Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
DEMITRI
The meeting room is full. That’s the only word for it. And there are some faces I’ve never seen before. Before the meeting could start Aunt Linda came in and took Mia, saying she needed a word. I don’t like when that woman needs a word. It’s never good.
I look around at everyone, waiting for someone to say something, but it’s like everyone is waiting for Mia to return. She’s somehow become the center of everything, and it makes my skin crawl. I don’t want her anywhere near this shit, and no matter what I do, she keeps getting drawn in. There is the very real fear that if my family is trying to make a comeback, I know they will hurt her to get to me. It’s the entire fucking reason why I’ve been hiding in the shadows. If they get her anyway, it’s all been for nothing. And now there’s a new fear after this morning. The man on the screen seen breaking into her bar was one of my father’s soldiers—and my uncle. One who dealt in pain and blood. One who relished in the selling of young girls to old men with money. After he broke them.
It feels like forever when Mia and Aunt Linda come back into the room, Mia looking a little green around the edges and Aunt Linda looking like she’s just out for a daily stroll. Mia walks directly over to me, sitting down in the chair reserved for her, and drops her face into her hands, rubbing them up and down before sighing in exasperation.
“What’s wrong? What did she say to you?” I whisper as I watch the woman in question claim her seat across the table from us.
“Nothing I hadn’t already thought about. Just drop it for now, okay? Let’s figure out what’s happening and we can deal with everything else later.”
“As long as you’re sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.” She gives me a closed-lipped smile, but we both know she’s full of shit.
“Okay,” Daniel Allen says from the front of the room. “We have new and old faces, so let’s do a quick introduction so we know we’re all friends here. Daniel Allen, the A in ANON. I run logistics and operations. Nate? You’re next. Name and what you do.”
“Feels like fucking kindergarten all over again,” the man in question replies, rolling his eyes. “Hey, I’m Nate.”
“Hi, Nate,” a few of the guys answer with big ass grins on their faces.
“Oh, not kindergarten, AA, or a support meeting. Anyway, I’m tech for ANON. I’m also one of the Ns in ANON.” He turns to look at Joker sitting next to him.
“Joker. ANON. Not part of the letters, just one of the peons. Tech and hacking.” He turns to the man next to him.
“Mostly legal, right Joker?” Joker laughs before the man goes on. “Sam Carmichael. I’m with BMPD.”
“Why’s the police here?” Mia asks.
“Because I asked him to be here,” Daniel replies. “We need to make sure any plans we come up with are legal, and we know he’s clean.”
Mia nods, and Daniel points to the next man.
“Grady, but you all knew that, right?” He grins. “I’m backup support and run the personal security arm of ANON. Oh, and I’m the other N. The first one, of course.”
“Fucker,” Nate mumbles as he throws a waded-up paper ball at him.
“Enough,” Daniel barks.
“Aiden. The O in ANON. I coordinate the teams and their schedules. Maintain the database. Shit like that.”
“I’m Mary with the DEA. Those are the only letters I know.”
It’s my turn, and I’m not sure what to tell them. “So, I’m Demitri Pavlov.” A few people gasp, but most know who I am. “I have no clue what’s going on, but I’m pretty sure it involves my family.”
I reach over and squeeze Mia’s hand, giving her my strength.
“I’m Mia. I own City Brews over in Rock Hill. I’m with him. Have no idea what’s going on.”
She turns to look at the woman beside her. I’ve never seen her before, so I have no idea who she is or where she came from.
“I’m Kat Decker. I work at the University. I’m here because if it’s drug related and my campus is a threat, I need to know.”
“I’m Vic Allen. Kat’s sister. Daniel’s wife. I’ve had the unfortunate privilege of meeting your uncle Stanislav.” She looks at me. “He was stealing money from the community center. He was also working with my ex-husband. Who enjoyed beating me.”
Mia looks at her, a knowing look on her face. “He was an Ashby, wasn’t he?”
“He was.”
“All of them were fucked in the head. Every single one.”
The two women share a knowing look before Daniel clears his throat. “I’d prefer we don’t talk about him. Ever. Please.”
Victoria blows him a kiss before the next person speaks.
“I’m Davis Mills. Former FBI and current bar owner in Boulder Canyon.” He tips his head to Mia. “I brought down the Pavlov family the first time.”
“Only FBI agent I’ve ever liked.” I grin at him.
“I’m Aunt Linda.” Linda smiles at the group.
“Is that all we get?” Mary asks, a grin on her face.
“Yup.”
“Alright. We all know who you are. Let’s get down to business. Joker, what did you find?”
Joker pulls up a video on the screen behind Daniel, showing the outside of Mia’s bar taken from across the street.
“The hardware store next to the bar has external cameras I was able to access. The perp zapped the security system on his way in. High-tech stuff. Don’t know who these people are working with, but they have money. Something like this isn’t cheap.”
“Illegal stuff usually isn’t,” Aiden says.
“He went in, did what we all saw him do on the inside cameras, and left.”
“Any idea what he’s driving or who he is?”
“I know who he is,” I speak up. “His name is Sasha Pavlov. My uncle.”
“You said he’s worse than Andrey?” Mia asks.
“Yeah,” I say with a laugh. “He was one of Ivan’s spies. He kept an eye on the others, reported who was doing what, and made unilateral decisions on when it was time to kill one of our own.”
“He wasn’t brought down with the others?”
“No,” Davis answers for me. “He went underground when the heat started ramping up. No one’s seen him in over five years.”
“Until today.”
Joker types a few keystrokes and pictures of my uncle pop up on the screen. He was bigger than Ivan, but not as commanding. He used brute strength to get his point across, whereas my father used cunning manipulation to get what he desired.
“It’s thought he’s killed or had a hand in the killing of over a hundred people—men, women, and children.”
“So what angle is he playing?” Daniel asks.
“Could he want the power for himself?” Aiden asks.
“Then why help Demitri’s sister?”
“Not my sister,” I say before I can stop myself. “She’s not my family.”
Mia places her hand on my leg and squeezes, calming me.
“We need prison records. Who’s visited your family, what names they used, what their backgrounds are.” Grady writes notes, not looking up.
“What is this woman’s name?” Mia asks out of the blue. “The one who was in the bar?”
“She’s been known to have a few names,” Nate offers. “Kara, Karina, Katya. Her legal name is Katya Sokolova. After her mother.”
“And this Andrey guy? What’s his story?” She turns to look at me.
“I can answer that one,” Davis offers. “We couldn’t connect him to anything big when we took the family down, but he had a few possession and theft charges levied on him, and he did a short stint behind bars.”
“And now he’s teamed up with Katya and Sasha,” I say, trying to wrap my head around it.
“And they want me for some reason,” Mia whispers, more to herself than anyone.
“Until we know more, we can only be proactive in keeping everyone safe.” Daniel stands. “So with that in mind, we’re putting a detail on you Mia. Full-time, twenty-four-seven.”
“Will they be better than this one?” She looks at Grady, who grins at her. “His skills of following people without being noticed are kind of lacking.”
Everyone at the table laughs while Grady flips off my girl. “I wasn’t trying to hide, Princess.”
“Yeah, but we know these people are after me, so it would reason that they would follow me at some point, right? And if you’re being so flashy with the following me and shit, then how can we catch them doing the same?”
Joker grins at Mia, nodding his approval. Grady looks like he’s been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“That will change.” Daniel side-eyes Grady. “But you need to know that there will be someone on your tail.”
“And you’ll wear this.” Joker stands and brings a watch over to her. “It records, has a tracker, and can send an SOS with just the push of a button.”
“Is this all really necessary?” She looks around the room.
“Yes!” everyone, myself included, responds.
“Okay, fine. I’ll wear the fucking watch.”
“Oh, she needs to meet my sister.” Davis grins at her.
“That’s my wife you’re talking about,” Joker growls.
“Still my sister, asshole.”
“Enough,” Daniel says.
“Demitri, we need you to be seen. But not too seen. Go to work, live your life. As far as anyone needs to know, your name is John Smith. You own the custom garage in town, and you just moved in with your girlfriend.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll be following you, too.”
“You’ll make sure he stays safe?” Mia asks.
“Yes.”
“What are we doing about the woman?” Mary wants to know.
“Nothing we can do until she makes a move, right?”
“Right. But we can’t sit back and watch it happen. That’s how people end up dead or missing. This family follows a pattern. And if she’s working with two ranking members of what was, we should be able to track their progress. The drugs are next.”
“And then the women disappearing,” Davis adds.
“Mia isn’t going to be one of them.” I stand quickly, my hands on the table. “I need you all to know that if something happens to her, if one hair on her head is harmed, I will burn the fucking world to the ground. And I’ll take out anyone who gets in my way.”
The threat is there. If any of these people take a wrong step and Mia gets hurt, I’ll kill them with my bare fucking hands.
Daniel quickly ends the meeting before all the alpha personalities in the room start showing off and we all end up in the hospital. Do I know anything that I didn’t when I walked into that room? Nope. My family is back. And they want Mia. To what end doesn’t matter. All I know is they’ll never fucking touch her without going through me first. They might share my blood. They might have been loyal to my father. But they stopped being family the night Mika died.