Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
LUKA
M ore had happened in the last week of my life than had happened in the past year combined. I had flown across the ocean for my father’s funeral. I had taken the reins as the head Pakhan of the Novikov organization. I had learned my sister was likely going to get us all killed with her affair. I had sabotaged the love of my life. Then, won her back. I had learned the horrors of the past five years. Stopping to have lunch with my best friend hadn’t been on the agenda. But where I could make business intersect I did.
Mikhail was late for lunch as usual.
“Hey, man.” He stopped in front of the table. I stood to shake his hand and give him a slap on the back. “Glad you called me.”
“Me too. Sit. Sit.” I motioned for Mikhail to join me.
“I haven’t heard from you since the funeral.” He took a big gulp of water. “What are we drinking?”
“Anything you want, friend.” I grinned.
“I’ll follow your lead. Whatever you’re having.”
I waved our waitress over to the table and ordered two bourbons.
Mikhail laughed. “Thank God. I need one of those.”
“You and me both.”
Within a few minutes we had our drinks. I looked at my old friend. “How are things at home?” I asked. “The kids?”
“Good. Pre-school and learning how to walk. So, you know it’s really busy there. You know just everything is about the kids.” He hung his head. “I guess you don’t know. Lucky bastard, you still aren’t married.” He slung the bourbon back.
“I don’t know if that makes me lucky.” Although, I was glad I wasn’t in Mikhail’s situation. He had made the most of it. Chelsea had found her place in the organization. She liked being a mother.
“No one in Paris?” he asked. “I didn’t see anyone with you at the funeral. Single life or what?”
I wasn’t ready to tell anyone about Amara yet. It was too new. The last time we had gone public, we were torn from each other in ways that were still tattered and raw. I’d keep this to myself for a while.
“Not really,” I answered. “Not anyone worth mentioning.”
“Too bad. I heard the women in Paris all look like models.”
I chuckled. “Well, that part’s true.” I winked over my bourbon.
“How’s your mom doing?” he asked. “She holding up okay?”
“One never knows with Anna. It’s either grief that she’s no longer the ruling matriarch, or fear that she’s no longer the ruling matriarch. I don’t think she misses my dad for one second.”
“Ouch.”
“No shit. I’ve got to get a handle on her. She’s liable to do something stupid.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you’re back then. Sounds like a lot of people need you here and not in France.”
“You have no idea, my friend.” I paused when the waitress returned to take our orders. I waited for her to clear the menus. “Listen, I’m sure you’ve heard some things about the Novikov organization.”
“A little here and there,” he admitted.
“My dad took some shitty deals while I was gone. He took out massive loans and it’s going to hurt to pay them all back. I’m in the red.”
“You’re talking about Amara, aren’t you?”
“No.” I shook my head. I didn’t want to drag her into this conversation. “She’s only one of the players in my dad’s bad decisions.”
“She’s the main player. Everyone’s main player. There isn’t anyone in New Orleans who doesn’t owe her a small fortune or their first born.”
“Do you?” I prodded.
The Sokolovs had always been conservative with their money. They had old money, invested in sugar and whiskey. They were tried and true investments in New Orleans.
“No. I’ve stayed away from her loans. It’s not worth it.” He shook his head. “She’s a shark. Or a wolf. Maybe a wolf-shark?” He chuckled.
“A queen,” I corrected him. “She’s taken everything owed to her. She’s outsmarted every man here. I think she’s due a little respect, don’t you?”
Mikhail raised his hands in the air. “I see you still have a thing for her. I get it. She’s hot. She’s smart. She’s rich as sin. But she’ll spit you out. You should know that. She’s a fucking praying mantis.”
I thought about the woman who had been in my arms this morning. How warm and soft her body was. How her green eyes glowed with passion every time I touched her. How her curves fit perfectly in my palms. What her lips did to me. Amara Amato was mine and eventually I’d tell the world, but not today.
“Let’s change the topic, shall we?” I needed to steer him away from Amara.
“Fine by me. Although, I did see you two at the funeral together.”
“Yeah.” It wasn’t one of my finer moments. I had just discovered from Viktor about the interest rates on the loans. My family was underwater because of her. “We had business to talk about. Which is exactly what I want to talk to you about.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“There is something Dmitry did that was a smart move before he died. It might be the only thing I give the old man credit for doing.”
“What was it?” Mikhail leaned forward.
“He invested in a tech company. And the legislation just went through that’s going to allow me to make a fortune. Enough to become the lender in this city again.”
“Wow. That’s great. Good news, brother.”
“It is. This is where you come in.” We had never done business together. Our fathers were the ones who brokered the deals in the closed-door meetings.
“What can I do?”
“I need to free up more capital. I want to put more into this tech investment. What do you think about expanding your distilleries by adding a French winery?”
“You want to sell the Novikov wines?”
I nodded. “It’s solid money. It’s a good return. But I need the cash now. As you know, at the interest rate I have with the Amato organization, it’s going to take a lot of time to repay the debt my father incurred. I want to cash out of the wine business and put everything into the tech.”
“Are you sure?” Mikhail looked stunned. “That’s a steady, above the board business you have. I guess I thought you’d just live over there and grow a bunch of grapes, date models, and drink wine the rest of your life.”
“As nice as that sounds, I have bigger plans. I want my place back in New Orleans. I’ll give you a fair price on the winery. It has a brand new office. It’s beautiful over there. Maybe you and Chelsea could take a trip and see it,” I suggested. “Has she ever been to France?”
“No. She hasn’t.”
We leaned away from the table when our lunch was served. The waitress dropped off extra glasses of water and walked away.
“Take her. Make a vacation out of it. You’re going to want to buy it on the spot. I know you will. Peter, my guy over there, he’ll give the full tour.”
“What about the fire?”
I swallowed hard. I gripped a knife in my right hand. I was just about to cut into my steak.
“The buildings were rebuilt. The casks and grapes weren’t damaged.”
“But do they know who set the fires?”
I looked across the table at my friend. “No. They never caught anyone. No one was charged.”
“Who do you think did it?” he asked.
“Probably just some drunk who wandered in after hours.” I wanted to dismiss his concerns. I grinned. “That was five years ago. Nothing has happened since. It’s a closed case. Nothing to worry about.”
Mikhail nodded. “Right. Just covering all the bases. What’s the catch?”
I rubbed the side of my face. “What do you think about running the Bratva training there?”
He blinked. “What the fuck?”
I shook my head. “One of my Brigadiers, Roman, is interested in coming here instead. I can’t promote someone there. No one in the training is ready.”
Mikhail huffed. “And to think it was just going to be grapes.”
“It’s never grapes.” I stared at him.
“I guess it isn’t. I haven’t done Bratva work in a long time. You know that. I’m not sure how Chelsea would feel about it.”
“She wouldn’t have to know. There’s an estate on the other end of the property, away from the castle where the training facility is. Tell her you’re there for the wine.”
He hung his head. “We trained together. I remember exactly what it was like.”
I nodded. “We did. And that’s why I want to expand and put you there. I trust you Mikhail. You were as good as I was.”
“Uproot it all.” He expressed his thoughts out loud.
“What do you think? Are you interested?” I knew I was pressing him hard for an answer. But it would allow Roman to slide into Nik’s open Brigadier position here and I would still have the person I trusted most overseeing the foundation of the organization.
The question hung between us. It was the best option I had.
“Fuck, yes. I’ll buy in on the vineyard.”
“Sight unseen?” I questioned him.
“Yes, I’ve wanted to do some expansion. We never do anything but whiskey and sugar. That’s all it is. But don’t tell Chelsea. We’ll head to France this weekend and make an actual vacation out of it. I’ll have John get in touch with Viktor about the contracts.”
“You’re my oldest friend.” I smiled at him. I felt like I could breathe again. “You’re going to love it. I can’t trust anyone else with the training like I can trust you.”
He laughed. “Somehow I don’t think anyone ever really gets to leave New Orleans. I’ll be back here.”
“That might be true. But I’m learning to expect surprises. I need you to take care of them. To be their leader, Mikhail.”
He inhaled, taking in the heaviness of the burden he had accepted.
“I understand.” He nodded.
I raised my glass in the air to toast him. “To surprises then?”
“Fuck, yeah. To surprises.”
We slung back the rest of the bourbon. I needed to call Roman and get him on a plane to the States as soon as possible.
I looked at my phone and smiled. The alarm had just beeped with a notification. Amara was about to receive her first surprise of the day.