Sevastyan
“Sevastyan, my beautiful friend.” Alexi held open his arms. Behind him stood another man in a suit—Jonathan, his long-time assistant. He often traveled with Alexi as light protection, or stayed behind, running Alexi’s affairs on his Russian estate.
Sevastyan clasped arms with Alexi. “You came. And you have your Jonathan.”
“Yes, just in case.” Alexi nodded towards Jonathan. “The only one of my managers my little fox doesn’t bite.”
Damn it. Alexi had brought backup, perhaps to take Lisa away.
“Your little fox is only biting those I need bitten these days.” Sevastyan smiled. “Come.”
They didn’t speak on the elevator, sharing it with a mother and her two kids, one of them an overstimulated toddler and the other a long-suffering five-year-old.
Or perhaps the woman was their nanny. The kids looked little like her.
They got off at the tenth floor. Sevastyan, Alexi, and Jonathan stayed to nearly the top floor.
“You rarely go all out,” Alexi murmured, glancing around the furnishing of the hallway, with its original art and soft, nearly new carpets.
“You were coming. And I thought you might be staying.” Unlocking the door took a moment. He had to disable the alarm he’d installed on the inside before turning the handle. “No luggage?”
“Oh, yes. But with the concierge,” Alexi said. “We hadn’t agreed on an arrangement.”
Sevastyan pushed the door open. “I reserved a large suite. Please, make yourself at home.”
He watched Alexi’s face for the exact moment the older man turned the corner and took in the two sleeping slaves.
“They are . . .”
“Sedated.” Sevastyan slid his phone into his pocket and stood back, letting Alexi approach Lisa. “I thought it best you could see everything before dealing with his mental state. He’s worried you’ll be upset about his injuries. I suspect he’s also anxious you’ll disapprove of what he did.”
“Never.” Alexi sounded reverent. He knelt, touching the bandage on Lisa’s leg, then stepping back. “I should wash before I touch. It’s worse than I thought. And that is not on you, my friend. You did tell me.”
Sevastyan directed Alexi to the bathroom, then spared a glance for Jonathan. Alexi’s manager had stepped back to the furthest wall and was waiting, hands folded. He’d stay there until ordered to move or a need arose.
A moment later Alexi returned, his winter coat off, jacket removed, and sleeves rolled up, freshly scrubbed.
He knelt down by Lisa, his hands moving gently over the bruises and bandages.
He lifted the pad on the long deep cut on Lisa thigh and felt carefully over his ribs. “Why are his hands wrapped?”
“Training.” Sevastyan knelt on Lisa’s other side. “I can remove them. He also has abrasions on his hands.”
Alexi nodded. He took one hand and Sevastyan the other. Lisa’s eyes moved a little behind his eyelids from the handling, but he didn’t wake.
Alexi cradled both of Lisa’s hands in his. “He fought hard.”
Air expanded in Sevastyan’s lungs. “He did. At least two, if not all three kills were his. We would have lost both of them, if he had not.”
“I cannot imagine your gentle Rei fighting.”
Sevastyan held up Rei’s hand, the burn mark from the keyboard cord a healing mark across his palm.
Alexi touched it gently with one finger. “How?”
“He strangled one of the men long enough for Lisa to find a knife.”
“May I?” Alexi gestured to Rei.
Sevastyan nodded. Alexi gave Rei the same examination he’d given Lisa.
“Tell me the men are dead.”
“The ones who made the marks are dead. The ones who instigated the attack will be.”
“Dirk,” Alexi growled.
“I have a plan,” Sevastyan said.
“I want to hear it, later,” Alexi said. He held up the bandages from Lisa’s hand. “What training?”
“He was insecure after the attack. Reasonably. I needed to remind him of his place.”
“He’s been insubordinate?”
“No.” Sevastyan shook his head decisively.
“He’s . . .” Sevastyan hesitated, starting to rewrap Lisa’s hand.
“He had an enlarged sense of responsibility. If anything, I think he appointed himself bodyguard. He was magnificent, even in the aftermath. But it was not an appropriate posture for a slave, and he struggled to step down, even though he tried.”
“So you made him dependent.” Alexi let Sevastyan get on with rewrapping Lisa’s hands, stroking his slave’s hair back from his face instead.
“I will give my remorse, if I misstepped,” Sevastyan said.
“No, I gave you all permissions,” Alexi said.
“He does better with a purpose,” Sevastyan said. “He was the most settled running the house.”
“You had him being domestic?”
“Cooking, cleaning, shopping, watching over Rei. He was doing well.
“I would never have considered giving him household chores,” Alexi said. “He’s too wild.”
“It wasn’t the domesticity.” Sevastyan moved from one hand to the next. “He’s good with Rei, seemed to take pride whenever he was praised for something that required skill.”
Alexi stood and sat in one of the stuffed chairs, face thoughtful. But he didn’t continue his line of inquiry. Instead, he changed the topic. “How has your Rei been?”
“Quiet. Anxious because he can’t serve. I won’t let him serve.” Sevastyan nodded towards Rei’s bandage-wrapped ankle. “You know how he is. He has no consideration for his body when he has a task.”
Alexi nodded, a soft, worried look on his face. “No infection?”
“So far, none. The antibiotics are working.”
“Ack, Sevastyan, my friend.” Alexi shook his head. “I am sorry for you. And for the boys. How are you? You look well, but I know you were not.”
“I’m healing. The drugs were the worst of it. I don’t think they meant to kill me, not at first.”
“And you have a plan?”
Sevastyan nodded. He glanced at Jonathan. There was no way he was discussing it in front of a third party.
“Jon dear, hallway, please. Actually, take a break, find yourself a lunch. Be back in an hour.”
Jonathan half bowed and let himself out.
“What is your plan?”
“My mother is holding a party in England. I’ve asked her to invite Dirk. I just need someone to watch over the boys while I’m away for a few days.”
Alexi gave Sevastyan a long look. “You do this, you can’t stop.”
“I know.”
“You’ve never been one to jockey for power.”
“I didn’t need to until now.”
They were both silent for a long time.
Sevastyan looked down at his hands. “I have to make a move one way or the other, Alexi. I’ve been here, in the middle for too long. My mother’s shadow, your shadow, Hand of the Yadro, answering to no one but the Yadro, but also having no defined place. I’m too important to ignore,
not yet a quantified entity in my own right.”
Alexi grunted softly. “For those with no ability to read, you have to define yourself.”
The words washed over Sevastyan. He gave himself space to absorb them. “The business in South Korea isn’t over. And the Yadro hasn’t made it clear they are backing me, not in a way that matters enough. They’re treating my actions as independent one moment and an extension of their will the next.”
Alexi snorted. “The Yadro today is weak. Not in power. In decisiveness. You were too ruthless for their stomach in South Korea. You made the right call, but now they struggle to swallow the consequences of leaving shortsighted leadership to run rampant in the region.”
Alexi’s understanding was a balm. Sevastyan swallowed and flexed his fists, the scabs on some of his cuts stretching.
“Some of the players want only revenge. Some want money. Others both. No one agrees on how to get said money. The Yadro wants peace, status quo, and tithes. Preferably without expending capital to get them.”
“And your solution?”
Sevastyan glanced up at Alexi. The other man’s eyes were frank and open.
He drew a breath and let it out. “Based on my last intel, I would remove Bak Gyeong and take his business as compensation for his debts. He was a lucrative client, but is now a liability. Any client who puts illegal activity on front page news is a risk factor too expensive to keep.
Time to cultivate a new investment.”
Alexi nodded.
Sevastyan leaned back in his seat and waved his hand above his head, listing off concerns.
“For recouping the debt he owes, restructure his company. Clean house. He has too many hangers-on that add nothing to the bottom line. His personal expenses drag down the entire organization, because he uses it like his own internal household, not a separate entity.
Whoever takes it over should run it clean. Skeleton crew, select trainees. No more trafficking trainees, which means no need to pad the trainee rolls, just keep the best. Give creative direction over to Gang Junseo. His group and his leadership are the reason BBB3 hasn’t gone under.
There’s another group under BBB3 that would be more profitable with better direction, but they don’t have a Gang Junseo making up for Bak’s lack of leadership. They’re young. BBB3 should debut two more groups from among the trainees,
though they may or may not have the talent left after this public fiasco. I don’t know which trainees have been pulled by their families.”
Alexi threaded his fingers together. “All this seems to hinge on Gang Junseo and 5N returning to the fold. How would you do that?”
“Gang Junseo cares about his members. If he has a path forward where he can protect them and they’re not sold, he will take it.”
“You’re sure of this?”
“Yes, but Bak would have to be removed. Non-negotiable. That’s the man who abused Gang. The rest is just a business deal for debt that is being held against the company with which Gang has a contract. He never has to know it is more. In the end, the point is the money,
not the breaking of a single man. Gang hasn’t openly defied us.”
Alexi rubbed his hands together slowly, thinking everything over. “And some disagree with your proposal?”