKE!” I roared, grabbing one of the chairs and throwing it against the wall. “Why can’t I fucking find her?! WHY?!” I kicked the other chair over. “WHY?!” I picked it up and smashed it onto the ground. “WHY, WHY, WHY?!”
The chair broke, splintering to pieces under the force. I wasn’t even close to being done. I’d been burying my anger from the moment I got home because I promised I wouldn’t lose my shit near the twins, and it was my time to let it all fucking out.