FORTY-FOUR
Luca
I van waits by his car, likely respecting that I drove several hours to see my son. How long has he known Elijah was here? Did he follow me?
I place my hand on the headstone and say a final prayer. “I might be seeing you soon, my son.”
Shoulders back, I march toward the SUV.
Belova leans on the door, and when I get close, he motions for me to sit on an iron bench near the entrance.
I’m outnumbered, and compliance is my only option. I didn’t do anything wrong except escape his assassination attempt. And take Eli’s remains. He was my damn son . I had the right to bury him anywhere I wanted.
“Daniil,” Belova’s rough voice hisses. “Vermont? Of all the fucking places.”
“Hey,” I snap. “My son is buried here. This is holy ground. Watch your mouth.”
“Your accent is gone?”
“Everything you knew about me is gone.”
A smile ghosts his lips. “Yet we once again have something in common.”
“If you mean hockey...”
“Da.”
“Why? Why buy a hockey team?”
“Diversification. Legitimacy. And the fu...” He censors himself. “The profits are unbelievable. If you include the illegal gambling.”
I lower my head. “I’m sorry I asked.”
If he instructed his coaches to have players purposely attack stars like Max Ryan, he’s probably fixing games and cleaning up from the odds.
“Why Richmond?”
“Low salary market.” He rubs his fingers together. “Good players, though. They always sell out. Tickets and concessions make ten times bank every game.”
“You do realize that your team made it into the playoffs and now those players will be asking for more money.”
He shrugs lazily. “Then I get rid of them.”
I roll my eyes thinking he means kill them. “I know it was you who sent that woman and those goons to hurt Max Ryan,” I say with a little too much emotion in my voice.
Something Ivan sees right through. “You’re not enjoying babysitting him?”
“I work security for the team.” I stick to what I’m sure he knows.
“I’m pulling strings to make sure Richmond plays Stamford in the next round.” Ivan stands up.
“Have at it.” Now I shrug. “They won’t make it to the finals. There’s only so much your players can do on the ice.”
“Your boy is going down Game One. Without him, Stamford can’t win a postseason game. Check the stats.”
I freeze, not believing I just heard a direct threat. Why would he say that? None of this makes sense. Not responding to the Max comment, I shove my hands into my pockets. “Aren’t you more interested that I’m standing right here even though you tried to kill me?”
Ivan shakes his head. “I was devastated.”
I grab his suit jacket and ignore the gun hammers clicking around me. “You? I lost my son .”
“You can have another son. I won’t have another sister,” he roars .
“That’s not my fault. She knew what I was. I told her not to marry me. To go to you and ask to be freed of the obligation.”
“She loved you,” he says from the same brokenhearted place I live in.
And he’s right. I can have another child. Doesn’t look very likely now.
“Come home, Daniil,” Ivan whispers. “You can’t like living in that crappy houseboat with one eye over your shoulder.”
My throat tightens. Only, I’ve been living in a penthouse, getting laid nearly every night. Jesus, I’m...happy. And it’s about to all be stolen away from me.
“I would have worked for you until my dying breath. The bratva was my life. You forced me into an impossible, miserable situation.”
“And we both suffered the consequences.”
It occurs to me that Ivan knows everything . Knew it all along. Where I work. Where I live. Where Max lives.
“You always loved hockey,” he keeps going. “I’ll give you the team.”
I scoff. “You’ll just sign over a hockey team to me? I have no idea how to run a professional sports team. And I don’t want to learn.”
“Then name your price.”
“Why do you want me back so badly?”
“Pride. Perception. You got away. That made me look weak.”
House Domenico sits on my tongue, but I won’t drag them into this. I’m not working for them yet. And I haven’t heard from Giancarlo Byrne to find out if I passed Daria’s background checks.
“Here is your boy.” Ivan sticks his phone under my nose .
Max runs passing drills at the practice facility.
Anger fills my vision. “You have a mole with the Crushers?”
“No.” Ivan laughs. “Just a few cameras I paid some maintenance people to plant. They think I’m a snooping tabloid rag.”
“Those cameras are being ripped out when I get back.”
“If I let you get back.”
“Kill me,” I sneer. “Go ahead. I’m not working for you again.”
“I can get a sniper into that building in ten minutes. Take your boy out.”
“Why are you calling him...” I stop and close my eyes.
He saw us at the harbor a few nights ago. Saw us kiss. God, I’m so stupid.
“I’ve learned my lesson, Daniil. You were a good enforcer. Orlov is useless.” He hisses toward one of the cars. “Come home. Take your place at my side. You can have all the men you want. I have no more sisters to force on you.”
My body goes rigid.
“Underboss? You’re offering me, the man you tried to kill, the underboss job?” I get in his face. “And how do I know you won’t try to kill me again?”
“You don’t.” He stands up. “Just like today. You will never see me coming next time.”
Hard sell me, why don’t you. I shiver against the cool twilight air from the setting sun. The long drive back to Connecticut in the dark will be miserable.
“Keep your eyes on your boy,” Ivan taunts me. “He’s going down in our playoffs. It can be graceful, or he’ll leave on a stretcher. Either way, the Crushers are losing. We’re taking home the Dresden Cup.” He signals his driver to open his door. “And you’ll be fired with nowhere to go.”
Fury floods my veins, and I consider putting a bullet in his head. His men will kill me. I’ll be with my son, but Max will live.
Or maybe he won’t.
“Five days, Daniil.” Ivan steps toward his car. “You have five days to come home after the Crushers’ season is over, or you will be forcibly dragged back. Bring your lover boy with you. After this season, he’ll never play hockey again.”
I grab Ivan around the neck to choke him. But before I can, he laughs out loud. “Try that again. You don’t even want to know what I’ll do to your sister.”
Vomit bubbles up in my throat and I shuck him away. “What?”
“A sister for a sister.”
Ivan waves a gloved hand, signaling to the men in another car. A door opens and they pull out a woman, tied up and gagged.
Samara.