Chapter 6
“What’s put the sourpuss on your face?” Kaz Volkov takes a seat at the table with me and two of my men.
We’re in the game room in the lower bowels of Obsidian, an elite club the Volkov brothers run. If there’s secrets to be found, this is the place to find them.
“Not what, more like who,” Vas grunts.
“Who?” Kaz’s eyebrows lift. “The one with the glasses? Vivienne’s friend?”
Vas raises his eyes from his cards, meets my stare then goes back to his hand, but not before muttering, “that’s the one.”
“My mood has nothing to do with Maxine.” I throw down my cards, folding the hand.
I’m not in the right frame of mind to be playing. Not while I’m sitting here waiting like a teenage girl being stood up for the prom.
“I came across a Glock 18; modifications point to an Armenian sale.” I take a long sip of vodka from my glass.
“How many?” Kaz leans back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest.
“Just one.”
Kaz laughs. “You’re this pissy because you found one piece?”
“It could be the beginning of more,” I say.
Kaz moves his gaze to Vas, then with a smirk he returns his attention to me. “So, it has nothing to do with Vee’s friend? The one you hurried off to help with a locked door last week? Not her?”
“I found it in her apartment, but otherwise no.”
I’m not sure I can hold onto that lie for much longer.
My dark mood has more to do with that woman than I can admit.
Ever since I met her, nothing but irritation has gripped me.
It was fine when she was only a friend of my little sister.
A small annoyance here and there when I dropped Nicolette off.
A bigger annoyance when I had to drag them both home drunk from a bar.
It was no secret Maxine’s brothers were trouble.
Back when Ivan was still trying to get Vee to move in with him, his security team had been stationed across the hall from their apartments— and they had detailed records of the brothers’ comings and goings.
Those two assholes barged into Maxine’s life at all hours, day and night. Each time, fists banging on the door.
They don’t have a key, so in order to get her to let them in, they pound on the door. More than once, Ivan’s security stood ready at the door to intervene because the thinner of the two sounded like he was about to get physical with her.
“What was she doing with it?”
I deadpan. “Her idiot brothers left it behind.”
“They have something to do with the Armenians?”
“I don’t know. I have some men watching them. And her. I’ll find out more soon.” I push my cards toward Vas.
“If they’re working with the Armenians, this girl could be trouble.”
“Maxine.” I grit my teeth. “Her name is Maxine.”
Kaz flashes an arrogant grin. “I know. I wanted to hear you say it.”
Vas laughs. “He gets that look on his face when he does. Like he’s ready to blow a hole through someone’s chest.”
“From what Vee said, she’s not fond of you.”
“How can she be fond of me or not? She doesn’t know me.”
“No, but in the few times you’ve been around her, you’ve insulted her apartment, and then you made her leave that nightclub. I heard Vee on the phone with her the day after. Called you…oh what was it…an arrogant ass.” He pauses to flash another grin. “That’s what it was, an arrogant ass.”
“Not very creative.” I finish the rest of my drink. “Instead of talking about a woman who has nothing to do with anything, how about you tell me what you came down here to tell me?”
Kaz’s expression changes like the wind, getting right down to business.
“The warehouse on the river has extra security, but with the DeAngelos setting a fucking match to everything they can get their hands on, we wouldn’t be insulted if you wanted to move your shipments up north for the time being.”
“We don’t have anything coming through for a few months yet. We’ll see how things go.” This war between the Volkovs and DeAngelos isn’t good for business, especially since the Italians don’t seem interested in keeping it only between them.
I’ve known Alexander, the oldest of the brothers, since we were kids. Our fathers worked closely. When his father died and Alexander took the reins, he had enough backing that he could have tried to push me to align with him. To bend the knee. He didn’t.
For that reason, I give my full trust to them. I won’t turn my back on them. And my alliance with them puts a target on my back for the Italians. Already, they’ve taken out Rurik’s storage facility because it had ties to the Volkovs. They could easily start targeting my distribution lines.
It would be a foolish thing to do; my backing extends beyond the Volkovs. I have connections in all the major cities and even some back home in Russia. To fuck with me would bring down more hell than they could deal with.
But the DeAngelo family has never been accused of being overly smart. Especially when it comes to business dealings. Every fire they set, they see a hit to their business twice the damage. It would be wise for them to cut their losses and come to the table to negotiate a truce.
“How’s your shoulder?” I pour a drink for myself, and offer one to Kaz, who takes it.
He rolls his shoulder back and forth. “Fit as ever.”
If I hadn’t known him from the time the boy was in diapers, I would have missed the small wince of pain when he moved. He took a bullet a few weeks back, another shot from the DeAngelo camp.
“Seems like.”
“Sorry, to interrupt, but Kaz? You said to meet you when I was done. I’m off now.” A woman dressed in the Obsidian’s uniform stands in the open doorway of the game room.
When Kaz turns his head toward her, she lowers her chin to her chest and looks up at him through her lashes. His eyebrow raises. I’m close enough that I hear the low rumble in his chest.
“What happened to Ivan’s dictate about dating the staff?” I ask.
He pushes up from his chair, grabs my drink and downs it.
“My brother lost all credibility when he moved one of the waitresses into his home.” He slaps my shoulder. “Talk to you later.”
I laugh as he saunters from the room, snagging the girl’s hand as he passes her and pulling her along with him.
“One of these days he’s going to find a woman that’s not going to leave his bed so easily.” Vas chuckles.
“Kaz is never going to settle down.” I push my now-empty glass aside and pick up my phone. “Deal another hand.”
“Anything from Sasha?” Vas questions as he shuffles the cards.
“Not yet.” I scroll through messages, then pull up my contact list. My finger hovers over Maxine’s contact.
“The Armenian’s have never tried to move in on us before; why would they start now?”
“Vartan Petrosyan is getting old. Rumor is he’s dying of cancer, and his son is making a push to take over. While Vartan was smart enough not to encroach on our territory, his son will want to make a show of having a set of steel balls.”
“Levon?” Vas huffs. “He’s a pissant. Vartan would do better to name a successor that’s outside his bloodline if he wants to keep the organization from caving in on itself.”
“Yes. You should suggest it to him the next time you see him. Though I’m not sure you would be able to say much with your tongue cut out, hanging by your toes.” Vartan might be on the road to the grave, but his hatred for us is as strong as ever.
The feeling is mutual, of course.
Vas’s phone goes off and he takes his call, while I tap onto the GPS program I have synced into Maxine’s phone. She’s home and has been there since eight o’clock tonight. The only other place she’s been today was work, and the coffee shop at the corner of her building on her way home.
The urge to know what she’s up to at home right now is strong, but I haven’t given the order to have any surveillance put inside her apartment.
I know her bothers are up to something stupid and dangerous, and I know it’s going to put her in the cross hairs, but until I know for certain I won’t completely invade her privacy.
Tracking her isn’t so much an invasion as a safety measure. Maxine spends time with my sister, and I won’t allow any danger to come close to Nicolette. I’ve gone to great pains to keep her separated from the dark shadows my life casts. It’s for Nicolette’s safety.
“That was Dmitri.” Vasa drops his phone on the table. “He followed the twins to a club on the Gold Coast. They were taken into the back as soon as they announced themselves, Dmitri wasn’t able to get close enough to see who they were meeting, but they did see plenty of security in the club.”
“What sort?”
“The Armenian sort.” He frowns. “I think you’re right. Their making a move into the city, and those two dumbasses are getting involved with something they won’t be able to handle.”
Which will put Maxine in danger.
“When did you say you’ll get a name from her?” Vas questions, though I can tell from the lightness of his tone he has no confidence I’ll be getting anything from her.
“Friday.” I pour myself another drink, throw it down my throat and slam the glass down on the table.
“Are you going to be able to wait that long?” Vas’s almost laughing, the grin on his fucking face is so wide.
“I said Friday. I’ll give her until then.”
“Why not just pick up the twins? They’ll piss themselves as soon as they see us, then they’ll spill everything they know.”
“That’s true.” I nod. “But if they are trying to get into business with Levon, they’ll be watched. Why do you think they didn’t come to meet me, instead sending their sister?”
“Because they’re pussies and thought you were going to blow their heads off.”
“That’s what I thought at first, and there is something to that. But if they’re being watched, or even think they are, them showing up at my penthouse would be a bad look, yes?”
“And if we pick them up and the Armenians see, it would compromise them.”
I nod. “Right. We wouldn’t be able to get anything else out of the little idiots other than some names and confirmation for what we already suspect.”
“Okay, so we get the information from the girl and then what?”
“Maxine.” I correct. “I’ll get the information from Maxine and then figure out what our next play will be.”
He nods. “And until then?”
I check my phone when the tracking app dings a notification. Maxine has left her apartment.
“Until then, we just wait and watch.”