2. Titus
TITUS
The smell of gunpowder mixed with the scent of burning wood has always bothered me.
There’s something about the mix of the two that immediately makes me want to take a shower.
Usually, when both things are unfortunate byproducts of a night like tonight, all I can think about is getting home and getting clean.
There’s more than that on my mind tonight.
It was an almost perfect raid, the result of nearly half a decade of planning.
I’ve dreamed of the night I would put a bullet in Marius Aristov’s head for so long that I no longer know what my dreams will look like when I go to bed tonight.
It’s not often that a man can accomplish his greatest goal in life.
Only, it’s not entirely finished yet. In a way, I suspected that it wouldn’t be. Wiping the earth of one’s family never happens in a single night. Not even the Bolsheviks were able to completely wipe out Tsar Nicholas II’s entire family. There are always stragglers…
Or those who escape. That beautiful thing that claimed to be Marius’s daughter managed to elude me, but not before leaving Cyril a parting gift of breaking his nose. I’m sure he didn’t expect a beautiful woman like that to put up a fight. I certainly wouldn’t have expected it.
Kind of wish I weren’t so busy mag dumping into Marius’s face. I’d have loved to see that kind of spirit on display.
But for now, the important part is done. Over the next few days, the remaining members of the Penza Bratva will be flushed out and exterminated. And even Marius’s children will be found and…
And I’ll decide what will be done from there.
I drive my car onto my property, turning into the gates and up to the house.
I’ve been driving with the windows down this whole time.
My suit is ruined and so is this shirt. The blood splattered on the sleeves mocks me every time I move my arm and it moves up.
I sacrificed one of my favorite suits for my vengeance. And it was worth every minute.
I pull into the garage connected to my house and get out as the door slides shut.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll need to talk with Ignat and Cyrus about what comes next.
I expect both of them to have a plan of action for this next part.
They’ve been in on this with me all this time.
I know they’ve already set the wheels in motion to find the rest of the Penzas.
For now, shower, sleep, maybe something to eat. The day is over. The plan is moving along.
I walk into the mudroom and take off my shoes, pausing as I spot splattered blood on the leather. Part of me thinks that the stains can be buffed out. I know better, though. Too many years doing this have taught me that burning your clothes is truly the only safe way to proceed.
“Mr. Malkin? Is that you?” Natalie calls from the kitchen. The scent of the stew she started when I left floats through the cracked door warmly.
“Yes,” I say. I pick up my shoes and walk into the kitchen in my socks.
Natalie’s a stout, portly woman with silver-streaked dark hair that’s usually in a messy bun on top of her head.
She’s been with me for the last six years and always seems to decide to cook on the nights when I need to work late.
At this moment, she’s standing at the stove, stirring a large pot. Tendrils of fragrant, garlicky smoke float up from the rim and circle her head. Natalie turns and looks at me, and her jolly expression fades as her eyes drop down to my suit.
“I take it things went well,” she says as she wipes her hands and walks over to the counter where there are vegetables in various states of chopped on a cutting board.
“As well as could be expected,” I tell her. “Is Luka still awake?”
She nods. “As usually, he insisted on waiting up for you. He wanted to sit in the living room so that he might be the first thing you saw when you walked through the door.” She pauses and looks back up at me. “Do you need me to call someone to take care of your car?”
“Please.”
She nods again, turning her eyes back to her vegetables, and starts chopping.
“In any event, I told Luka to wait in his room and when you come home, you’ll come up to tuck him in.
” She takes another look at my clothes and says, “Looks like that was an appropriate call, too. You might want to change before seeing him.”
“Right,” I say. I crane my neck at the warm smell coming from the boiling pot and she clicks her teeth at me.
“This is tomorrow’s dinner. I have to start it tonight if it’s going to be ready by then. I expect you to stay out of that pot.”
I don’t have to ask what it is. Natalie always makes this stew whenever I have to do any kind of wet work. She morbidly calls it a funeral stew and usually reminds me of its dual use if I don’t make it home. So far, I’ve been able to enjoy it every time she prepares it.
“Smells good,” I tell her. “Looking forward to dinner tonight. We will have guests, by the way. I have a meeting. Make sure there is enough.”
“Of course.”
I leave, going through the living room and straight upstairs to my own room. The moment I see myself in the bathroom mirror, I realize that I should shower. Despite wiping it away while I was there, a good amount of blood and brain matter are still flecked across my face and neck.
I guess that bit of wiping that I did as I left the burning mansion did very little. I take the moment and start washing away the residue. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s got to be good enough to hide from my son. He doesn’t need to see it in any capacity.
After my face is sufficiently washed, I take off my clothes and wrap myself in a robe and look myself over in my mirror.
Once upon a time, my hair and beard were dark brown to almost black.
My eyes were a little wider, maybe a little more innocent.
Fine lines play at the corners of them now, and I imagine if I shaved my beard, there may be laugh lines around my mouth as well.
Age is a strange thing. I still look as I always have, just with little augmentations that tell my true age. All things considered, I have to say I look good for a man in his forties.
I adjust my robe, tying the belt a little tighter around my waist. I’m looking down when I hear a small voice say, “Papa?”
I glance over to see Luka standing in my doorway. He only comes up to half the doorway’s height and for a seven-year-old, he’s tall. I can see the beginnings of future long limbs when he walks sometimes.
He tilts his head and his blond curls fall into his big blue eyes. The way he resembles Angela when he looks at me sometimes…
“Luka,” I say with a soft smile. “Natalie told me that you were waiting up for me. She said you were supposed to be in your room.”
“I couldn’t wait,” he says with a shrug. “I heard you come in, so I thought I’d come to you.” He rubs his nose, sniffling a little from the cold he’s getting over. “Natalie said you were going to be late tonight. I wanted to wait for you in the living room, but she wouldn’t let me.”
“As well she should’ve. You’re supposed to be in bed at this hour. You know she likes you up early for your lessons.” He nods, his little smile faltering slightly. I take his hand in mine and say, “Come on. Let’s get you into bed.”
The main hall leads to the hallway housing his room, a single two-way hallway at the very end of the second-floor hall.
It’s almost completely out of sight of the main hallway, not that anyone is ever up here without my knowledge.
Still, it’s a perfect placement to keep any of my brotherhood from seeing him accidentally.
“Papa?” he asks me as we walk
“Yes?”
He pauses, then, “You know that show I like? The Fire Starters?”
He’s talking about the little cartoon with colorful superhero teenagers and fire powers. “Yes.”
“Well, I think they’re really cool. You know the leader? Mark? He’s on the football team at his school.”
Uh-oh. I know where this is going. Lately, this particular subject has been coming up more and more. We get to his room and I open it, letting him in. He bounds across the room to his bed.
“Mark and all the Fire Starters are all friends. Like, their whole lives. Since they were my age.”
“Uh-huh.” I pull back the sheets of his bed and he hops in.
“Well, anyway, they all met in school. Did you know that? Back when they were kids.”
I sit down on the bed and sigh. “What do you want to ask me, Luka? You know I don’t like it when you beat around the bush about things.”
He looks at me with those big eyes, as round and innocent as he is. “Well,” he says, “I know you said that I have to have school here with Natalie and everything. And I like doing school with her, but…”
“You want to go to school like the Fire Starters? Is that it?”
He nods.
“Son, that’s not possible right now. We’ve talked about it.”
“I know. I just…Well, I wonder when it will be possible. Am I ever going to go to school like normal kids?”
“Trust me. You don’t want to be a normal kid. They’re boring with boring lives. It’s nothing like the Fire Starters. You don’t get superpowers just from going to school.”
He looks down sadly. “I guess.”
He always tugs at my heart when he does this. I wish I could tell him something different. I wish I could give him this one thing that he wants so desperately.
I pat him on the leg. “Listen, I have a meeting tomorrow morning. But after that, I should be free for the rest of the day. What do you say I have Natalie bring in some of that chocolate ice cream that you like?”
He gives me a small smile. “Okay. I like chocolate.”
I kiss him on the forehead. “Good night, Son. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He lies down and I leave him.
School. I wish I could risk it. I wish every day that I could risk it.
My meeting with Ignat and Cyrus comes just as I’m finishing breakfast. I decided to have it next to my pool.
The air is already warm, telling of the coming heat of the day.
We’re due for a heat wave and I, for one, am looking forward to it.
I might be of Russian blood, but I hate the winter.
The coming of summer makes me feel like I’m alive again.
I’m sitting in my robe with my bathing suit underneath. I’ve got plans to do a few laps before sitting down for morning ice cream with Luka, something I’m sure I’ll hear about from Natalie later.
But as informal as this appears, this meeting will be all business.
I’m drinking my tea when the sliding door opens and Ignat and Cyrus walk onto the deck and around the pool to where I’m sitting.
My two top men couldn’t be more different in appearance.
Ignat is wearing a suit despite the warm weather, his silver streaked hair is cut conservatively short, and on his face is his normal, very serious expression.
Cyrus, who is usually equally as serious, is more relaxed.
He’s wearing slacks and a dress shirt with the first few buttons undone and his long, dark, stringy hair is pulled back into a ponytail.
Ignat gives me a small nod of greeting followed by, “Good morning.” Cyrus does the same.
“Please.” I motion to the chairs around the table where I’m sitting. “Have a seat.” They both sit obediently. “It was a good night, wasn’t it?”
Cyrus smiles immediately. Ignat stays stone-faced, however.
“That it was,” Cyrus says. “All but ten members of the Penza were eliminated last night. We’ve already located six of them.
I have every confidence that they will be eliminated by the end of the week.
And the rest will be found and taken care of before the weekend. ”
I nod. “And Aristov’s heirs? Any word on them yet?”
Cyrus’s smile fades slightly as he clears his throat. “Not as of yet. But I put Cyril on it. Do you want anything special regarding the heirs of the former Aristov dynasty when they’re found?”
My mind immediately goes to the beauty I met at the bar just before the massacre began. All these years of watching the Penzas and I can’t believe I never knew how beautiful Marius Aristov’s daughter is. I sip my tea as I contemplate their fates.
“There are two of them, yes? He has a son and a daughter?”
“That’s right,” Ignat says. “May I suggest a public execution? Something special that we can film and send to your enemies?”
“Maybe for the son. The daughter… I think I have other plans for her. You have seen her, haven’t you?”
“Not before last night,” Cyrus says. “I had no idea Aristov had the kind of genes that would make a woman like her. She is one hot woman.”
“Hmm,” Ignat says. “I was aware of her existence, though I suppose I never noticed her beauty.”
Cyrus rolls his eyes. “It’s insane that you’ve never noticed.” I raise an eyebrow and he straightens up slightly, remembering his decorum. “She was easily the most beautiful woman at that party.”
“Beautiful or not,” I say, “they both need to be dealt with. I want them both alive… and Aristov’s daughter is to remain untouched.
And I do mean untouched. Make sure Cyril understands that.
If I find out that he or any of your people so much as felt her up, I’ll have their heads right alongside the heirs’. ”
They exchange an unsure look between them. Ignat speaks up. “You… do plan on executing them?”
“The son, most definitely. But the woman… I think I can find use for her for a little while before we take her head as well.”
Ignat nods in immediate understanding. Cyrus still looks a little skeptical, but he doesn’t speak on it. Instead he says, “I will let my brother know.”
“Good. Get to work.”
They both stand and as Cyrus goes to leave, Ignat says, “Go on. I’ll be there in a moment.”
Cyrus nods and leaves. Ignat offers me a slow smile. “Aristov’s daughter, Titus? Grabbing her to get a little strange is a little low, don’t you think?”
I snicker. “Well, I figured I might as well have some fun before I finally close this chapter of my life, right? And if we’re being honest, fucking his daughter is lightyears better than pissing on his grave.
The first time I take her, I want to make it really special in the hopes his soul is watching.
Maybe it’ll kill him all over again to see me holding her down and spreadeagle. ”
His smile drops to a smirk of approval and he says, “If there is an afterlife, I imagine that would be the thing to crush any man’s soul.”
And with that said, he leaves. I finish my tea and a little bit of excitement blooms inside my chest. It has been a while since any woman has caught my eye long enough to distract me. It almost seems like fate that the woman should be Aristov’s daughter.
The door opens again and Natalie steps out. “Mr. Malkin, did you tell Luka you were going to have ice cream for breakfast?”
I set my cup down and say, “Yes. Chocolate, I believe.”