Chapter 16
Alexei
“Ihave an idea.”
I lift my eyes from my UNO cards and glance at Mikhail. “Keep it to yourself. Your ideas have a perfect track record of being fucking terrible.”
“Shut up.” He throws another card onto the pile with more force than necessary.
Daniil’s shoulders shake with quiet laughter. He adds a card of his own to the growing pile.
We’ve been playing this game since we were kids. Mikhail’s still a sore loser, always has been. He can’t handle losing at anything, especially not at UNO where luck plays too big a role for his liking. Daniil always cheats at this game; I can’t prove it, but he always fucking wins.
I could tell Mikhail first about Kelly. He’s drowning in his own chaos, won’t have the energy to judge mine.
Work my way through the family from easiest to hardest, let them process it one at a time.
Or just rip the bandage off and tell them all at once.
Call a meeting, lay it out, deal with whatever comes after.
Father’s going to lose his shit either way.
I don’t know how to do this without destroying everything.
I’m a coward. Plain and simple. I’ll put a bullet in someone’s skull without blinking, but I can’t tell my own father I’m gay. Kelly thinks it doesn’t matter, that he understands, but I see it in his eyes sometimes. The question of whether I’m ashamed of him. I’m not. I’m ashamed of myself.
We’re sitting in Ozero, our recently opened club.
Waiting for our father to show up because he’s supposed to tell us what he found in the files Calder and I pulled from the stash house.
Kelly had to go to work, and I was bored, so I might as well sit through this meeting even though all I want right now is to bury my face between his thighs and make him fall apart with my tongue.
Mikhail’s running this and our other three clubs for our father. He’s actually doing a decent job. Even if I wasn’t sure how it would work with his drug problems constantly getting in the way. A memory of talking to Kelly here for the first time after the clinic incident hits me.
I bite on my tongue, trying to shove it out of my head.
“Did you hear me?”
“No, but I’m sure whatever you said was stupid.”
Mikhail throws all his cards into the middle of the table, sending them scattering everywhere, then rises from his chair and points a finger at me. “I said I have an idea how we can fuck with Yulian.”
I rub at my temple. “Imagine that. The thing I said would be stupid turned out to be stupid.”
“I want to prank him.”
I scoff. “Why can’t the two of you just leave each other alone?”
“He starts it. Ask Danya, he’ll tell you.”
I glance over at Daniil who rubs at his temple and shakes his head.
“This family is exhausting,” I mutter.
He opens his mouth to snap back, but the doors open, and our father walks in.
He raises his eyebrows at all the cards scattered across the conference table, then looks at Mikhail, who suddenly goes sheepish and drops his hand while straightening up fast.
I whisper, “Pussy,” in his direction. He gives me a death glare, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from saying something that’ll get him in trouble.
Our father comes and sits down at the head of the table, glancing between us with the faintest smile. “I remember you all playing this when you were young, though I can’t say I miss the screaming and the fights that happened every time one of you won.”
“You mean because someone can’t handle losing.” I glance over at Mikhail, who glares at me but doesn’t say anything back.
Father huffs a quiet laugh, then continues, “I sent Lev, Yulian, and Calder to Vegas to handle the expansion. They won’t be here for this meeting.
The documents you retrieved were more valuable than expected because they confirmed someone with police background is working with the Nozares family, feeding them information about our activities.
We don’t have names yet, but we know it’s a retired detective with access he shouldn’t have.
” He points at me. “I have additional targets for you to handle.”
He shifts his attention to Daniil without missing a beat. “There are police files I need analyzed for patterns and connections. Take Mikhail with you because two sets of eyes catch what one might miss.”
More like he wants Daniil to babysit Mikhail and keep him from doing anything stupid, but I don’t say that out loud.
“Intelligence suggests Santiago’s sons are questioning his leadership, creating internal fractures in their organization.
” He drums his fingers against the table.
“Unconfirmed, but if true, it creates opportunities we can exploit to our advantage. What’s concerning is Omar Nozares’s cartel tried to hit one of our shipping containers last week.
Something’s off—they’re making risky moves that don’t match their usual careful approach. ”
My father and Mikhail start discussing logistics and timelines while Daniil sits silent, just nodding when they look at him. I tune them out and pull out my phone.
Me:
When are you done at work
My leg bounces while I wait for an answer I already know. Boundaries suck. The typing bubbles appear and disappear a few times before his response comes through.
Zaychik:
Like an hour
Zaychik:
I have a migraine and today has been awful
Me:
I’m coming to get you
Zaychik:
No, you don’t have to
Zaychik:
It’s okay… Really, I promise
Me:
It’s raining. I’ll be there
Zaychik:
But my bike
Zaychik:
I can’t leave it someone will steal it
I glance up at my father who’s still explaining something to Mikhail and Daniil. “Can I borrow your SUV?”
My father stops mid-sentence and gives me a curious look. “Fine.” He waves his hand dismissively and continues talking about police databases and access points.
Me:
It fits in the car
Zaychik:
Are all Russians this stubborn or is it just you? Okay I’ll be waiting for you outside
He’s one to talk about stubborn.
Me:
One hour zaychik
I pocket my phone and tune back into the conversation just long enough to catch the tail end of Father’s instructions about surveillance schedule. Kelly’s having a bad day, which means I’m not wasting time on strategy meetings that can happen without me.
I’m about to stand up when someone knocks on the door and then opens it. All our heads snap that way. A guy gets shoved down to his knees, and a gun presses against his head. Three of our security guards stand behind him. My father’s main security officer steps forward and clears his throat.
“Apologies for the interruption, sir. Found this one outside, attempting to gain access to the club. Claimed he was meeting someone, but we caught him trying to reach the garage to photograph the vehicles. We searched him and found a camera and phone. What would you like us to do with him?”
My father’s expression doesn’t change. Without even glancing at the guy on the floor, his eyes cut to me. “Alexei. Handle it. Get everything out of him, then clean it up before you leave.”
Son of a bitch. I don’t have time for this. I wanted to be there early to pick him up. Instead, I’m stuck dealing with some idiot photographer.
I push up from the chair and walk over. He’s young, early twenties, haven’t seen him before.
I grab him by the shoulders and haul him to his feet, then slam my fist into his face.
His nose breaks with a crack, and blood sprays across his mouth.
He tries to drop, but I don’t let him, grabbing him by the throat and squeezing until he chokes.
Then I throw him back down, and he hits the floor hard, gasping for air.
I grab his hair and yank his head back. “Start talking. I’m already pissed off, and you’re making it worse. What were you doing here?”
He coughs, spits blood. “Someone hired me for intel, man, please. They said it would be quick, in and out.”
“Who paid you?”
“I owed someone drug money, and they said I could do this instead of paying. Please let me go, I didn’t know what this place was.”
My teeth grind. Fucking errand boy.
Mikhail clears his throat. “We need to find out who sent him. If it’s the Nozares trying to gather intel on our operations, that’s a problem.
If it’s someone else, that’s a different problem.
Either way, he’s seen our faces, this location, the setup.
” He gestures at the guy bleeding on the floor.
“He dies regardless. Question is whether we use him to send a message back or just make him disappear quietly.”
He’s right.
Mikhail’s smart when he’s not fucked up on benzos or coke or whatever combination he’s using this week.
Strategic mind, sees three moves ahead when he bothers to focus.
I’ve been watching the way my father treats him, and he’s harder on Mikhail than any of us, pushing him more and testing him constantly.
I think he’s grooming him to take over one day, seeing if he can handle the pressure and wants to know if Mikhail can lead when it matters. He just needs him sober enough to actually do it. That’s the part that keeps not happening.
My father’s gaze shifts to the guy on the floor, calculating.
“Daniil will go through the phone and camera. Trace who contacted him, pull any messages, follow the digital trail.” His eyes move back to me.
“Extract everything he knows. Then we make sure whoever hired him gets the message loud and clear.”
My nostrils flare, and my hand twitches at my side. I grab the guy by his throat and haul him up. He claws at my hands, choking, boots scraping against the floor as I drag him toward the door.
My temper’s already hanging by a thread. Kelly’s going to be waiting in the rain, and I’m stuck dealing with some errand boy who picked the wrong fucking day to take pictures of our cars.
I pull up to the clinic in an Escalade. Kelly’s standing out in his navy scrubs with his arms wrapped around himself, talking to some other man who looks like he’s in his thirties and standing way too close for my liking.