Epilogue
The video feed is grainy, but the motion is sharp. Kirill Khitrenko exits the Kozlov mansion, his long strides eating up the driveway.
There he is. The Shark. Good choice.
“He’s on the move.” Beside me, Dimitri’s voice is a low hum, with energy thrumming just beneath the surface.
I don’t look away from the monitor. I watch Kirill climb into his car, the engine a faint roar through the audio feed.
“Just as you predicted,” Dimitri says.
Of course. All Roman’s ‘sons’ are predictable animals. Send in the brute, Kolya, and he leaves a trail of bodies. Send in the shark, Kirill, and he cleans up the bloody mess left behind.
A grim satisfaction settles in my gut. They took the bait.
My gaze remains locked on the screen. “He has the key?”
“In his pocket.” Dimitri’s smile is audible in his voice. “The ‘insurance’ file is the perfect lure. He’ll go right to her.”
The journalist’s daughter. Another piece on the board.
My plan is a living thing, a complex machine of interlocking parts. It feels like a good MMA training session, with the slow, patient pressure of a chokehold. You don’t rush it. You let your opponent’s own panic defeat him.
You just hold on until the lights go out.
“Roman is running scared,” I murmur.
Dimitri leans closer to the monitors, his shoulder brushing mine. “Brilliant move, Kai. Using the witnesses from the island.”
The island. For a second, the controlled air of the conservatory feels thick with humidity. With the smell of blinding rain and gun smoke.
I force the memory down. That dark piece of my past has no place here.
“The kindergarten teacher was a good starting point.” I glance back at him. “It was a good idea.”
Dimitri gives a low chuckle. “It was all you, boss. The Kozlovs are creating their own enemies. All we’re doing is giving a little push.”
I nod. Dimitri is right, as usual. The firefight over those diamonds. The bodies. The police must be sniffing around. And the Falcone family, furious at Roman…
We planted the seeds. Now we tend them and watch them grow.
“Phase two complete.” Dimitri’s tone is all business again. “Your plan is working perfectly. They’re locked in. They can’t stop.”
I reach out and trace the outline of Roman’s mansion on the screen. All that stolen luxury. All that blood-soaked greed and power.
It’s all coming down.
Emotion erupts in my chest. I punch the screen, and pain bursts in my knuckles as the glass spiderwebs.
“Kai.” Dimitri draws my attention away from the destruction. “It’s you and me against the world, boss. And we’re going to win.”
I nod, rubbing my fist in my other hand before standing abruptly and heading outside. The humid air is a welcome balm, and the roses are perfect, pristine. White and blood-red.
I find a single wilted leaf on a white bloom and rip it off while my mind spinds. This isn’t about the diamonds. Or the evidence. Or the chaos.
It’s about what Roman took from me that night.
He’ll give it back. One way or another.
The End