2. Ben
2
BEN
C urrent day…
As far as weddings went, this one was fancy. It should’ve been the wedding of the decade, a marriage for the powerful Baranov family.
All the prominent members of society were here as guests at Oleg Baranov’s mansion. The family considered this their “home”, and it seemed fitting that they’d host the ceremony uniting Eva Baranov and Lev Kvashnin here. The Mafia princess and her elite bodyguard, married under the big boss’s approval.
They’d spared no expenses, of course, and the entire scene was one straight out of a fairytale. Champagne flowed. Live music carried through the ornately decorated ballroom, competing with the din of lively conversations among the Baranov family members and their guests.
Some of those conversations were to do with business. Of course, they were. A gathering of the Baranov Mafia Family would result in discussions about business, particularly with how recently someone had taken a potshot at the top man himself. Oleg Baranov had been shot at, but it seemed like Eva’s uncle had not a care in the world as he sat back and celebrated this union.
I knew better. Oleg Baranov hadn’t become the Baranov boss idly. He had to be curious about who’d tried to kill him.
I was curious, enough that I snuck in to spy on this event.
Once more, I subtly glanced in the direction of where Rurik Baranov sat at the head table. He was one of the groomsmen, naturally, because he was a cousin to Eva. Yet, I had extra interest in him because he had been the guard who’d saved Oleg’s life. When someone shot Oleg Baranov, Rurik had taken the bullet for him.
Who did it, though? Who hired those men to shoot that day?
I wasn’t passionate about Oleg living or dying. But since Oleg was the Boss and I had been previously approached by the head of the Baranovs’ rival, Igor Petrov, with a hit he wanted to place on his competition, I had to be intrigued.
Ever since I left the military and moved stateside, I’d been known as a hitman with no loyalties. If the price was decent, if I was interested in the challenge, I’d take the assignment. When Igor had come to me back in the beginning of March, asking me to kill Oleg Baranov, I didn’t get a good vibe from him about it. Money was money. Sure, it made the world go round. I had more money than I’d ever be able to spend, though, so I could afford this extra consideration. Taking jobs from the three main Mafia Families in this area gave me a unique position of independence, and I wanted to choose wisely when I accepted such a big hit. Killing a Boss was no small murder.
“I’m telling you, Ben’s the one to do it.”
I tore my gaze away from the direction of the head table where Rurik sat with the new couple. Eva and Lev were the stars of this night, no doubt, but I’d snuck in here undercover and in a disguise for these kinds of conversations. The whispered discussions where business was dealt with.
Vik, another Baranov, stood next to me at the bar where I blended in as just another guest among the many. I wasn’t sure which soldier he was speaking to, but I was very aware of the matter of their quiet conversation off to the side.
Because they were talking about me .
“I’m not arguing that,” the Baranov soldier said. “I’ve heard the same shit about Ben Warner that everyone else has. He’s an elite assassin. The best of the best.”
I bit back the urge to smile. Pride filled me at this praise I’d eavesdropped on. Being proud of a career was one matter, but taking glee in my ability to always claim a kill was something better that appeased the darkness in my soul.
“But he’s also hard to get ahold of,” the man added. “And picky about what jobs he takes.”
I could’ve nodded right along. Damn straight, I’m picky. I saw no reason not to be when I was playing God, deciding who lived or died. When it came to accepting contracts from the Mafia, I wanted to be careful of whom I was aligning with. Igor Petrov irritated me. The Ilyins were getting on my nerves too. That was why I’d come here tonight, to spy on the Baranovs and really get a better feeling for what kind of men they were.
Lev Kvashnin had started the process of reaching out to me. He’d gone through the proper channels of seeking me out. Like the others, he wanted to hire me for a hit—one placed on the next governor to be sworn in.
It wouldn’t be an impossible job, but I needed more details first. I wanted to know more background information so I could determine whether killing someone for the Baranovs was a good use of my time.
A good use of my time?
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Working wasn’t that much fun anymore. It was harder and harder to achieve that thrill of a difficult kill. The last time I felt like I’d had fun was three months ago when that sexy young woman hit me up at the bar and asked me to help her lose her virginity. I still couldn’t get her out of my mind.
“Lev will reach out to him again once the wedding celebrations die down,” Vik said. “It’s not like we can sit on it for long.”
Ignoring the lingering distraction of a thought about that woman, I tuned in to their conversation again.
“Why?” the other man asked. “Because Rurik is impatient to kill O’Malley for Kelly’s peace of mind?”
Peace of mind? I wasn’t following. That wasn’t any reason to put a hit on someone.
I glanced at the woman he’d referenced. Kelly Garnet sat next to Rurik, smiling and seeming at ease. I’d learned that they’d gotten together recently, and while it wasn’t unheard of for a man to kill another for his woman, I felt like I needed more intel to piece this together.
I didn’t just kill hits. I could start wars. I could impact the economy. I could instigate further danger. Death wasn’t some token of fun to dole out. Understanding the potential results of killing O’Malley was imperative.
“Yeah,” Vik replied. “O’Malley’s gotta go because of the threat he holds over Kelly. She’s one of us now.”
I filed that information away. It seemed Kelly and Rurik were already married, even though they hadn’t done an elaborate wedding like this. Still, I had heard that another Baranov wedding would be coming up, with Irina and Vik being engaged. Love was certainly in the air for this group.
“But rumors are spreading that he’s interested in backing one of the families around here. And it wouldn’t be us.” Vik sighed. “We all know how Oleg views the politicians.”
The other man chuckled lightly. “Yeah. He doesn’t have any patience for them.”
“They’re too selfish. Too sneaky and out for themselves,” Vik replied.
Aren’t you all? That was my opinion of all the damn Mafia organizations around here.
“But—”
“Uncle Oleg!’ Eva shot to her feet with that shout. She hadn’t only cut off whatever this soldier was going to tell Vik at the bar. Her yell captured the attention of nearly everyone in the ballroom. The music was cut short. Chatter ceased. And with the quiet, we all could actually hear the thud of Boris’s body falling to the floor.
Eva’s father clutched his chest as he keeled over. Oleg rushed toward his younger brother, flanked by many soldiers. Orders for medical help followed, and as a crowd gathered around the fallen Baranov brother, no doubt drunk again, I failed to see what was happening.
Is he dead? Did someone shoot him? I didn’t hear anything go off. What the hell is going on?
It happened so suddenly that I couldn’t keep up with the chaotic commotion that followed. Eva must have been watching her father to alert her uncle to his falling over, but now that everyone was trying to get close and handle the situation, I had my chance to slip away.
If Boris was dead, I didn’t want to be hanging around here. He was the younger brother, the spare, the useless drunk of the two brothers in this family, but he was still an upper member of the organization. His death would be significant. Furthermore, if he died from something that happened at this wedding, it would be a grave attack on the family.
“Time to go,” I muttered under my breath, slipping backward through the crowd of worried guests. My disguise was foolproof. No one would be able to identify me here, but just in case security was heightened even more after Boris’s fall, I wanted to be far from the scene.
No one stopped me as I exited, but I remained tense until I was back in my car, ready to drive away.
“What the hell was that about?” I whispered to myself as I started the engine and scanned my surroundings again.
Boris? Who’d want him dead? He’s useless.
Still, no one came to stop me from leaving. I drove toward the exit, my mind racing a mile a minute with too many questions.
Igor wants Oleg dead, but he never said anything about Boris.
I shook my head as I drove, confused and eager to investigate this from afar.
What started as a night of eavesdropping and spying on the Baranovs turned into witnessing a potential death. And it wasn’t something I wanted to be involved in at this moment. If Boris was dead, fingers would be pointed and blame would be placed on someone’s shoulders.
Just not mine.
Not this time.
But if someone else was trying to do my work and interfere with the hits I might potentially accept and make my business, something had to be done about that.