Chapter 12 Ruslan
RUSLAN
“Stop checking your damn phone,” Valentina hisses at me out of the corner of her mouth as we walk down a long, winding hallway within the Sidorov estate.
I ignore her and continue to do so.
Not liking being ignored, Valentina snatches my phone from my fingers faster than I can blink.
She holds it aloft ,which is her first mistake because I’m taller than her even in her heels.
My hand seals around her wrist and with the right amount of pressure, the phone slips from her grasp and lands in my open palm.
“Asshole,” she mutters, massaging her wrist when I release her.
“You steal my phone and I’m the asshole?”
“We’re about to face down a Pakhan and you can’t keep your eyes up for two seconds.”
“I’m just checking that there’s nothing from the others.”
“No, you’re checking there’s nothing from Ivy. She’s with the others so she’s fine. Stop obsessing.”
“I’m not obsessing.”
“Really?” She narrows her perfectly lined eyes at me as we reach a set of oak double doors and speaks in a whisper. “You left her two hours ago and not once have you seemed focused. I need you here with me, Ruslan. You’re the entire reason we have to talk to this guy in the first place.”
I know she’s right. Sighing deeply, I pocket my phone and adjust my waistcoat. “Right. Let’s do this.”
Valentina knocks swiftly on the door, and we wait as the sound of creaking floorboards rises up from inside. A moment later, the doors open and we’re ushered inside by a chunky bald man in a black suit.
The lavish office is decorated from floor to ceiling in deep reds and golds, but what immediately draws my attention is the gigantic stuffed bear statue behind the desk at the far end, across from three bay windows.
The bear stretches up to the ceiling, and I track all the way up to its open maw and razor-sharp teeth while we walk around ornate chairs and a mahogany coffee table to reach the desk.
The Sidorov Pakhan, Kraven, sits at the table with his meaty fists resting against the desk. Sunken eyes peek out from an impressive gray beard that wobbles as he noisily gulps a copper-colored liquid from his glass.
“Liquid courage?” Valentina asks as she stops at the desk and cocks her hip.
“Valentina, my dear.” Kraken lowers his glass and wetly clears his throat. “To what do I owe a visit from the Queen?”
My lips part to answer, but Valentina is as quick as a whip and she gets there first.
“You know why we’re here. Men bearing your ink kidnapped the Ace.
” She jerks her head toward me, sending her auburn hair rippling down her back like a wave.
“And you tortured him. Before you try to cover it up with any lie you want to spin, I don’t care to listen.
One of your little Russian birdies sang as I chopped his balls off, so think very carefully about what you’re going to say next. ”
Kraven’s eyes narrow. “You come here, just the two of you, with accusations like that?”
“If you think we came here alone,” I say, “you’re very much mistaken.”
Kraven sends a nervous glance out the window at the lavish garden surrounding his estate, then he nods his head just once. “Had they known you were the Ace, they wouldn’t have touched you.”
“Are you admitting that your men are so ill-equipped that they can’t recognize a member of the Suit?” I ask tightly. “Because that doesn’t bode well for you.”
Kraven’s jaw works back and forth, causing his beard to twitch rapidly as if he’s rolling an argument around on his tongue. After a long moment of staring at my face as if assessing my bruises, he shakes his head. “You are right. This… never should have happened.”
“No,” Valentina says coldly. “It really shouldn’t.”
“You have to forgive me. Never would I have expected the Fifth Suit to be involved in something like this.” Kraven lifts his head higher. “It’s unprecedented.”
“You’ve been waging war with the Romas for over two years, and a plane came down in the middle of a park, killing over a hundred people.
Did you really think something like that could be ignored?
Especially when it alerted the cops to how drugs are getting in and out of the country?
” I scoff. “You should have expected us.”
“Should I have?” Kraven grumbles. “We are but small fries in the grand scheme of things.”
“Yes, you are,” says Valentina, cutting in before I can respond. “But you’ve placed us in a dangerous position now. Attacking the Ace, even accidentally, breaks one of our oldest rules. Rules you swore an oath to follow. You know what this means.”
Kraven’s jaw works back and forth once more as he nods. “I do.”
“We have to step in and clear up this mess before anyone else gets hurt.”
“Like my Enforcer?” Kraven fixes Valentina with a harsh look. “You killed three of my best Enforcers and it sounds like you castrated the fourth.”
Valentina scoffs. “If they were your best, then you’re in worse shape than the Romas think.”
“I’m not here to collect a blood debt,” I say. “I want you to look me in the eye and apologize. And then I want to know why.”
Kraven’s eyes dart to me, and the air in the room seems to grow thin as he suddenly stands up to his full height. For a man so rotund, there’s no way to miss the strength that exudes from his thick fists or his meaty neck.
“You have my deepest apologies, Ace. You were never a target. That woman was.”
“Ivy.” Her name warms my mouth.
“Yes. We wanted to get the truth out of her, to get her confession that she was hired by the Romas.”
“And if I tell you she wasn’t?” I ask. “Does that justify harming Jane and killing Camden?” Name-dropping Ivy’s parents doesn’t get me the reaction I hope for, but something does make Kraven’s brow twitch. He glances away from me and focuses on his desk as he sits once more.
“I know nothing about that.”
Valentina and I exchange glances. There’s no way he’s telling the truth.
“If you did know something, it would be in your best interests to tell us,” Valentina says sharply. “Because if I learn something for myself that you withheld from me, I’m going to have to come back here, and trust me when I say I don’t like having my time wasted.”
Kraven lifts his head and fixes her with a steady stare. “I don’t know anything about that,” he repeats. “Civilians mean nothing to me.”
“Even if those civilians are the family of a spy you’re hunting?”
Kraven nods. “You know me, Ruslan. You know my work. I kill to make people talk, and Ivy couldn’t talk to me because I didn’t have her. So why would I have her parents targeted?”
Annoyingly, he makes sense. Kraven has a reputation for cold cruelty and killing, but he always backs it up with a reason. Harming Ivy’s family when she wasn’t in his custody would push Ivy to run if she really was a spy, and she would take the truth with her.
After a short discussion about ensuring Kraven’s men are adequately educated in the Suit, Valentina and I return to our car.
“Do you believe him?” I ask her as we climb inside.
“No,” Valentina replies. “That picture proves he knows Ivy’s father, but we can’t present that until we know more. But I’m not entirely sure he’s lying about the Romas, either. Something about this isn’t sitting right with me.”
“Maybe we’ll get our answer from the Italians.”
Unfortunately, our visit to the Roma Estate doesn’t bring us much more in the way of answers. The Roma Don, Nico, is much angrier.
“Do you have any idea how much time and money went into that deal? It was supposed to be the end!” Nico slams his hand down on his desk, his chest heaving so hard that his white shirt almost bursts open.
“I lost millions. I let that fucker take my plane, fill it with cargo, and then blow it up on my own back door!”
“Nico.” Valentina’s voice takes on a deeper Italian curl as she speaks. “I understand how bad this makes you look.”
“Do you?” He drags one hand through his oiled black hair.
“Three months. I spent three months whittling down the finer details with that Russian maniac. That deal was supposed to split the market, his product and my transport. Now I’m losing men left and right because he thinks I blew up that fucking plane when I know it was him!
” He yells so loud that he rises onto the balls of his feet.
“And now I have the police sniffing up my ass because that crash threw those drugs and my plane into their hands. My entire airline is being investigated! Do you know how much money I’m losing because of that? ”
Speaking up doesn’t seem like the right choice for me, so I remain quiet while Valentina works her magic.
“Nico, I need you to take a step back. I’m not saying you should stop defending your people or your territory, but I need you to know that I’m here because I need to find out who blew up that plane.”
“Why?” Nico spins to face her. “Why does the Suit care?”
“Because our blood was spilled while trying to remain impartial, so we can’t walk away.”
Nico glances at me, panting, then he tips his head. “I was sorry to hear what happened. My men would never have done such a thing.”
I flash him a brief smile. “But would they blow up a plane to make the Russians look bad and frame them for this disaster so it weakens them?”
Nico’s gaze darkens like impending thunder, but even as his fists clench, no more anger comes out of him.
“No. We want peace. I hated dealing with that slime ball but I did it for my family, you understand? Talk to anyone you want, pore over my accounts if you must. This? This was not me. I swear on my family’s honor that we had nothing to do with this. ”
Back out at the car, Valentina leans against the hood of the vehicle.
“So we have the Russians losing money because their product was destroyed, and without the transport route from the Italians, they have no way to bring in the good stuff from Europe. They blame the Italians, whose airline is now under investigation and has shipping routes wasting money because there’s no product.
And anything homegrown on either side is being destroyed in this war. ”
“So they both did it,” I reply, leaning next to her.
“Or neither of them.”
“Who else would benefit?”
Valentina shrugs. “If we’ve been watching from the beginning, maybe we would know. But we’re late to this because this isn’t supposed to be something we care about.”
“Why not? Surely, families warring in the streets upsets the peace? Innocents are dying, including people not even in this world.”
“Two families fighting isn’t an issue. If it were an entire war between multiple, then sure. But this is small.”
“I disagree.”
“Why?” She shoots me a sidelong glance. “Because of Ivy?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? She’s the key to all this, so you should hand her over.”
“And if she’s innocent?”
“They would find that out.”
“Before or after they kill her?” I frown. “She’s been through enough.”
“Hm.” Valentine shakes her head. “I don’t deny that. But you’ve made her our problem and now we have to fix this quickly before people think the Suit is playing favorites with either side.”
“So work with me instead of picking at me.”
Valentina laughs softly. “I am working with you, dummy. But you need to be careful. Ivy might trauma bond with you after everything she’s been through. Her entire world has been turned on its head and the only reliable thing is you. Can you put a bullet in her if she’s the culprit all along?”
“I am pretty reliable,” I smirk, unable to answer her last comment. “But I’m being careful.”
“Are you?” She lifts one brow. “Seriously, what will you do if it turns out she’s lying to you?”
Before I answer, my phone blares to life and a symbol covers the screen. The letter J with a small crown on top.
“Jack?” I say as soon as I hit answer.
“Ace!” Cassian’s panting, gasping voice fills my ears, so I immediately put the call on speaker. “Ace, you gotta—argh!”
“Jack!”
Several loud bangs and thumps follow, then the pained sound of Cassian gurgling for air.
It’s hard to make out anything else through a strange crackling covering the line, but just as my worried gaze meets Valentina’s, another voice distantly cuts through the call and turns my stomach into a bottomless pit.
“Cassian?” Ivy’s voice is faint. “Cassian—”