Chapter 3 #2
However, as happened with warring countries, there were usually extensive times of peace. Plus, since the invention of high-tech computers, internet trade and banking, the traditional need for physical battles to be fought was now considered a last resort.
Or maybe I was reading the tea leaves incorrectly.
I threw my head back, staring at the ceiling while spinning the chair from right to left. Saige had a way of draining the energy from my body while keeping my mind flickering with possibilities. As if the woman had used a cattle prod or her fingers contained tiny electronic shock devices.
Something else that impressed me was that Saige wasn’t like the usual women who tried crawling all over me. I’d already heard I was considered a catch, a man who could provide everything a woman needed.
Money.
Clout.
Credit cards with high limits to keep them from being bored during the day.
And a package to crawl in bed with at night that no woman would mind spreading her legs for.
Then again, this was New York. There were thousands of such men and an equal number of powerful women who kept boy toys in closets for their entertainment. That was the way of the rich and powerful.
And nothing I wanted to have anything to do with.
My job was to keep the Chertov Corporation in the black, expanding our wealth with our legitimate operations whenever possible.
I was the man who ultimately gave the go-ahead for a new project.
I also ran the books for our other side, including keeping tabs on people we considered allies and little black books on those we considered our enemies.
In truth, the money from our underground operations continually brought us an equal level of wealth. However, the tide was turning and if my brilliant financial advisor provided the necessary tools, the levels could change.
An exciting prospect.
If what she provided was of the quality that I already knew she could bring, the end of year financials could bring something to celebrate.
However, if she was a mole for any of at least three different crimes syndicates or an undisclosed number of corporate enemies, she would need to be dealt with in ways that wouldn’t be considered as pleasant as the filth lingering in my mind.
Women were notoriously well adept at seduction. Maybe I was reading into the situation instead of taking it for face value, but again, my observation skills had proven useful in the past couple of years.
On the plus side, there would be significant investigative time.
Damn it.
Methods of interrogation were weighing heavily on my mind. And they were completely carnal in nature. Every vision was vivid and provocative. There was nothing wrong with my imagination.
As my phone vibrated, I should pay attention to the caller. But I was still enjoying the moment.
Wanting her had become a pastime, challenging the time I spent honing my body, a personal requirement that had been a part of my regime since I was a teenager.
However, touching what didn’t belong to me was not only inappropriate, doing so could be considered dangerous. Why? Because of who and what I was.
Enforcer to the Pakhan, controller of New York. In the months since my arrival, I’d lowered crime rates within the darker side of the corporation by forty-five percent.
By only using my wit, charm, and reputation.
Laughing, I stared at my hands. There was also the understanding throughout our territories and beyond of how ruthless my methods were of keeping the peace and how far I was willing to go to do so. That had made for a boring last few months.
Maybe that’s what my charming assistant was referring to. Correction, financial analyst.
Resisting her was becoming more difficult every day.
When the door was thrown open, instead of reaching for my weapon, which was safely tucked away in a desk drawer, I embraced the annoyance. There were two people who burst into my office without notice.
One was currently in Rome meeting with what I called the disciples of the Cosa Nostra while framing the trip as a family vacation.
And the other was a pain in my ass.
The door was slammed behind him, his footsteps heavy.
Dimitri Chertov was enough like our Pakhan and my brother Kazimir to remain irritating while his methods of business were cringeworthy. There was such a thing as going with the flow, but my cousin embodied the concept of winging it. He called it an artful way of doing business.
I called it lazy and reckless.
Therein lay the crux of our relationship. We bickered when not embroiled by a cause.
He handled the hospitality operations while I juggled the more mundane aspect of working with the Irish on the oil and gas company we’d purchased together. A forced alliance that had been highly profitable but a pain in my ass.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” I swiveled my chair, gauging his mood with one glance at his face. He was furious, close to foaming at the mouth. “And don’t you ever knock?”
“We have business to discuss. And don’t you ever answer your damn phone?” In his hand was a file folder.
“Not when I’m busy.”
He thumped down in the chair opposite me, the same seat Saige had used. The act itself was nothing special but for some reason, his interference in her ghosted space pissed me off.
“With your charming assistant?” Dimitri tossed out. Leave it to him to figure out she was the single woman in a building full of them who’d caught my eye. Not a soul had seen me at Christmas and I’d been careful not to mention a word about that night.
I’d give him some credit. He never missed anything, an attribute that had often come in handy.
“My financial advisor, who has a clear understanding of how we could position ourselves strategically.” I swiveled all the way around. The sooner he shared whatever was troubling him, the sooner he’d leave so I could get to work.
“Make certain and check her credentials going all the way back to when she was born.”
My jaw tightened just from his casual recommendation. He was less than a year younger than Kazimir, which was one reason they’d been so close growing up as children. They were much more like brothers. Even their likes and dislikes were remarkably similar.
I didn’t have that level of closeness as I’d grown up in a house with my mother, a woman shunned by my biological father after discovery of a son through infidelity. Somewhere through the years he’d lamented his decision, longing for his entire family to be together.
As fate would have it, he’d then married my mother. Perhaps it was true that most women couldn’t stand being alone. And that for every powerful male leader, there was a woman standing behind them both encouraging and directing.
In my life, I was the master of ceremonies.
Maybe that’s why I’d determined long before accepting a new last name that I’d shape my world and my successes alone.
Their marriage had put a rift in my relationship with my mother. Even today after her becoming a widow. However, I was thankful my biological dad had provided for her in the event of his death, including allowing her to remain in the house Kazimir had grown up in.
Alongside his brother. Correction. My brother as well.
“What do you need, Dimitri?”
“There might be a sighting.”
“Of?”
He cocked his head and I knew exactly who he was talking about.
Mikhail.