ILYA’S IN THE HOUSE! #2
“Legitimate channels, but they buried your case. It was cleverly done. Too clever. It triggered my suspicions and I had to head to the police station to see if I was on the right track.”
“Can we utilize those legitimate channels in the future?”
“If I can use Victoria’s when she’s accepted by the Veronians, yes.”
She fidgets. “There’s still a chance I won’t be.”
“After today, doubtful.”
I cast a look at her. “What happened? Is it to do with that boy you terrified?”
“You heard about that?” she asks him, not me, because she knows she has guards on her.
“I was in the area and curious. You keep a quiet schedule. It wasn’t difficult to trace you.”
“Just your presence could endanger her.”
Ilya rolls his eyes at my outburst. “She married you. She knows the risks.”
“That doesn’t make it right, dammit!”
“Maxim,” Nikolai warns. “Hear him out.”
The urge to throw my glass against the wall is all-consuming.
But that’d only confirm why Misha says Nikolai’s our father and not our brother.
And I’m not confirming shit after he went behind my back on this.
“I spoke with… I don’t know. A handler? A minder? Told him about Dyers's brand.”
Ilya nods. “That went down about as well as you’d expect with the top brass. They’re paranoid about those damn things. It’s pathetic, really, when they’re so easy to expose.”
“Do you know who betrayed us to the Veronians, Levin? Was it you? Are you playing us off against each other? It wouldn’t be the first time.”
He sips at his fourth shot. “No, it wouldn’t be the first time.”
I grit my teeth. “Meaning?”
“I have my ways.”
“For fuck’s sake! If you were involved from the offset, then you could have told us her whereabouts sooner!”
“I didn’t know her whereabouts. I was asked to deliver a dress. So I did. It behooved us all for me to comply. Nikolai told me about your Veronian-shaped plans—”
“Fucking Misha! Is he a spy and I didn’t know it?”
“More like a man who’s worried about his brother,” Nikolai signs. “A brother obsessed with a woman who could get him killed.”
Ilya, ignoring the curse I hurl at them both, continues, “Getting someone into the Veronians takes work and a background that isn’t easily fabricated. Victoria is a perfect candidate. I wasn’t about to jeopardize her appointment.”
“That’s not your call.”
“I never said it was.”
His reasonable tone has me snarling, “Who asked you?”
“A man called Brutus Dyers.”
“Dyers,” Victoria rages.
“Yes, the father’s as reprehensible as the son. I can promise you that.”
“So, you mean to tell us that you delivered the dress for the Veronians but didn’t know what their endgame was?”
He shrugs. “You don’t have to believe me.”
“Explain it to him or I’ll never hear the end of it,” Nikolai grouches.
“This is my wife we’re talking about here! I can just imagine you letting Cassie—”
“My relationship with Cassie is completely different than yours with Victoria. I’d never let her anywhere near the Veronians.” I’m not surprised that he signs those words too.
“None of my identities are Veronian, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know some of them. Power talks and I walk in circles where I hear things from time to time. That’s how Brutus knows me. He thinks I owe him and he called in a favor.”
“How don’t they know you’re related to the Krestniy Otets?” Victoria prods. “He’s a Veronian.”
“Perks of being on Tolya’s ‘secret task force.’” His mockery is evident. “Very few photos have ever been published of me, which is a shame. My mother tells me I have a face the camera loves.”
Victoria snorts.
“Anyway, Tolya is a Veronian. The Krestniy Otets isn’t.”
Victoria ponders that. “There’s a difference?”
“There is now that the Forgotten Boys have taken over the US. The Bratva’s influence is dying. Enough that they can no longer service the needs of men like the Veronians. The bulk of whom live, work, and play on the East Coast.”
“Why keep him as a brother? We know they discard members who’ve lost their purpose,” I point out.
“My uncle is still a billionaire.”
I crack my pointer finger with my thumb. “So’s Clyde Korhonen.”
“Nyet. He lost access to his inheritance thanks to fixing his brother’s will. His son was always in line to inherit the family fortune. Do you remember a few years ago, there was an Albanian insurgency in New York City?”
“Of course.”
Victoria adds, “I remember my uncles bitching about it.”
Ilya runs his finger around the rim of his shot glass. “The Krestniy Otets funded that mess and he became associated with the disaster that came of his great idea. He fears few but the Veronians… Their power is insidious.”
“Firstly, why would he do that? Secondly, what does any of that mean?”
“With the technology boom, many of the Veronians found themselves with billions of dollars in their bank accounts. As is often the case with rich men who have more money than sense, they wish to fuck anything that moves, snort whatever they can get up their nostrils, and fund politicians who help them evade taxes.” He pours himself another vodka.
“For a long time, the Bratva would help Veronian brothers with their poison of choice.
After Maxim took control of New York City and, ultimately, the Forgotten Boys expanded across the US, the Bratva lost power and it was no longer able to provide the Veronians with all they needed.
“My uncle, despite his self-aggrandizement, has never been the smartest man in a room. He decided that not only did the Veronians need henchmen of their own, so they’d never be dependent on the politics of any given city, but he wished to undermine the factions.
Particularly in Forgotten Boys’ territory. Hence, the funding of the Albanians.
“However, the Albanians proved themselves to be rabid dogs who couldn’t be trusted not to use their own fentanyl-laced product, and as a result, chaos beckoned.
“The Veronians, snobs that they are, didn’t appreciate being associated with animals and so that little idea was quashed. The Krestniy Otets’s reputation suffered as a result.”
“Which faction do they rely on for product?”
“It’s a personal choice. There’s no one faction, especially in states where the Bratva hold no power.”
She glances at me. “You sell to Veronians?”
“How do you think I gained access to Harrington?”
“That would explain why they were so keen to get you on board.”
I dip my chin.
“Does he owe you money? Has he become a liability? Is that why they wanted to punish him?”
I’ve pondered that many a time since the night I first abducted him from my brothel. “Perhaps.”
“Meaning?” she prods.
“Red.” She groans at the mention of the illegal erectile dysfunction drug. I persevere, “His debts have increased. As have his visits to his prostitutes of choice.”
“So, he’s become reckless.”
“You could say that.”
“It’s like getting blood out of a stone,” she complains.
“I deal in facts, pchelka. Not fiction.”
Her expression is distinctly unimpressed. “If I become a member, then there’s a bridge between the Forgotten Boys and the Veronians.”
“And one between the Bratva and the Veronians too. Your past is undeniable. Some will always see you as Bratva-bred. The Krestniy Otets included.”
“That sounds like a threat,” I hiss.
“Hardly.”
“I find it interesting,” she muses.
“As for the situation with the country club, I didn’t know about that. When I learned details of the case and that it was being run by Detective Bordeau, it only amplified my suspicions. Suspicions that led me to Mt. Palisades Police Station.”
“Why?” I prompt.
“Bordeau and I have had run-ins in the past.” His expression turns dark. The fingers of his free hand flex as if he wants to hurt the man.
Too late.
“I know not to trust him and so do a lot of the higher-ups. He was transferred to Mt. Palisades because of past actions. He’s a very naughty boy.”
Victoria clears her throat. “You’ve explained a lot, but I still don’t understand what you’re doing here or why you’re involving yourself in something that’s none of your business.”
He presses a hand to his heart. “You are my friends.” When I scoff, he smirks then justifies, fondly, “Personally, I’m looking for someone who decided to play hide and go seek with me.
Nikolai traveled to the city to meet you so we could clear the air.
Then found out you were upstate. The air didn’t clear; it just turned blue. ”
“Some of us have toddlers to go home to.”
“Why wasn’t I informed, dammit?” I sign angrily.
Niko just arches a brow at me, leaving me fuming.
“As for why I’m involving myself in matters that don’t concern me… I’m hoping to curry favor with your husband so he won’t throw a rattle out of his cot when I ask to stick around the state for a while.
“As much as I don’t need your permission, Maxim, it will definitely help if I have it.”
“Who are you looking for?” Victoria asks Ilya, not giving me time to tell Ilya where the fuck he can go with his favor.
“You might know her as I Told You So…”