Chapter 3
ALEXSEI
It felt fitting to start a new mission on the first day of a new year.
Once I saw Misha to school, since it was my turn to take both him and Lev to the private institution where they’d have tutors and specialized studies, I headed to the property that Simon was currently calling home.
While we employed a team of hackers and cyber experts, Simon was the best of the best.
Emil had taken a big step back since Helene was born. He wasn’t retired yet, but he was on a sabbatical for the time being. I was sure that in a matter of time, he would be back out there, taking a few hits that our team of assassins couldn’t handle.
Simon had worked most closely with Emil, though, so with Emil’s abrupt leave, it was clear that Simon was needing new assignments to sink his teeth into. There was never any “off” time, but it looked like the hacker was more than eager for something to preoccupy him.
Seated in an executive chair with many monitors surrounding him, he looked like a glorified gamer. I knew otherwise. He was skilled at finding out the impossible and unearthing the hidden.
Yawning wide, as he was clearly just getting up, he admitted, “I would’ve been on the hunt for Kalina Boranov sooner.”
“I know.”
He shrugged. “But hey, now that Emil’s settling down, I’ve got a wide-open schedule.”
“This will be different,” I said. I wouldn’t be asking him to find a target to be killed but a missing distant relative.
After a couple of hours, he was through with sharing what he had from before.
Back when Ivan and Raisa married, Emil had asked Simon to search for Kalina, letting Raisa use the Dubinin resources to find her only remaining, yet distant, family.
We looked then, to no avail. Simon was thorough in explaining the little he’d found about Kalina.
While I didn’t have the skillset that Simon did, he gave me some things I could look into. It would free him up to do the deeper dive through the web.
Three days later, though, I was back at this computer room with no results from my avenues of searching for Raisa’s cousin.
He didn’t have anything for me either.
Leaning back in his chair, he shook his head. “I’ve got nothing, man.”
“Nothing at all?” I dropped into another chair.
“Nothing,” he confirmed. “I found a birth certificate”—he paused to slide it across the empty counter to me—“but no death certificate. I found a marriage certificate and birth certificates for her parents, but no death certificates. Typically, chasing someone back to their parents gives me a good start for more possible leads. With her?” He shook his head.
“It’s like Kalina Boranov doesn’t exist anymore. ”
I let out a deep breath, hating what this could mean. While he hadn’t found a death certificate, that didn’t mean she had to be alive. “Raisa would hate to hear the news of Kalina being dead.”
“There’s no way to know whether she is or not. The last records of her in school, from fourteen years ago, is the last she’s ever been seen or documented.” Again, he slid papers toward me. The copies showed that when she was twelve, she was enrolled in school in the city and receiving high grades.
“However,” he said, reaching to the side counter that made up the wide U-shaped desk formation, “I have found quite a bit about someone else.”
“Let me guess,” I said with a cringe. “Erik Boranov?”
“Bingo.” He slid over a thicker stack of papers encased in a folder.
I took it, flipping through some of the documents. “His name is all that’s come up in my searches.”
Simon was able to investigate faster, further, and more in-depth than I was, but it seemed that we’d both found mentions of Kalina’s older brother. The material he’d compiled was more vast than what I’d found, but it painted the same picture.
“Back when Luka was nervous about trusting Raisa in the family, he had me look up everything about her. Then when you all presented to the federation of Bratva bosses to request that Lev be accepted as a Dubinin heir as Ivan’s son rather than as a Petrov heir as Konstantin’s grandson, I came across Erik then. ”
“He wasn’t at the council meeting, though?”
Simon shook his head. “While the Boranov faction is indirectly associated with the former lineage Konstantin Petrov led, Erik Boranov was never an official boss of any delegated family. Konstantin’s wife was a daughter of the dying-out Boranovs, and Kalina is the great-niece of an elder cousin.”
That explained how distant Raisa and Kalina were. But it would also allow for how the two women—or girls—might have met at larger family gatherings.
“Erik has been associated with Yusef Kashinan over the years as well.” He retrieved another folder of printouts and slid the folder holding them to me.
“I haven’t heard of him,” I admitted, still flipping through the documents he’d gathered about Erik.
Simon shrugged. “He isn’t a big player. But from all accounts, he’s a sadistic bastard like Erik.
Both of them are reputed to be big gamblers.
Both have multiple charges against them, ranging from rape, assault, and murder.
Both have hefty debts owed to the Riveras, the Vipers, and even some motorcycle clubs in the Midwest.”
I whistled. “Sounds like they’ll have plenty of enemies.
” I set the folder about Erik down on the counter.
“Sadie mentioned Erik, too. She said she never worked on a case pertaining to him—or this Yusef character—but she was aware of how wanted Erik was for rape charges. It seemed like he was wanted for questioning about human trafficking, too.”
“Sounds about right. Whatever he’s done, he’s not someone to mess with.” Swiveling before scooting closer to his biggest keyboard, he sighed. “And he’s not someone who stays put for very long. He moves often. Avoids surveillance.”
“Just like a man on the run.”
“With all the debts he’s supposed to owe, can you blame him?” He tapped away. “He was last seen at a dock on the south side.” He pulled up a grainy image on a screen.
“That’s from nine months ago,” I pointed out.
“Like I said, he moves around. Never lets his face be captured on anything.”
I squinted, peering at the image of the man. The still shot lacked details, rendering Erik as nothing more than a blur of darkness on the screen. “No sign of Yusef with him at that time?”
Simon scoffed. “The last confirmed image of Yusef is from three years ago.”
“Damn.” I rubbed my jaw, frustrated. If Kalina was with her brother and his business associate, I doubted she was enjoying it. There was always the chance she could be in cahoots with him, equally shy of ever being captured on cameras anywhere in the city, but I doubted it.
“No sign of a woman ever being with Erik or Yusef?” I asked.
“Oh, sure. Plenty. Whores. Pimps. Escorts.” He scrolled through multiple images. “Some are dead, some are behind bars. Others roam free. But none of them resemble Kalina Boranov or any other relative.”
“She’s either hiding or hidden.”
He nodded. “And very well.”
“I’ll keep at it,” he promised. “If Erik and Yusef are our most probable leads, I’ll be watching.”
It seemed like a weak solution, but for the time being, there weren’t any leads.
I wished I could have more to tell Raisa, but I wouldn’t ever lie or give her false hope.
When I met Ivan for lunch later that day, it was the first opportunity I had to provide an update about the mission. Even if it was a crappy one.
“Nothing?” He grimaced, clearly unhappy about the progress, or lack thereof.
“Nothing. Simon has a lot to try to pick at about Erik Boranov and Yusef Kashinan, but they’re not easily traceable.”
“Too cautious,” Ivan guessed wryly.
“Very.”
“I’m not sure that I like the reputed association he has with the Riveras, either.”
He shook his head. “Me neither. It’s not necessarily an association with them, but a debt owed to them?”
I nodded. “Yes. Among others. The fuckers can’t seem to hold onto a penny with all the debts they owe. Or they gamble it off too quickly.”
“I’m not fond of stirring up any more trouble with those fucking Italians, though.”
I agreed with that sentiment. Luka wouldn’t be too pleased to have to deal with them again.
For the last couple of years, Marco Rivera and the Vipers’ Cartel boss had been thorns in our sides.
Still, if and when it came down to it, Luka would never shy away from fighting with the Riveras—and hopefully end all of them this time.
We’d attacked both organizations before, extensively.
Like weeds, though, some members would rise up and reorganize, forever our enemies.
Marco Rivera, Sr. had been eliminated, but now his son was gaining power and traction.
As we ate and talked, the topic stayed on Kalina and what other steps Simon and I could take to find her. In the end, though, Ivan tossed his napkin to the table and frowned. “I just hate how much Raisa is worrying about all of this.”
“That’s understandable. It’s better to reduce stress while she’s expecting.”
He laughed once. “Stress will be a constant from now until the day we die, cousin.”
That was the whole truth.
“But I don’t want her worrying about this—or anything else.
” Furrowing his brow, he leaned over to rest his elbow on the table and then prop his chin in his hand.
“I would go to any length to make her happy. Especially while she’s pregnant again.
” He sat up with a huff. “Or ever. I wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever I could to ensure her happiness. ”
I nodded, aware of how devoted he was to the woman he’d loved his whole life. That deep dedication was shown in the rest of our growing family. Luka would move mountains to make Gabriella happy. Emil would do anything in his power to please Sadie.
But that would never apply to me again.
It would never be my future.
After losing Elena and failing to keep her safe from the explosion that ended her life, I knew down in my heart that no wife would ever complement my existence.
Being determined to protect my family wasn’t just a job to me.
It was who I was, a protector. A guardian.
Yet, with my mistake of not keeping my wife safe, I couldn’t move ahead to imagine that bond with another woman again.
My calling would always be to protect those I could. And I would.
That didn’t mean that I would ever heal enough to risk my heart in love again. Because of the stain of my failure with my wife’s life, I wouldn’t be prepared to open up and take a chance on letting another woman in like that.
No matter how much good it would do to Misha to have a mother.
No matter how deeply I missed having a partner and knowing my other half was there to make me feel whole.
Never again.
I’d lost one wife. I’d been reduced to a broken mess once before.
Nothing and no one could make me change my mind—regardless of how empty my life was starting to feel with the expansion of our family.