Chapter 13
DARIUS
"That does seem a bit extreme," Artem agreed, finally regaining some of his cold, detached control.
"I wouldn't have had to do anything if you hadn't let it get this bad."
"What did I do?" Mikhail said under his breath.
"You married my niece without a syndicate of your own. That puts your ass at this table." I met his eyes. "I may not have chosen or approved your union, but you are here now, and you will serve this family in a greater capacity than you have been."
A moment of understanding passed between us. Mikhail's jaw tightened, but he nodded once. Sharp. Accepting.
I'd just given him what Gregor and Artem had denied him—real power at this table.
I turned back to Artem and Gregor.
"I allowed you to run the business as you saw fit, provided it did not negatively impact the bottom line or our standing in the international community. Now our profits are down, and the other families are whispering. This ends now—with violence if necessary."
"You are being shortsighted," Gregor said. "We need the senator."
I shifted in my chair, annoyance crawling up my spine.
"Nobody needs a politician on staff who won't do what they're told."
"She's on important committees, she's made herself invaluable, even if she is...stubborn. We've never had a problem with her before," Artem reasoned.
"We don't need her, we need her vote. She can step in line or be replaced."
"Replacing her would take time," Artem said.
"The US political system is full of bureaucracy and red tape.
If we replace her, we can't guarantee that her replacement would fall in line either.
The investment to secure another senator with her seniority on the same committee, or to get another senator elected—the time alone—"
"Which is why I took the girl." I rubbed my eyes, a headache brewing at my temples.
Circles. We were going in fucking circles. Wasting time and money.
"At what cost?" Gregor asked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back like he had me cornered. "That girl is innocent. All you're showing is that we can't be trusted to negotiate, that we are as barbaric as our fathers, your brothers."
Innocent.
I almost laughed.
She didn't seem very innocent when I had my head between her legs and her heels were dug into my back as she begged for more.
She wasn't very innocent when she admitted how much she liked my cock stretching her.
And she certainly wasn't innocent when I stroked her clit as she watched in the fragments of a broken mirror.
"You really think so little of me, Nephew?"
A knock at the door. One of my men.
Gregor started up again—another speech about civility, about not punishing innocent people for the wrongdoings of their relatives.
I waved my man in. He leaned down, voice low. "We checked the girl's place. No sign anyone was there."
I nodded and waved him off.
Interesting.
I'd expected bugs. Cameras. Some security. The senator wasn't stupid enough to call the police, that would create a paper trail. But I thought she'd have her own men. Some private army of mercenaries with questionable morals at her beck and call.
I had kidnapped and strapped an explosive necklace to the neck of her only child, for Christ’s sake.
The sad melody Anna played when I first met her popped into my head. I wondered if that song wasn't for a lover who had jilted her, but for her mother.
I took out my phone, typing out a quick message.
Darius: Confirm the senator’s attending the gala tonight.
"Are you even listening to me?" Gregor snapped, banging his fist on the table.
"No. Your excuses don't interest me. Getting this family back on track is the only reason I'm here. You talk of civility, diplomacy, keeping your children safe. And I ask you, at what point do diplomacy and civility become a liability?"
"You can't kill an innocent woman to make her mother obey. If you kill her, you'll start a war with the US government, and we stand to lose far more than we gain," Artem pointed out.
"And if I do nothing, and the other families smell your weakness, we lose everything.
I'm not worried about starting a war with senators whose votes can be bought and paid for.
I'm concerned about the bloody and expensive battle that will come from the other syndicates sensing our weakness.
Yes, you took care of that Colombian cartel, but what about all the others who are circling, looking for any opening or opportunity to take our territory by force? "
The three of them stopped. Stared.
Their mouths opened. Closed.
"You want to keep your families comfortable, then you need to earn.
You want to keep them safe? Then you need to make sure that no one is brave enough to come after you.
This bitch, the one that I paid to put in office because she was supposed to do what we told her, is going to ruin everything, and she's going to jeopardize your families in the process. "
Despite the annoyance itching through my veins, I didn't raise my voice. My control was absolute.
"If our wives find out about the girl—" Artem started.
I held up my hand.
"I won't need to kill the girl. Her mother will fall in line. She has more at risk than just the life of her daughter."
"What does that mean?" Mikhail asked.
Artem stood, grabbed four glasses from the side table and the bottle of scotch I'd brought from London.
"The necklace uses technology the US government developed. Top secret. Part of a program approved by a committee the senator sits on."
"So?" Artem asked as he poured.
The amber liquid glowed in the cut crystal. I couldn't help but think about the way Anna's blood reflected in the diamond, how the liquor caught the light in the same way.
"So, it's top secret. If it gets out that the technology was leaked to the Russians, there will be a full investigation. They'll investigate every member of that committee, and her secrets would come out."
"Her secrets?" Artem handed me the glass.
I lifted it in a toast. We all drank.
I slammed my glass back down on the table. Artem refilled it. The burn slid down my throat and warmed my gut.
"Do you know why the senator has not been returning your calls? Why she's going to vote against you? Because another family bought her. Which one it is—I'm not sure. What I do know is we're being outbid. That is not something we can allow to happen."
"So your solution is to blow this girl's head off?" Gregor scoffed as he took another long drink.
I laughed. "Aren't you listening?"
"I am. You have an explosive hidden in a diamond necklace around that innocent girl's neck."
"No. I told you the US government was developing the technology. A top-secret military project farmed out to a private company. That necklace cost millions in R it's for anyone else who dares to cross us again."
My phone dinged.
Andrei: We've confirmed that the senator will be at the gala.
Perfect.
Darius: Get the girl a dress for tonight. Understated.
She's there to be on my arm, to terrify her mother, not to garner attention. The last thing I need is for my picture to end up in some fucking tabloid.
Andrei: Understood.
"So then you just put a random million-dollar necklace on some girl?" Artem asked. "How do you know she won't just take it off?"
"Because taking it off requires a special magnet, which I have.
And I didn't say it was useless. As far as her mother knows that thing is a fucking warhead.
Besides that, it has a very convenient tracker.
" I pulled up the app on my phone and showed it to the men.
The little white dot blinked away on the map. She was still in her apartment.
"You put a fucking GPS tracker on her?" Gregor scoffed.
"Yes, I did. And maybe if you had done that with your wife, you wouldn't have wasted three years and hundreds of thousands of dollars of my money hunting her down."
Artem coughed back a laugh.
Gregor shot him a death glare.
"You still need to take it off of her," Gregor said. "It's fucked up."
"No, I don't." I stood. "What I need is for my nephews to get their heads out of their asses and remember who the fuck they are. You and the others have been distracted. By wives, by emotions, by Senator Collins and her petty blackmail. You have forgotten who the fuck you are. I have not."
"You can't just—"
"I can, and I have. Simple." I stood, buttoning my jacket. "I'm attending the gala at the Kennedy Center tonight. Senator Collins will be there."
I smiled. Cold. Sharp. "So will her daughter."