39. Adrik
ADRIK
T he next day didn’t seem like another chance to experience marital bliss. Or peace.
Elena and I were together with my brothers and cousins at another meeting. I’d brought in several supervisors and leads within the organization as well, counting on the most important members of the family to be prepared for war.
Because that was what this was coming down to. This was war.
That angle that Elena had been so committed to yesterday wasn’t just something that she could call a passing interest. She’d landed on a connection that brought her to a can or worms. She’d opened it, and now we had more than enough intel to digest.
Giving her the prompt to talk hadn’t been hard, either.
That was how instantly I’d adapted to seeing her as my partner, not just my woman.
And as I listened to her in our large conference room toward the back of the house, I realized that I was one of the luckiest men on earth to have had a chance to realize my mistakes with her.
To understand where I’d gone wrong with time to correct my path forward.
So we could end up here, like this. Not a new husband and wife, but a Pakhan and his queen.
A leader and follower, but one who could bring receipts to the table in terms of intel.
For over an hour, she’d shared her discoveries. Complete with a corresponding slideshow that projected on the screen while Sacha demonstrated the files that she referenced, she downright lectured us all about what had been happening without our knowledge.
Without my father’s knowledge, either.
I narrowed my eyes at that assumption. It emboldened my anger that Gregori had been this sneaky to fuck with us right under our noses.
“The arrangement, from what I understood in my limited role at my father’s firm, was that Morovov Financials was a conduit to hide behind.
Money trails are significantly harder to follow and when consultants, banking service providers, and others of the kind do some of the heavy work of making transfers in and out of accounts such as the Volkov ones, it can take time to weed through what goes where.
” She glanced at me, as if waiting for me to add anything.
Sacha beat me to it. “That’s how it’s always been.” He scratched the back of his neck. “The Boss has always used Morovov Financials.”
Maksim nodded with a heavy exhale. “That’s correct. He did. For years.”
“And without too many noticeable differences with the fine-line reports and real-time analyses or checks, he wouldn’t have known what to look for when things might not have added up,” she said.
But you did. You’ve always known what to look for because this is what you’re trained to do so well.
She gestured to me. “What triggered the red flags and got your attention were when there were too many interferences that weren’t corrected before I could notice them as the direct manager of them.
My guess is that John Morovov no longer cared whether he’d get caught siphoning money from accounts to feed into one of Gregori’s shadow accounts. ”
It didn’t escape my notice that she referred to her father by his name.
Maksim glanced at me, no doubt picking up on it too.
It didn’t startle or impress me. I expected it.
She’d been clear with her words to me that she had a real family now.
She'd ceased respecting or acknowledging a connection with her father when he gave her away. She hadn’t been gripped with sorrow over how I’d killed him.
That didn’t suggest any heartlessness on her part.
If anyone were to ask me, she had too big of a heart, a heart of gold.
Elena had severed ties with John Morovov since he showed how little he valued her.
“And that syncs with his wording on the day that the last account was declared insufficient. That morning, when I tried to backtrack and understand who’d messed with the accounts, I didn’t think that he would be behind it.
That was my fault. I merely assumed he would never take the effort to do anything himself, always relying on me to get the work done.
But his goals weren’t in just handling the banking services.
He had other plans. When I asked what happened, his answer was that ‘a situation had gotten a little out of hand.’ That a ‘miscalculation’ had happened.
It was his situation of feeding small but accumulating bits of funds into Gregori’s network.
They were scattered and not exclusive withdrawals from Volkov accounts, but he got more daring with time. ”
Alexei shook his head, mumbling under his breath, likely cursing out his father.
“His ‘situation’ was one of his own doing. It consisted of acting like Gregori’s fundraiser, but once I discovered the issues and handled things from the inside here, he was cut off from those routes of revenue.”
I cleared my throat, reclaiming everyone’s attention. “And he was cut off from draining a single penny from our accounts again when I eliminated him as a threat.”
Watching Elena from the corner of my eye, I marked how she didn’t flinch.
She maintained her composure, like always, but it wasn’t forced.
She wasn’t barely hanging on and fighting to look calm and obedient.
She just was. I no longer had to worry about her feelings where her father was concerned, and I knew it was a blessing I’d never take for granted.
“That was the first strike,” I warned them all as an announcement they should all heed. “The first strike of many.”
Elena nodded. “Now that we know Morovov Financials won’t be a source for any transfers of funds, it will be harder for me to track where and how Gregori is hiding his money now, moving forward.
But we are keeping an eye on all that we can, trying not only to safeguard the Volkov accounts but also to be more proactive in hunting down what he is doing.
At least, from where I can help, with financial records and money trails. ”
“That helps,” Viktor said.
“It does,” Maksim agreed. “Follow the money. It’s as simple as that.”
For once, I didn’t see eye-to-eye on that with my brother closest in age.
Nothing seemed simple about any of this.
About our uncle hiding for so many years all to start up a shadow network.
About how John Morovov had been moving and stealing our money right under our noses with the guise of being the reliable middle man for so long.
Gregori must have lured him in with something. Some kind of bait or incentive.
And look where that got him.
I was fuming, but I controlled it in a steadily burning and heating simmer.
It got him killed.
By my hand.
Anyone else who dared to team up with my uncle would meet the same fate.
No shortage of drama and danger would be in my future, but I seriously hadn’t counted on a challenge like this as I prepared to take the throne.
“If it weren’t for you,” I told her in front of all these top-ranking members of the family, “we never would’ve learned about this sabotage and theft. Not until it might’ve been too late.”
She nodded at me, like the obedient employee that she was. The label of employee would fade when I considered her role with us.
She was my wife. My partner. My love. And the reason my future could still seem bright among the trouble and threat of war brewing.
As she stared back at me, calmly and patiently, I knew that she had to be aware of what else I meant. That I wouldn’t be the man I was today if I hadn’t met her.
If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have learned to let love in. The freedom in lowering my guard even just a little to appreciate how much you could complete me.
If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have taken on the opportunity to balance myself as my identity changes from being one of the brothers and cousins, to the leader to make the decisions and lead us all.
Elena didn’t only represent the turning point in our being aware of my uncle’s evil scheme. She was a symbol and reminder of how I could govern better with a strong woman backing me up and grounding me.
“It’s not too late,” Alexei said. “Now that we know he’s alive, we will have a team seeking him out.”
I agreed. We’d established that yesterday. “A hit has most definitely been placed on him.” If we hadn’t, others who had a bone to pick with him would’ve wanted the honors of killing him for that bomb he’d rigged at that meeting.
“We’ll be reassessing all of our contracts with allies in the region,” Maksim said. “To make sure we know who he’s trying to bring into his network.” He grunted wryly. “Or who he already might have aligned with him.”
He was no doubt talking about the Cartel issues that we’d been hearing about. I’d let him take over that task. The others would be delegated as well, thoroughly researching how far Gregori had gotten in making a secret network and alliance.
No matter what he did or planned to achieve, he would never hurt my family again.
He could fake his death, he could secure a lethal militant as his assistant, and he could try to have some bullshit of a second coming as he messed with us and our empire, but he wouldn’t be able to come near those I loved and hurt any of them.
I swore my life on it.
My brothers and cousins would join me in the fight against this enemy from within, from long ago.
My wife would join in the fight too, just behind the scenes and with her acuity in knowing how to navigate the financial systems.
All of us would stay united as a strong family in blood and choice.
Nothing could stop us from embracing a solid future and unbreakable legacy.