33. Viktor #2
We had been looking into the smaller Bratvas’ activity recently. The business with the Cartels had taken up more of our time and attention lately, but we would never neglect and lose sight of what other, lesser rivals and competition were up to.
“And since we still can’t lock down on who might’ve wanted to place a hit on me—and Smithson—on the same night, I can’t ignore a chance that the Konstantins might have wanted to. Especially if they think they are losing Rico Johnson’s influence or interest.”
I raised my brows, considering it. The Konstantins didn’t have anyone scheduled to show up at that meeting that never happened the night Adrik was nearly killed.
“Now I have to wonder… If the Konstantins are unhappy about Rico Johnson, maybe one of those hits that night had been intended for him.” He had been closer to the balcony where that second shot could’ve gone off to almost hit Wren, under the assumption it would’ve been Smithson spying.
“That’s what I’m wondering too. That’s why I want you and Alexei to come with me to discuss this with Kirill.”
I cringed, hating to have to go face the old bastard.
Kirill Konstantin had never been a fan of ours, and the sentiment went both ways.
The low-lying feud started way before my time, when my grandparents were still alive and the smaller Konstantin Family wanted protection and an alliance with the Volkov Bratva when the Cartels were disrupting their human trafficking revenue.
It never seemed like a mutually beneficial arrangement between our families, so my grandfather dismissed Kirill. My father had too. Now, with Adrik about to become the next Pakhan, it seemed like it would remain a generational trend of keeping our distance from them.
“I’ll be ready,” I told him.
Wren was still sleeping in when I headed back upstairs, so I kissed her and left her a quick note on the nightstand that I was heading out and that I’d check in with her later.
As I left to get Adrik and Alexei, who was meeting us at the mansion, I thought back to how Elena said that she and the other two women were trying to make sure that Wren felt like she belonged with us. With them.
And it was true. Things had naturally fallen into place so that it seemed like Wren just fit.
She wasn’t an employee with a timetable and a pay schedule.
She was just one of us. That was why it didn’t enter my mind to suggest what she should do while I was out on this business with my brother and cousin.
I knew that she’d find her way around, that she’d decide what needed to be done.
First, we drove out to find Rico Johnson and see what he wanted to say about these worries of a hit placed on him.
“I don’t see why this needs to be our problem,” Alexsei said from the backseat, seated next to Adrik. “He wants to hang out with dangerous people, he can manage his own dangerous problems.”
I nodded. “And if he’s determined to act like he’s everyone’s friend and planning to fuck over half of them… he can make his bed and sleep in it.”
“I just want to find out if he was the target at that meeting,” Adrik said. “If he was the intended kill.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What, a hit on him and Smithson?” It no longer seemed relevant to say that a hit was placed on Wren, because it was clear it would’ve had to have been a hit on the man who sent her there.
“I would imagine them wanting to cancel each other out,” Alexei said. “Both of them getting in over their heads.”
“Maybe with both of them getting in over their heads with Gregori,” I added.
“Maybe,” Alexei said as we arrived. I drove, but I indicated for Adrik to wait in the backseat. The guard riding shotgun could sit with him while Alexei and I scoped the apartment building.
We headed out and started scanning the area.
Rico had asked for Adrik to meet him in the VIP lounge area at the top.
At a first glance of it as we strode toward the building, I figured it’d be way too fucking easy to have someone pushed over the edge.
If he was worried about a sniper finding him, even in broad daylight, that was a pretty stupid place to choose.
I lowered my gaze to the concrete parking lot where part of the rooftop lounge area would overlook.
Alexei dipped his chin, looking out over the rim of his sunglasses, as if he was thinking the same thing.
“Well, no one’s splattered to death over there now,” I quipped.
“No, not at the moment,” he agreed.
The doorman seemed too scared not to let us in and we headed up to check out that rooftop area. No one was there when the doors slid open. A pool sparkled under the harsh sunlight. Chairs and loungers were vacant. The mellow background noise of music streamed from speakers.
We ambled around the room, finding nothing and no one.
“What the fuck?” I shoved my hands in my pockets.
“Maybe he changed his mind,” Alexei guessed.
I shrugged. We’d come out first to scope out the area for a threat, but Rico should’ve been up here waiting for us, even with his own security.
“What about that?” I pointed at a pot that seemed to have been knocked over.
A small bit of dirt streaked out on the stamped, paved surface.
The line of it suggested the plant had been hit but someone caught it before it fully smashed down to end up as broken bits of a pot.
On the wall near that corner, a smear of red was glistening in the sunlight.
Alexei walked over and inspected it. “Someone was bleeding over here.”
“Rico Johnson?” I wondered aloud.
“Fuck if I know.” He leaned over the railing as I did. No bodies lay out on the pavement. “I doubt the security team would let us check the surveillance up here.”
I nodded. “Probably not. But hey, it’s not our problem. It’s his.”
We agreed that there wasn’t anything else to check out. No one was waiting to ambush us—or Adrik.
We spent a couple more minutes looking at the adjacent buildings, checking for a sniper waiting on another rooftop or behind a window.
“I’m not liking this,” I said
“Me neither. It could be a setup.” Alexei led the way down to the car.
Adrik raised his brows at our summary of what we found. Then he rolled his eyes. “Flaky sonofabitch. Let’s go talk to Kirill then and see what the hell they’ll say about putting a hit on Rico Johnson.”
We weren’t on unfriendly terms with them to the point that they couldn’t manage a civil conversation with us, but when we reached the office building where Kirill Konstantin could be found, his guards acted like we were spawn of the devil.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” one demanded, puffing his chest out and trying to look down his nose at me and Alexei. “Showing up here, unannounced?” He looked at his partner. “You hear about these Volkov motherfuckers coming by?”
The other burly man, shorter and stockier, shook his head and grunted.
“No. I don’t know about any visits. Mr. Konstantin isn’t exactly interested in anything you’d have to say.
” He leaned over to see past me, and I followed suit to block him from viewing the car Adrik waited in.
The windows were tinted, but that didn’t matter.
“Get lost,” the first guard said.
Gladly.
He didn’t have to tell me twice to leave. I hadn’t wanted to come and waste time talking to any of them, anyway.
Alexei and I returned to the car and drove off.
“Let me guess, he wasn’t there either?” Adrik said, clearly annoyed. It wasn’t all that long ago that he’d be going up to speak with men directly. I knew it aggravated him to have to rely on this much security now, though.
“Who knows,” I replied. “They weren’t letting us in. And if they have any issues with us about the Feds or politicians, I can’t really say I give a fuck.”
It wouldn’t be the first time a rival family was cranky because they couldn’t have what we did.
And it wouldn’t be the last.