34. Maksim
Maksim
Cinder calls first thing in the morning. That’s never a good sign. In our line of work, business typically starts after ten.
Lila wakes up beside me. “What time is it?”
“Shh. Go back to sleep.” I slide out of bed.
“Talk,” I say as soon as I step into the hallway.
“Tawni and Brittany.” She doesn’t waste time. “They came to me an hour ago. Bags packed. They want out.”
I lean against the wall.
“Did they say why?”
“Someone reached out to them. I don’t know how. I don’t know who, but someone with Albanian connections promised them protection and a better cut. Told them I couldn’t keep them safe.” A pause. “Told them you couldn’t keep them safe.”
I rub my forehead. “Where are they now?”
“I talked them into waiting until I called you. I’ve got maybe twenty minutes before they walk.”
“Let them go.”
Silence.
“Cinder.”
“I heard you.” Her voice is tight. “You’re sure?”
“If they want to leave, I’m not holding them against their will. That’s not what I do. Make sure they have cash. Make sure they have a phone with my number in it. Tell them the offer stands if they change their minds.” I close my eyes for a second. “And then let them walk.”
“They’re walking into something bad.”
“I know that, but I won’t make them prisoners to protect them from their choices.”
She exhales.
“He’s bleeding you out, Maksim,” Cinder says softly.
I hear the resignation. The sadness. She’ll never say it, but I know it hurts her when she loses one of the girls.
She takes it personally, like she’s failed them.
“He’s doing it slowly, methodically, exactly the way he planned.
The pressure campaign is working.” She’s not lecturing me.
“The business is taking real damage. Clients have been warned away. Last night, only one of the girls had a client. They’re losing money. ”
I know this. I’ve been watching the ripple effects spread outward from the center of everything I’ve built.
Suppliers hesitating. Clients going quiet.
Women leaving. Death by a thousand cuts.
An organization that knows that if you want to bring down something large, you don’t hit it hard in the center.
You chip away at the edges until the whole thing collapses under its own weight.
“I need you at the house today,” I say. “Three o’clock. I’m calling a full meeting.”
“Who’s coming?”
“You. Damien. The club managers. Everyone who runs something for me. I’m done letting him set the tempo.”
“About time.” She hangs up, and I push off the wall.
When I return to the room, Lila is sitting up in our bed.
“What happened?” she asks.
I don’t want to tell her. She’ll blame herself. We all know what happens to the women who choose to work for someone else.
“Do you truly want to know?” I ask softly.
She nods. “Yes. I’m your wife.”
I tell her everything. She doesn’t flinch or cry.
“Can I be there?” she asks.
A wave of pride washes over me. My wife. My partner. I’ve had Damien at my side for more than a decade. I’ve had my brothers since birth. But having Lila stand by me is different.
“Yes.”
She nods. “Okay. I’ll be ready.”
“I have a meeting with my attorney. I’ll be back by two.”
I give her a kiss and walk into the bathroom to shower. I feel different. Like I’m wearing invisible armor. I know it’s her respect and willingness to join me that makes me feel stronger. Invincible.
I don’t know how we beat the Albanians, but I know what happens if we don’t.
When it’s time, I take Lila’s hand and step into the dining room with her.
The room goes very quiet. All eyes on her. She stands strong, with her chin raised.
I’m so fucking proud of my wife.
Cinder is the first to give a subtle nod. It’s approval. And that’s unexpected.
I lead Lila to the head of the table and hold out the empty seat on my right. Damien is at my left. I had told him earlier that Lila would be sitting in on the meeting.
“All right,” I say. “Here’s where we are.”
I lay it out. I don’t soften it. I watch faces as I talk. Most of them know pieces of it. Hearing the full picture laid out is different.
It’s war. They all need to know what’s coming.
“They’re not coming at us with guns,” I say. “They’re coming at us with patience. They want us nervous and reactive. They want us chasing shadows while they dismantle the foundation.” I look around the table. “I’m done letting them run the play.”
Damien leans forward. “What are you thinking?”
“We go on offense. Simultaneously. Across all locations.”
“Define ‘offense’,” Petra, one of the club managers, says carefully.
“Every supplier who’s been hesitating gets a personal visit.
Not a phone call. Me, in person, with enough information to remind them why our arrangement works better for them than the alternative.
” I shift my attention to the house managers.
“I want every client who’s gone quiet contacted directly.
Find out if they’ve been approached. If they have, I want to know by whom, and what was offered. ”
“And the women who’ve left?” Cinder asks.
“I want welfare checks on all of them. Quietly. I’m not trying to pull them back.
I want to know if they’re being used against us.
” I pause. “And I want to know how Arlind’s people are making contact.
Someone is getting close enough to reach them directly.
That means there’s still a leak somewhere in the operation. ”
“It’s risky,” Damien says. “Going loud across multiple fronts at the same time. If even one of those visits goes wrong, we’ll have a problem.”
“Everything worth doing is risky,” I say. “Sitting still while they weaken us in preparation for the final blow is more dangerous. At least this way we’re deciding the ground we fight on instead of letting them pick it for us.”
He nods. He doesn’t like it, but he can’t argue with the logic.
“What about the other option?” Cinder asks.
“No.”
“What option?” Lila speaks up for the first time.
“Leave,” Cinder replies.
Lila looks at me. “What? Me? You want me to leave?”
“No.” I shoot Cinder a dirty look.
“Not just you,” Cinder qualifies. “Both of you.”
“That’s not the plan,” I reply sternly.
Lila looks at me. “Was it a plan?”
“I considered it, but not now. I’m not running.”
I can’t read her expression. Does that make her happy or sad? Does she want to run?
“Good. I’m so sick of running from these assholes.”
I catch Cinder’s expression. Pride. She was testing her, and Lila passed.
I look around the table. “Questions?”
One of the assistant managers from Obsidian clears his throat. “We’re sitting ducks. They won’t come after you, but me and the bartenders and the people that work in your clubs. They won’t come here. They’ll hit where you’re exposed. Us. We’re exposed.”
“We’ll increase security.”
He doesn’t like it. “An AK doesn’t give a shit about how many security guards are standing at a door.”
“If you don’t like it, there is no shame in leaving. I’ll give you a good recommendation. I’m not asking anyone to stay if they don’t want to.”
Lila listens as I answer the questions.
When the meeting breaks up, she stays in her chair while people file out. Cinder is the last to leave the room. She makes eye contact with Lila. There’s a look, and then Cinder is gone.
“You did well,” I say.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You sat here and listened, and you didn’t flinch at anything you heard. I appreciate it.”
“I want to understand it,” she says. “All of it. I’m not asking you to tell me every detail.
I know there are things you keep close for reasons.
But I want to understand your business.” She spreads her hands on the table.
“I’m your wife. I’m in it, whether I understand it or not.
I’d rather understand. I know you are part of a bigger picture. The family business.”
“Then we’ll talk,” I say. “Not tonight. Tomorrow. You and me.” I push back from the table. “Tonight, I have some things to take care of.”
She stands and leans down to kiss me. “Thank you for letting me sit in on your meeting.”
She leaves the room, and I sit there and process. This must be what Sergei feels. He's got a partner in business and in bed. Sergei has Sofia. I never understood why he changed everything for her. I do now.
I find Damien in my office an hour later. He’s on his laptop, but he closes it when I come in. He knows what this conversation is.
I pour two glasses of vodka and set one in front of him.
“If this goes wrong…” I begin.
“Maksim, don’t even say it.”
“If it goes wrong.” I sit down. “I need you to have something in place. Not a plan I’m hoping we never use; an actual arrangement. Someone reliable, outside the operation, outside Miami, preferably outside the country.”
He looks at me.
“I mean it.”
“There’s a man in Portugal,” he says finally. “Former FSB. He’s been out for years, runs a relocation service for people who need to disappear cleanly. I’ve used him for some of the women who need to get out. He’s expensive, but he’s thorough.”
“Get him on standby.”
“Done. I’ll need a photo for her documents.”
“I’ll get it.”
He picks up his glass. “She won’t like it if she finds out you set this up without telling her.”
“No,” I agree. “She won’t.”
“She’s going to feel like you went behind her back.”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
“Will you tell her?”
“No.”
“I think that’s a mistake.”
“If I tell her, she’ll tell me she doesn’t want to run. She’ll tell me she wants to face the problem with me.”
“She will, which is why she’s going to be pissed. You’re taking the choice from her.”
I shrug. “She can be pissed. If she’s pissed, it means she’s alive.”
Damien is quiet.
“I want her somewhere she can go to school,” I add quietly. “She’s good with horses. They make her happy. I want her to go to college.”
“I don’t like this.”
“Damien, you and I both know that this world we live in doesn’t usually lead to a long life. Honestly, I’m surprised I’ve made it this long. I’m not trying to get killed, but if that’s what it takes…”
He stands, raises his glass, and downs it. “I’ll have the contact on standby by morning. You won’t need it.”
“No,” I say, “but she’ll have it anyway.”
I think about a woman who packed up her daughter and ran to keep her alive long enough to end up here. In my house. In my bed. At my table.
“I’ve got it from here,” I whisper into the empty room.