Chapter 28
ROMAN
Ipull up to the warehouse to see four cars sitting out front. Two of them have their headlights on and pointed toward the front door. Misting rain falls around the cars, creating a glowing mist in the yellow lights.
How dramatic. No one could ever accuse the Durovs of having a lack of drama when it comes to these sorts of things.
I park the car and a slew of memories bubbles up. Sergei’s father, Pyotr standing in the lighted walkway of our last meet, his thinning hair nearly glowing against the streetlights above and behind him. He’s wearing a trenchcoat as he glowers at me.
“You young Pakhans cling too hard to silly love stories.”
It had been his response to me after my accusations had been made.
The other Pakhans around us were hoping that we could come to some understanding or agreement.
To them, it was just a ‘disagreement’. No civilians were supposed to be hurt, after all.
It was just a response to a deal that had been fouled up. These things happen.
But my wife was dead. My wife was dead and this piece of shit thought it was just a ‘silly love story’.
That night was the night that I decided he had to die. Him and his entire clutch of Bratva, his wife, his children, everyone who bore the Durov name. The first strike had been at his home in the middle of the night. Pyotr, his wife, his three sons, all killed in their beds.
I had been the one to put a bullet in Pyotr’s head. It had been me to watch the light fade from his eyes.
For weeks after, I searched for any other family. I sent word back to my contacts in Russia to find any other family. And one by one, I got reports back on their exterminations.
I thought this was done. Of course it wasn’t. I suppose it never is.
I get out of the car and into the cold mist around me and walk toward the light. As soon as I’m outside, car doors open and Sergei’s men all get out and flank the lit area. I walk slowly, mentally taking a tally of everyone. Seven to nine men, roughly.
Sergei gets out of one of the cars and steps out into the light, a smile on his face and a gun trained on me. “That’s far enough.” I stop at the edge of the light. He waggles the gun. “Arms up.”
I put my arms up and one of his men steps up to me and starts patting me down. “You don’t trust me, Sergei?”
“Of course not,” he says. “What fool would trust the word of his father’s murderer?”
I snort a laugh as his man pats down my legs, then steps away. “Nine men, it looks like,” I say. “All for little old me?”
“I’m well versed in your reputation,” he says. “There are stories about how dangerous you are, even unarmed. I’m not about to take any chances.”
“Seems like cowardice to me,” I say, tilting my head at him. “I guess bravery doesn’t run in the family. Your brother had more balls than you. At least he made the attempt alone.”
His smile falters. News might travel fast among us, but there’s no way he knows yet about Ivan.
“Was that your idea?” I ask him. “A backup plan just in case yours didn’t work? What would you have done if he’d have succeeded?”
“What did you do to my brother?” he asks. He’s trying to stay cool, but I hear the tremor in his voice.
“Oh, I see. So, big brother acted alone. He must have known you were attacking and saw his chance. That is very interesting… and very stupid. You really should have been more coordinated in your attack.”
“If you harmed a single hair on his head—”
“Did more than that,” I say. “Seems like you’re the only one left to carry on Pyotr’s legacy… or the only one left for me to eliminate.”
He raises his gun. “Big talk for an unarmed man. I should shoot you in your fucking head.”
“You should. What are you waiting for?”
He pauses, his eyes shaking, bottom lip trembling. I’ve knocked him off his square. A good sign that he’s not as in control as he thinks. “We have unfinished business,” he says. “There’s the matter of your manager and your daughter.”
“You don’t want them. You want me. Let them go. They’re not important.”
“Oh,” he says, stepping closer to me, “but I think they are very important. You wouldn’t waste your time if they weren’t.
You know, it’s funny. I wasn’t planning on taking them both.
The girl was enough, really. She was supposed to be a down payment for the revenge I’m owed…
but then I ran into your manager. Ms. Lorenzo. ”
His smile broadens and my stomach drops into my shoes. Seems this rotten son of a bitch is smarter than he looks.
“I have to say, Roman. She’s pretty hot.
But that’s no big deal. You’re surrounded by quality pussy day in and day out.
I figure there has to be something more to her.
I also figure there’s no way you’re not fucking her.
She’s got a vibe to her that just screams Bratva Queen.
Beautiful, intelligent… very resourceful. She’s perfect.”
“She’s nothing,” I lie. “Just an employee.”
“Get the fuck out of here. You’re definitely hitting that.”
“That door swings both ways, Sergei. I might have a way with the ladies, but they have to have a way with me, too. I don’t waste my time on silly love stories anymore. It’s like I said. She’s just an employee.”
He narrows his eyes at me, trying to figure out my game. I wish I could say the same about Sasha in a convincing way. If he thinks they mean nothing, then the hold he thinks he has over me is broken.
“I see,” he finally says. “Well, maybe then I should give her back to you. Piece by piece.”
“That wouldn’t be wise.”
“It wouldn’t? Pray tell, why?”
“I still need her. She brought my club back from the brink of bankruptcy in less than a year,” I say. “Help like that is impossible to find. I’d hate to lose her.”
He chuckles and nods slowly. “Touché, Roman. Touché. Still. I can’t let her go. I can’t let any of you go. You know that, right? After what you did, what you cost me… I have no one. Everyone I have ever cared about is dead because of you.” He regards me carefully. “On your knees.”
I hesitate, but then I get down on my knees. “How did you escape me, anyway?”
He tilts his head as he walks toward me. His gun is still pointed at my forehead. “Excuse me?”
“What went down with your father? When I and my men came for him, I thought he only had three sons. And when I looked for all of his other relatives, I scoured the city and damn near the planet looking for all of them. Thought I tagged them all. And yet you and Ivan were able to get by me. Now, Ivan, I understand. His bad luck put him with the wrong Bratva for all these years. But you? I should have found you years ago.”
He stops in front of me and arches an eyebrow. A few seconds go by as he debates telling me. Finally, he says, “I was overseas when he died. School trip to France. And no one knew about Ivan. He was, what’s the word… an affair baby. My father never publicly claimed him for my mother’s sake.”
He sighs as he lowers his gun for a moment, his own backstory distracting him.
“Ivan joined your ranks because my father’s associate had a debt that needed to be paid.
I don’t know the specifics, but I do know that Ivan tried to go to our father first for help.
When he was rejected, our father offered his services up as payment. ”
“Huh,” I say. “And he still wanted to kill me.”
“He loved him. As did I. A few years after he died, he was filled with vengeance. I guess he had some plan to eliminate you himself, but… I guess he was never able to pull it off. And then, one day, he finds me and we put our heads together. Decide that the best way to get our revenge, finally, was to do it together.”
I nod. “I see. You know, Ivan went rogue and sic’d the Feds on me. He was getting impatient with your process, wasn’t he?”
Sergei narrows his eyes at me again, his hand moving anxiously around the handle of the gun. “He was impatient. Always has been.”
“So he was. If only he’d trusted that his brother had it handled, he might still be alive.”
That’s the straw. His eyes harden and his mouth twists in anger. He brings the gun up fast to shoot. I flinch as the shot rings out…
And a burning hole appears in his shoulder. He staggers back, a look of shock on his face as blood starts oozing from the hole. In the seconds of confusion, he looks up and over my head. “You fucking—”
Another shot and this time, he’s hit in the forehead. The hole appears just as a splash of blood and gore erupts from the back of his head. His eyes roll up and his legs stumble back, working on their own. He finally drops to the ground.
No one moves until Sergei is down, and that’s a shame for them. I’m already reaching for the hidden knife in the heel of my boot. It flies from my hand and hits the closest of them in the throat, knocking him back as an arc of blood shoots from him and to the ground.
Gunshots from Ares’ sniper rifle in the darkness ring out, hitting three more in succession. Two of them have panicked and are trying to get back in their cars. The other two have decided to open fire.
I dodge out of the way, catching a bullet in one of my arms. The burn makes me flinch, but it doesn’t slow me down as I run over to one of the other fallen and grab his gun.
I return fire, hitting one of them five times in the chest and dropping him.
The last one is hit in the head by Ares’ sniper rifle.
The remaining two try to flee, their car pulling back and away.
I stand up and open fire on the car. Bullets skip up the hood and break through the windshield over the driver’s seat.
The driver’s head jerks as the bullets riddle his body.
As the car slows down, the passenger’s door opens and the last man tumbles out. I let him get to his feet and watch as he tries to scramble away. Ares lets him get halfway across the lot before shooting him in the back of the head.
Just like that, it’s over. I stand over the bodies left in the wake of it all, still alert, vaguely wondering if more await me when I walk into the warehouse.
My phone buzzes. I glance down to see that Ares texted me. “Cavalry’s on the way. Don’t go in without me.”
I don’t want to wait. Ember and Sasha are somewhere inside and they need me. I can’t help them if somebody gets the jump on me.
It doesn’t take Ares long to get by my side. Seconds later, I see his shadow as he runs up, the long neck of his rifle hanging by his side. “His band of brothers is small,” he says, slightly out of breath. “Didn’t see anyone as I was coming up.”
I’d wanted to arrange for an army. In my mind, I was back to ten years ago, rage clouding my mind as I wipe every single one of them off the map. There’s no one to destroy, though. Sergei’s little group has been dispatched with just Ares and me on the case.
Still. I need to find Ember and Sasha. I need to know this piece of shit didn’t renege on his word and hurt them. I have to know that they’re okay.
Ares hands me my handgun and I put it in my boot. The semi-automatic stays warm in my arms. “Let’s go,” he says.
We rush through the front door.