Chapter 2
NIKOLAI
I love her. More than anything in this world.
But, I don’t have time to deal with one of her little temper tantrums.
“No, Daddy! I don’t want a ponytail! Clara has a braid, I want you to do that, too.” Her arms cross her pink dress and her lip sticks out far enough I could trip over it.
“Elena. Stop.” I can play this game, too. If she wants to be stubborn, I can teach a master class.
“It’s not fair.” Her brows furrow over her tiny turned up nose and her dark curly hair falls over her forehead.
“You can ask Svetlana when she gets here.” I don’t have time for this. Mikhail called me in, and the last thing I need to do is make him wait for me to act as a hairstylist to my fussy seven year old.
Her small foot stomps. “But, Daddy! She won’t. She thinks my hair is ugly.” She drops onto the footstool and drums her heels against the side.
I swear she’s more dramatic than Alexei when I tell him no more candy.
It’s like having two children some days.
Speaking of.
The front door bangs open and bounces back into the frame as Alexei saunters in, the white handle of a sucker sticking out of his mouth.
“Niki, we must go.” He grins down at Elena and ruffles her bangs. “Good morning, eel.”
She tilts her chin up and smiles, her tantrum forgotten. “Uncle Alexei? Did you bring me anything?”
Shit. All he ever has is sweets.
“If I have to pay for one more cavity, Alexei, I’m using your silver tooth as a filing,” I growl at him as I sling my bag toward him.
He stumbles back under the weight before letting it fall to the sofa next to him.
Winking at my daughter, his voice drops to a loud whisper. “It’s okay. I can buy all the silver.” He pulls a piece of butterscotch out of his pocket and holds it out.
Elena squeals, then claps her hand over her mouth and glances back at me, a mischievous twinkle in her eye before grabbing it from his fingers. “Thank you.” Giggling, she runs back to her room with her prize.
I was wrong. It’s worse than two kids. My rules mean nothing to him.
“You’re an ass,” I grumble and lift the heavier duffle over my shoulder.
“Elena, I love you to the tenth!” I yell, then grab the handle to the front porch.
“I love you to the thousandth!” she calls back, muffled by her door.
I’m not sure what we’ll say when she learns bigger numbers in school. But, for now, she thinks it’s the largest quantity in the world.
I’m pushing Alexei’s bag into the trunk of my Hellcat when I see Svetlana pull up in her compact car.
Finding a sitter who is available for the insane hours I have to work has been trial and error. She’s lasted the longest, although Elena likes her the least.
I’m pretty sure it’s because Svetlana is so much older, and unable to play the games her previous sitters were able to play.
She’s much more like the women of our town in Russia growing up.
Serious. Stoic. Very much about taking care of business and no fluff.
That’s probably why I like her. She reminds me of my mother.
“Mr. Volkov.” Her voice doesn’t change as she acknowledges me and walks straight past me into my house.
Alexei climbs into the passenger side and drops the seat as flat as it will go.
“What are you doing?” I ask him as the engine roars to life.
Maybe I shouldn’t know. He’s so unpredictable.
“I was up late last night. Sheila wouldn’t swallow her fishes.” He arches his hips up far enough his belly tattoos block my rear view mirror.
I shake my head trying to work out if this is his broken English or something else today.
“Lay down.”
His butt drops to the leather and he shields his eyes against the Vegas sun with his palm. “You just don’t know what it’s like having a life depend on you. It’s enhancing.” His face twists around as he looks at me. “No. Not the right English. Exhausting. That’s it.”
My jaw flexes with my fist on my steering wheel. “Yes. I have no idea what that’s like. A child is so much easier than a fucking bird.”
“You don’t get it, Niki. If she doesn’t eat good, she loses her pink.” He settles his head against the back and drapes his elbow over his nose. “A flamingo shouldn’t fade.”
Only Alexei would think a bird is harder than a human.
Pulling up in front of Jax’s place, I hit the horn.
Jax probably already knows I am here. His place is covered with motion detecting cameras.
The loud noise was simply for my own amusement watching Alexei jump and curse from his nap.
“What the hell, Alexei? Move your seat, man.” Jax stands outside and jiggles him by the shoulder.
“Why? Sit behind Niki.” Alexei lets out a dramatic groan with another languid stretch.
“He’s too fucking tall. This isn’t exactly a minivan.” Jax crosses his arm and clicks his tongue bar against his teeth.
“Alexei. Sleep in the back.” My patience is running short. “Or, I can boot you out and you can jog to Mikhail’s.”
It’s only eight kilometers. Wait. Miles. How far is that?
Shaking my head, I let the other two argue it out as I slip the car in reverse and let it start rolling backwards out of the driveway.
Alexei squawks before he dives into the rear. “I was getting in!” He slumps against the leather as the door clicks shut at his feet and Jax jumps in the passenger seat.
“You two are worse than infants.”
Jax laughs. “Well, I see you’re both in moods. Someone didn’t get laid last night.”
Alexei snorts past his elbow. “I do every night.”
Jax turns around to look at him between our seats. “What? Since when do you have a woman? No one would be crazy enough to be with you.”
I catch Alexei’s arm move in the mirror as I navigate the crowded streets on the way to the casino.
“Woman? Huh? Don’t you have to lay down to sleep? Isn’t that what you’re speaking of?” Alexei’s grasp of the English language is less than mine, but sometimes I wonder if half of the shit he says is just for kicks.
Jax stares at me for a moment before facing forward. “Crazy Russian,” he chuckles as he shakes his head.
I grunt my agreement before the shadow of the parking garage darkens us.
“Come on, we’re late.” Slamming my door, I don’t look back.
There isn’t a person in Vegas brave enough to try and touch my Hellcat, so I don’t bother locking it.
The wave of air conditioning buffets us as we walk through the large sliding glass entry. Mikhail hasn’t spared any expense at his high-end hotel, and the throngs of people leering over the slot machines proves how successful his enterprise is.
He’s done well for all of us since we’ve been here.
If only people knew how much clawing and digging it took to get a foothold here. Or, all of the loss we had to endure before we even arrived.
No one does.
Even Alexei is subdued as we walk down the empty hall towards Mikhail’s office.
We all know why we’re here.
I push through the heavy oak doors first.
My brother stands behind his desk, his presence filling the room.
His dark eyes narrow over the black balaclava covering the lower half of his face. One of his thick fingers points at Alexei as we file in. “Not a fucking word.”
I hear Alexei give a low whine, but he doesn’t argue. Instead he stomps over to one of the couches like a toddler and throws himself down with an exaggerated grunt.
“We lost three men this morning in an attack on the west side. Knox has regrouped and is hitting our weak points.” Mikhail picks up a heavy set of keys and tosses them to me. “One of their men is downstairs in number forty-two. Make him tell us where either Knox or Kirill is. We need to find those fuckers and shut the Reapers down.”
Alexei frowns and follows me as we start to leave. “Why did I have to be quiet?”
The side of Mikhail’s cheek twitches. I know he’s smiling beneath his mask.
“The asshole was dressed up like a giant frog. It’s how he got close enough to our guys to take some of them out.” He shakes his head, his slicked black hair staying perfectly in place. “We don’t want to belittle the memory of our men.”
Jax turns away, but his shoulders quake in silent laughter.
Alexei’s face turns red and his eyes widen. “Because he got the jump on them?”
“Go before you leap too far.” Mikhail points towards the corridor, hurrying us out.
As soon as the heavy door closes, Alexei starts bouncing from foot to foot.
He’s worse than any kid.
“He made them croak? Gave them the slip?” His silver tooth shows as his cackle echoes off of the marble walls.
“Now, he’s in hot water.” Jax adds from behind us.
Alexei looks back at him, his smile slipping. “I don’t get it.”
Jax rattles his tongue piercing against his teeth. “It’s complicated. But, you might warm up to it later.” He winks at me when I groan.
Both of them are jokesters.
In the depths of the casino, down sound-proofed halls, we push into the holding cell of our captured toad.
The top half of a bright green felt costume is tossed on a heavy wooden table, while the bottom half still adorns the bleeding man tied to a steel chair that’s bolted to the floor.
Alexei picks up the head of the outfit and jiggles it, making the plastic eyes roll in their sockets.
“I can’t! This is too much!” His arms fly up, launching the green top across the room to land in a bunch at the base of the concrete wall.
While he tailspins on the costume, I reach forward and grab the man's sweaty hair, and tilt his head up.
Glaring dark eyes meet mine before he musters a wad of saliva that he spits out at me.
It lands on my chest as I jerk away.
“Fucker.” Backhanding him, the heavy ring on my finger slices into his jaw with the impact.
Fresh blood peppers the floor, adding to the stains of the countless pawns before him.
Jax tosses me a towel before leaning over the smirking man. “Wow, dude. You’re just begging to be hurt, aren’t you?” His fist lands squarely against the Reaper’s mouth.
When the King of Chaos hits, we all hear the crunch of bones breaking.
Alexei’s laugh grows louder than the howls of pain from the tied man.
“I thought he would make a ribbit,” he says over his shoulder as he digs into my bag. “Here.” He hands me a long pair of pliers. “These will be good for that long tongue of his.”
I like his thinking.
“Jax, grab his jaw.” I flex the metal tool while Jax pinches the swollen cheeks. When he pries his lips open, I reach in with the needle nosed end and grip the tip of the wiggling organ. It tears the flesh at the bottom where the teeth pinch, but I don’t need him to talk.
Not yet.
“Let’s see how well you’d catch flies.” I give the handle a tug, which is followed by a gurgling scream.
“It works.” Letting it hang, it pulls his tongue out to be held by the weight of the pliers. Pink swells into purple as I push his shirt off of his chest.
Just as I thought, his body is covered in tattoos. But, the Russian flair is unexpected.
I know these symbols. I have many similar ones adorning my body.
“Alexei. Look.” Pointing at one in particular, we’re both temporarily transfixed and thrown into another time.
The Roman numeral IV mark of my father stares back. Ivan takes a sense of pride in having his men branded like his cattle.
I have one too, but have since hidden it beneath other art.
My brother’s is gone. It disappeared the same night I lost her.
Rage festers in my gut making a sour taste form in my mouth.
This buffoon may have been a part of the worst day of my life.
“Alexei. Knife.” Holding my hand out, he drops the perfect weapon in without looking.
Sometimes, he’s crazy. But, sometimes, he’s brilliant.
The thin edge slices easily beneath the taut skin and peels the ink off in a clean-edged square.
It even separated from the membrane without piercing into the muscle beneath.
I could be a surgeon.
“Take this and give it to Mikhail. He’ll want to know.” I wait until Alexei is gone before retrieving what I need next from my duffel.
A bottle of water for me, one for Jax, and one for the cup on my table.
“I know you worked for Ivan. That means you know this Kirill person.” I don’t look at the tied man, but proceed to pour a high concentration of the white granules into the glass. “You won’t be able to tell me where he is, I understand that. You are nothing. Your tags show no rank.”
I spit at his feet, a true sign of how little I think of him.
Knowing his connection, I’m glad he won’t be leaving here alive.
Nodding at Jax, I wait until he forces the man’s mouth open again.
The bound Reaper gags and writhes against his restraints as I pour the thick liquid down his throat.
Some spills across the fresh wound on his chest making a scream bubble past his swallows.
Choking, he tries to heave some of the mixture out, but his clamped tongue just bobs with the weak spasms.
Flipping my chair around backward, I straddle it and take a long pull from my bottle.
Alexei comes back in and glances between Jax and me sitting back. “Did I miss it?”
I give him a grunt.
“Nikolai probably didn’t want you to drink it.” Jax grins from the couch.
“That was one time!” Alexei protests and throws himself down on the next cushion.
Jax elbows him in the ribs. “You’re lucky. That shit was potent. I lost a whole day.” His frown tells the story as he shakes his head. “I don’t know why you tried that powder. It almost ruined my life.”
Alexei shrugs and pulls a hard candy from his pocket. “I slept like a baby.”
Those two continue their chatter while I watch the man in front of me.
Sweat beads on his forehead, the first sign that he’s feeling the symptoms.
Maybe I should give him another dose?
No. I think that was enough. He didn’t spit much out.
A few more minutes and the pliers bounce off of his chin when he thrashes his head from side to side.
“You’re getting it now, aren’t you?” I lean forward and push his forehead so his glazed eyes meet mine. “You’re fucked. So, you have a choice. I have a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question. If I believe you, I’ll make the pain go away. If you lie to me, you’re going to sit here and feel your brain swell inside your skull until it ruptures.”
I cross my arms over the back of the chair and watch him squirm in pain.
There’s little doubt he’s in agony.
A low moan echoes from the depths of his chest, and the bloody tool hanging from his purple tongue beats an odd rhythm against his shoulders.
Pulling out a long, thin blade, I make sure he can see it.
“Here’s what I want to know. Is Kirill in Vegas now?” Extending my arm, I hold the tip pointed at his clouded eye.
He focuses on me, then the shiny blade inches from his face. A moment of acceptance seems to pass over his features before he nods.
I don’t hesitate, but drive straight through the socket into the back of his skull.
“Well. That was anticlimactic,” Jax grumbles from the couch.
“I don’t have to clean up this time, do I?” Alexei whines. “Sheila needs me.”
Jax groans and stretches as he stands. “I still don’t know why the hell you have a flamingo. You should have just left it at that golf course.” His dark curly hair falls over his brows as he shakes his head.
“I take my responsibilities very seriously.” Alexei steps over my duffel and follows Jax out through the sound-proof door.
It’s hard for me to stop looking at the empty spot on the dead man’s chest where the tattoo sat.
Was he there the night my wife died? What hand would he have had in it?
The turmoil of memories burns within me. This piece of shit may have been the reason my little girl no longer has a mother.
No. It’s the man who owns that moniker. He did it.
My father forever changed my life, and Elena’s.
And, Mikhail’s.
Ivan.