Chapter 20
VIKTOR
Teddy’s waiting for me at my apartment when I arrive. He stands by the door, cigarette in his mouth and leaning against the wall in his leather jacket and dirty blue jeans. The moment he sees me walking toward him from the parking garage, he nods and flicks the cigarette.
“You rang?” he says with a smile as I walk up.
“So I did,” I respond. “Come on inside.”
We take the elevator up to my apartment, and I take that moment to check my phone for any sign from Tati. It’s only been about thirty minutes since I left the party. They’re probably about halfway through dinner right about now.
I can’t help but think about Yanov catching her with Nicki’s journal.
It’s not good by any stretch of the imagination, and I don’t know if she realizes how bad it could get.
I’ve been holding back from discussing it, and more importantly, holding back the conversation that I had with Nikolai a few days ago. I don’t want to frighten her.
Or maybe I don’t want to consider it myself. I keep thinking about his ‘theoretical question’.
What if I discovered that my beloved Tatiana wanted to hurt me and the brotherhood you’re so loyal to? How far would you go to protect the brotherhood?
The challenge that he presented me with… I should have taken it to heart. I should have understood right then and there that Tati was in danger.
Teddy and I don’t speak until we get into my apartment. The moment the door is closed, he asks, “So, judging from the radio silence, I take it everything is not good in the brotherhood.”
I shake my head. “I would say not. Want a drink?”
“Beer, if you got it.”
I go into my kitchen and get a couple of beers, then the two of us walk into my living room. “I may have a problem,” I tell him, “and I might need your support soon. Well, yours and the rest of the Red Devils.”
His eyebrows raise. “Okay. You’ve got a job for us?”
“It’s nothing like that. Do you remember a few months ago, you told me about somebody asking your mechanic friend about Nicki’s car?” He nods. “I think I know who did the asking. His girlfriend, Marla.”
“Marla.” Teddy looks off into his memory for a moment. “Right, right. The girl with the hair. Nicki’s brought her through a few times. She’s a nice kid.” He pauses to take a swig from his beer. “How is she, anyway?”
“Dead,” I tell him. “I’m sure it was a hit. I’m even more sure it was one of mine.”
“Holy shit.” His face goes to slate as he slumps down on the arm of my couch. “So, I was right to suspect something was up. This has to do with Nicki, then?”
“It absolutely does.” I have to pause and take a drink myself. “Marla believed that Nicki’s death wasn’t an accident and was gathering evidence to prove it. She was even planning on going to the authorities about it.”
“She was a rat? Damn.” He takes another swig. “I mean, it’s Nicki, sure, but to go to the pigs about it… She had to know better. Whoever was responsible must have gotten wind of it and acted. Any idea who gave the order?”
I hesitate. The neck of the bottle of beer hangs in my hand as I twist it around slowly. I’ve been dancing around the reality since it happened. “I was asked to take care of her,” I tell him.
His eyes harden. “It was you that did it?”
“Nikolai didn’t tell me who the target was,” I say. “He just gave me a vague description, told me a time and place, and ordered me to do the deed.”
Teddy sits up straight, and I can feel a wave of anger start to boil off him. “He was your brother, Vik.”
“I didn’t pull the trigger,” I tell him. “The minute I saw it was her, I tried to warn her, but I never got the chance. Somebody sniped her as she was coming out of a bank.”
He stares at me for a long moment, no doubt trying to decide whether my story was true. I add, “I wouldn’t have gone through with it, Teddy. You’re right. Nicki was my brother in every way but blood. There’s no way in hell I’d betray him like that if I knew ahead of time.”
“Yeah, sure,” he says, putting the beer on the coffee table.
“I know how you Russkis roll. It ain’t exactly uncommon to stab each other in the back, brother or not.
You want me to believe that if the top dog gave you the word to take her out, there wouldn’t be consequences if you didn’t follow through? ”
“No. I want you to believe that my loyalty for Nicki runs deeper than the Bratva.”
He stares for another few seconds then looks away, shaking his head. “Dammit. So somebody beat you to it.”
“Yeah.”
“You know who?”
I shake my head. “Not yet.”
“This shit stinks. Nikolai knows who Marla was, right?”
I nod. “I think he was testing me. Or is testing me. I don’t know. Right now, he’s acting like I was the one who did the kill.”
Teddy crosses his arms and grunts. “Maybe it was somebody else from another gang? Your Bratva isn’t short any enemies.”
“That’s the thing,” I tell him. “Nikolai would know if somebody else had it out for her, and he wouldn’t bother sending me to do the job unless there were a reason it had to be the Kirovs. It’s unlikely that he wouldn’t just wait for nature to take its course.”
He nods slowly. “Vik, I smell a setup here.”
My heart sinks a little. I think I’ve known this all along, and yet I was still hoping that Teddy wouldn’t see it the same way I was.
I was really betting that he would tell me that I was crazy for thinking the worse-case scenario.
Crazy for really believing that Nikolai had some hand in this dirty business.
But the journal that Tati found… Marla’s death before she can tell anyone what she knew… And Nicki. Dammit, I wish I could remember what happened that night.
“So do I,” I say, committing to the truth of the matter. “But why? I’ve been nothing but loyal to Nikolai, the brotherhood.”
He nods. “You’ve also been fucking his daughter.”
I shoot a look of surprise at him. “How did you know about that?”
“I didn’t,” he said. “But you just confirmed it. Rumors have been flying about you and her for a while now.”
I roll my eyes. Of course. Nikolai did tell me that much. I shouldn’t be surprise that the rumor mill reached the Red Devils by now. Everybody in this world is connected in one great big game of telephone.
My stomach turns, reminding me that I skipped dinner for this. “You hungry?” I ask him as I pull out my phone. “I’m going to order a pizza.”
I do, and it takes about fifteen minutes to get to us. In the meantime, Teddy takes the time to check in with his girl, Luanne. He steps out onto my balcony to call her.
I watch him as he does it, and I wonder about it. He’s been with her since he became club president. They never married, but there was no mistaking their commitment to one another. Everyone knew that Luanne was his girl and respected that.
It makes me wonder what lies ahead for Tati and me. I don’t know what my future realistically looks like with her in it. There hasn’t been time to think about it.
Whatever it looks like, all I do know is that I want her by my side for it.
The pizza arrives and we both sit on the couch and take slices out, eating them as we pick up the discussion again.
“You know something?” Teddy says as he sets his half eaten slice back down in the box.
“Of all the guys I ever thought might make the mistake of fucking the boss’s daughter, I never actually thought it’d be you.
You’re the poster boy for self-restraint.
You practically wrote the book on gangster etiquette.
Forbidden pussy’s a surefire way to torch everything, my friend. ”
He’s not wrong. I’ve known that better than anyone.
At my age, being tempted by some hot little thing who has ties to someone who could turn you into a grease spot isn’t new, but it is something that I thought I left behind in my twenties and teens.
I’ve been around this game long enough to know better than to let myself dive into something with Tati.
And yet here I am. And even if there were a way out of it, I don’t know that I would look too hard for the exit if it meant leaving Tati alone.
“Yeah, funny how life happens,” I say. “Be that as it may, however it happened, we’re in this together, her and I. And if I’m in danger because of that, so is Tati.”
“Right. So, what do you want to do?”
I narrow my eyes slightly. Time to talk brass tacks. “You understand how bad things could get for me, right? This is bad. Top-level insubordination shit. If Nikolai comes after me—”
“I get it. I’ve always gotten it, Vik,” he says.
He pauses and looks at the half-eaten pizza thoughtfully before picking up his beer and taking another swig.
“We aren’t exactly the kind of men who shy away from death when it comes knocking.
And you’re family, Brother. In this life, you don’t fuck with family. ”
That’s comforting. More than Teddy knows. Almost anyone else, I could expect a knife in my back somewhere down the line. Teddy being outside of the Bratva is probably my greatest asset.
“We need to find out what Marla knew,” I tell him. “Before she died, she gave me a key to a safety deposit box. I need to get to it.”
“You’re not thinking of ratting?”
“Of course not.” I take a breath. “But if I’m right, then she might’ve found out exactly who killed Nicki.
And if it was Nikolai…” I have to pause, the gravity of that accusation hitting me.
“If Nikolai killed his own son, the evidence of that might be the only thing that saves my neck. He knows that if any of his soldiers find out that he murdered his own son, they’ll turn on him.
This gets out, his place at the head of the table will be threatened.
His knowing that I know that might be the only thing that stays his hand from coming after me… or Tati, for that matter.”
“You need leverage. I hear you. So, let’s plan to go to the bank—”
We’re interrupted by a knock at the door, and both of us freeze, exchanging glances. “You expecting somebody?” Teddy asks.
I shake my head and set down my beer. “Hang back,” I tell him as I pull my gun from its place in my belt. I walk to the door and look out the peephole
Standing in my hallway, the lens distorting her appearance and making her head look oversized, is Tati. She’s looking around the hallway wildly, and I see that one of her cheeks is bruised.
I open the door and the moment she sees me, her eyes start to tear up. The neat bun her hair was in is hanging messily to one side and her dress is torn around her hips. She stands before me, her chest quivering on the edge of a sob. And then I see a small leatherbound book in her hands.
“I got it,” she says, her voice cracking. “I got the journal.”
I put my hand on her shoulder and pull her inside.