Chapter 48
Sasha and Kai are sitting at a round table with open bottles of champagne when I walk into the private dining room at Forbidden City. The walls are a symphony of gold dragons flying across a black lacquer background. Gold-studded black leather tops the gilt chairs. Understatement isn’t a Chinese look.
I smile. Reminds me of Russia. It’s a welcome change from the twenty-seven shades of gray and beige that dominate so many of the rooms in New York. You’d think Americans were allergic to color.
With a sharp stab of longing, I think of Kesera’s house in the woods and how familiar it felt.
“Do you have any beer?” I look at the open bottles of Dom Pérignon, and my mouth curls in disgust. “I have peasant tastes.”
Sasha pushes a red button, and a waiter appears with two enormous plates of lobsters set on piles of steaming, crispy noodles. Kai nods at him and points to something on the menu.
“Tsingtao coming up. Lobster too highbrow for you?” Kai raises his eyebrows at me, and I nod absentmindedly.
Only half of me is here to discuss the consequences of one of my bad decisions. The rest of my thoughts are with Kesera, wishing I could check on her and protect her from the sharks that are circling her.
The men in her life aren’t fit to call themselves men, and part of me wants to stake a claim on her and get every slimy fucker in the music business to back the hell away. And I would if I didn’t worry that getting involved with her would draw out even worse men from the darkness that I live in.
Kai laughs and pours a glass of champagne for Sasha. “Well, not everyone likes lobster and champagne. I can barely get the Spataro chick to eat.”
Sasha slants a look at him, and his shoulders tense. “You need to give her back to us?”
“No, man. I’m just grumbling. She’s just a royal pain in my ass. Such a fucking princess. God knows how long she’d have lasted in one of the Night Governor’s brothels.” He picks up a lobster claw with his chopsticks. “You think she’d be grateful, but no. Nothing is good enough for the principessa.”
“I think we need to get the Spataro girl out of town,” Sasha says.
Kai ponders for a moment. “I can take her to Hong Kong. I have to see some associates over there.”
“So, if we get the girl out of the way, what do we do about the rest of the Italians?” Sasha looks over at me as he picks up a mouthful of noodles. They dangle from his chopsticks. “That attack was an escalation. We can’t just hand the Spataro girl back and hope it will all evaporate. And one of the dead men was definitely Russian.”
“Someone thought it was important enough to attack my woman,” I say.
“Attack your woman? I think the plan was to snatch her and trade her for the Spataro girl,” Sasha says, his eyes widening a fraction as he turns to me. He’s picked up on the way I’m talking about Kesera.
I glare at him, avoiding the question he’s asked. “Well, nothing went as planned, thank god, but it was a shitshow. We’re lucky that no one called the police and created more drama.”
The waitresses come in with more plates of seafood and beer, but Kai waves them out and goes to the door.
I take a sip of my beer and look over at Kai and Sasha. “There’s something else going on. Something we’re not seeing.”
“I think it’s pretty clear,” Sasha says. “The Night Governor thinks we’ve gotten too big for our boots, and he’s losing his grip.”
I turn to him with a frown. “But they wanted to pick up Kesera and the kid for ransom.”
“Or did they just want to kill you?” Sasha says. “That whole attack was messy. Badly planned. Involving civilians. Whoever ordered it was desperate and panicking. It’s not a clever move.”
Kai sits back in his chair and picks up a pair of nutcrackers to attack the lobster he’s piled on his plate. “Not the Night Governor’s style?”
“No,” Sasha and I say in unison.
“The Night Governor finds out your secrets, and then he pulls your strings like a puppet. He’s not an all-guns-blazing kind of guy,” Sasha adds.
I look over at the two men. “You know what else is weird? That Spataro wanted to marry his daughter to an outsider. The Italians stick to their own.”
“I don’t suppose you’re up for marrying an Italian?” Sasha says to Kai.
Kai grimaces. “It wouldn’t be a hardship to fuck the Italian girl, but I’m not marrying a psycho.”
“You’d probably be a little psychotic after the month she’s had.” I pull out a cigarette, my lips twisting in distaste. Thinking about bringing my daughter into this world has soured my appetite. I picture Kesera whispering to me in the dark about being a family as I wrapped my arms around her.
“The Night Governor wants the girl back,” Sasha says, “but see if we can buy some time until we work out what’s behind that attack. You’ll take the girl out of the country?”
Kai nods, pushing away his plate and lighting a cigarette.
I lean back and shut my eyes as I think about the string of text messages from Nadia. I have to keep her out of this world.
Standing, my eyes dart to Sasha. “Are you coming back to Brooklyn tonight?”
“Yeah, I want to go home and pretend I’m in Russia.” He rises and claps his hand on Kai’s shoulder. “Thanks, man. Whichever way the chips fall, I’m going to make this worth your while.”
Sasha and Kai share a look that speaks to some shared history I wasn’t part of.
Kai unfolds himself from his chair and moves to shake my hand. Sasha trusts him, but the situation is moving so fast I can’t get my feet under me. And that’s before I’ve even thought about Kesera or my daughter.
We all walk out of the restaurant, and Sasha calls his driver.
“Do you want to ride back to Brighton Beach with me?” he asks.
“Sure. I need to ask you a favor anyway.”
Sasha slings an arm around my shoulders. “Ask away, old friend. What fresh hell are you bringing me?”
“It’s not Bratva business, but I need you to help me kill someone. Do you remember that slimy little shit that was managing my woman in Moscow?”
Sasha raises an eyebrow and pulls out a cigarette. He lights it and blows the smoke into my face without answering my question. “So, she’s your woman now, is she?”
The car pulls around with Alexei, Sasha’s heavyset driver, in the front seat. With his bald head and his bull neck, he looks like we pulled him straight from central casting.
“Once they attacked her, it changed everything.” I drop the cigarette butt on the pavement and grind it under my heel.
Sasha takes another drag and regards me thoughtfully. “I see.” He blows out the smoke and looks toward the ranks of parked luxury cars. “I do remember the little shit you’re talking about, actually. He blew up my phone for a summer, asking for gigs on yachts in Cyprus or Italy. I wasn’t sure if he was more interested in making money or a summer holiday. Idiot. I don’t like to see you so loved up, but I didn’t like that fucker.”
“I’m not loved up.” I shake my head.
“Oh yeah? Your daughter’s nanny is someone we just happened to have run across in Moscow, and you’re telling me that had nothing to do with you? And now it’s all ‘my woman’ this and ‘my woman’ that.” His gaze slides to me under raised brows. He drops the cigarette and grinds the butt underfoot. “Drop the act.”
He pulls open the car door and slides into the back seat, and I follow him in and pull the door closed behind me.
“So why are we killing that slimy little shit now? You could just threaten him. Blow out a kneecap or something. Less final. Less messy.”
“I already did that. Years ago. I paid him a visit before she left Nashville, but the message didn’t stick.”
Sasha starts laughing. He’s bent over, tears in his eyes and arms clutching his sides. When he sits back up, he looks over at me. “And you tell me you don’t love her? This is a mess.”
I glare at him. “Will you help me or not?”
“You didn’t need to ask. I’ve always got your back.” He grins at me. “Even if I give you a hard time.” Once he’s stopped laughing, the smile slides from his face and he looks out of the window, avoiding my eyes as he shrugs. “Love is a weakness I don’t need, but if there’s a kid involved, then you’re vulnerable anyway.”
I lean my head against the back seat and breathe out a sigh. “I don’t want to leave a trail. If I stand a chance with Kesera, I can’t have a lot of talk about this guy Jimmy going missing just as I appear back in her life.”
Sasha taps on the divider between us and the driver. “Don’t worry about it. No body. No crime.”