Chapter Twenty-Four - IVAN
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
IVAN
THERE ARE DAYS where I enjoy being the pakhan. I can delegate tasks to my brothers and other associates while keeping an eye on things. It makes my life easy. It makes the transition of power easy.
Today is not one of those days.
Today is one of those days that has me wanting to scratch out the eyes of the people sitting around this damned conference table. They really should pull their heads out of their asses instead of arguing with each other. It's not good for business.
To the public, I am a real-estate developer. It is important to be seen doing things to improve the neighborhoods and areas where we own properties, especially since we have amassed a lot of it lately.
We have an office building in town where we conduct non-bratva business, and that’s where I am today with my brothers. We are meeting with city leaders and potential tenants to discuss the future of new properties in the Seaport District.
Several new tenants are sitting around the table, arguing with each other about how much space they need to occupy. They’ve been doing it for the last half an hour. I sit there and watch them, thinking that they’re all idiots and wondering why we need to do business with them.
I rub my temples with my forefingers, trying to ease the tension headache that is forming. My phone buzzes with an incoming call. I look down and see that it’s Emma calling, so I stand up to walk away from the conference room towards my private office.
“Lyubimaya,” I say as I answer the phone. “Is everything okay?” Emma doesn’t usually call me. She’d rather send a text message.
“Mr. Kiselyov, I’m glad you picked up the phone.” It’s a man’s voice and immediately I’m on alert and my anger is rising. Why is a man calling from Emma’s phone?
“Who the fuck is this? Where’s Emma?” I yell into the phone.
“Ivan!” I can hear Emma scream in the background. I can hear a slap through the phone, and Emma whimpers.
“I’m calling with a message, Mr. Kiselyov. I was sent to collect payment on a debt that was owed to my boss,” the man answered.
“You're a dead man when I get my hands on you!” I yell at him.
“Emma is now the property of Callaghan Enterprises.”
“Ivan! Help me!” Emma cries.
“Listen here mudak,” I say, lowering my voice to a growl. “You tell your boss that I am coming for Emma, and I will get her back. She does not belong to him.”
“Good luck with that, Mr. Kiselyov,” is the last thing I hear before the line goes dead.
“FUCK!” I rage. I’ve been gone long enough that my brother Dmitri has come to find me.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, closing my office door.
“Callaghan has Emma,” I say angrily. I’m seeing red as I pull up the tracking app on my phone. “Get those assholes out of here. Meetings are over for today.”
Dmitri leaves to clear the conference room while I try to track Emma. Her location pops up on the screen. She’s still in the city and it looks like she’s headed northward out of Boston.
My brothers come barreling into the office, concern on their faces and phones at the ready to start making calls.
Remaining calm has flown out the window.
Callaghan has messed with what’s mine for the last time, and he’s going to pay for it.
I look at my phone again and notice that her tracking dot has stopped in the middle of the Charles River.
“MOTHERFUCKER!” I yell as I throw my phone towards the wall.
“What happened?” Dmitri asks.
“Emma’s tracking disappeared over the Charles River,” I answer him. “Which car did she take this morning?”
“She took the 7-series,” Maksim replies.
“Get someone following them now. Where the fuck is Igor? He’s supposed to be with her and two other guards,” I demand.
“Igor’s location is pinging in William Carmen Park,” Maksim says. “I’ll send someone to pick him up.”
“Good. Bring him to me. He better have a damn good explanation as to why he’s not with Emma,” I say.
“Dmitri, what about the other two body guards? Where the hell are they? They were supposed to be with Igor and protecting Emma.”
“Not sure, but we’ll find them, Ivan,” Dmitri says.
“Dmitri, work with Maksim to find those assholes. When you find them, stick them in the basement and I’ll deal with them later,” I tell my brother.
“You got it,” Dmitri replies.
“Grigory, call Lidiya. Tell her she needs to come home immediately and stay at the estate. If this is part of a coordinated attack from Callaghan and father’s former associates, then it stands to reason they may want to take all of us out, and that includes our sister,” I say.
“I’ll have her at the estate by the end of the day,” he replies.
Within an hour, everything is in place to get Emma back. Grigory picked up Igor in the park. I’ll deal with him when we locate Emma. I rush back to the estate and bring up all the tracking devices in play on my home office computer screens.
Emma’s phone has disappeared, but she still has the bracelet with the tracker inside.
That’s the dot I’m currently looking at moving down the highway and north out of Boston.
It’s on top of another dot moving at the same speed.
It’s the 7-series that Emma is in. I made sure it had a small tracking device on it before Igor took Emma into the city.
I felt the extra monitoring was necessary, considering what happened the last time Emma was supposed to be protected.
Patrick must not realize that Emma’s bracelet contains a tracker.
They’ve left the interstate and are now headed up a state road towards Lowell.
Several SUVs containing some of my soldiers and Maksim are headed towards the city to try and intercept them.
Emma will need to see a familiar face when they pick her up.
“I’m sorry, boss,” Igor says immediately upon entering my home office.
“What the fuck happened, Igor!” I yell at him, grabbing him by his shirt and shaking him.
“Patrick O’Brien found us in Haymarket,” he started explaining. “One of the guards stayed with the car, so it was just me and the other one with her. Emma agreed to walk with O’Brien, essentially just to catch up since they used to be neighbors.”
“Go on,” I say, keeping a tight grip on his collar.
“I was keeping an eye on Emma when I feel a hand on my shoulder and a prick in my neck,” Igor continues, showing me the spot on his neck where he was stuck with something.
“The guard who was with us drugged me with something, and when I dropped to the ground, Patrick took Emma and pushed her in to the car. I saw the car drive away, and the next thing I remember is being put in the car to come here.”
“Did you catch a look at the guy who was driving?” I ask him. I already know the answer, and I want to see if he’s going to lie to me or be truthful.
“It was the second guard, the one I left behind with the car,” Igor confirmed.
“So the guards I sent with you to protect Emma were working against us the whole time,” I say out loud.
“Looks like it, boss. Those guys used to work for Vladimir Zaytsev. We kept them on to ease the leadership transition,” Igor added.
“Damn it,” I say with a sigh, finally letting Igor go. I’m on the phone immediately to Dmitri, instructing him to meet us in the office.
“What’s the update?” Dmitri asks when he walks in. Igor repeats the information that he told me just a few minutes ago.
“Before anything else goes sideways, all of the soldiers that remain in our ranks and were in any way connected to Popov and Zaytsev are to be immediately removed,” I reply.
“Alexei and Denis have sworn their lives to us, and now will be their chance to prove it. Let them remain, but keep them on a short leash.”
“Then what?” Dmitri asks.
“You’ll stay here and manage things with Igor.
When Lidiya’s plane arrives, you will go to collect her and escort her back here,” I tell him.
“Maksim is on his way north to intercept the car with Emma in it and bring her home. When she gets here, we’ll come up with a new plan to take out Callaghan and his organization for good. ”
“Ivan, what about you?”
I look at my computer screen to check on the movement of Emma’s bracelet tracker.
“I’m going to start arranging accommodations for our guests,” I say with a dark look.
“The highest ranking of papa’s former soldiers that are still in our ranks are to be placed in the basement vault for interrogation. ”
Dmitri pours himself a drink and one for me, as well, before bringing it over while Igor and Grigory get their work area set up inside the office. While I’m pissed as fuck at Igor for letting Emma get away, I know that deep down it’s my fault she’s in this position to begin with.
“We’ll get her back, Ivan,” Dmitri says, handing me my drink. I down it quickly in one gulp.
“It’s my fault,” I tell him. “We should have cleaned house when Papa retired.”
“I know. You did what you thought was best to ease the transition.”
“I failed her, Dmitri. I promised Emma I would keep her safe, and now she’s in Callaghan’s clutches.”
“We’ve got a plan,” Dmitri reminds me.
“I won’t rest until she’s back here with all of us. We are her family now, and we always take care of family.”
“Exactly. This might not be the right time, but I’m sorry for how I reacted towards Emma. The way you look at her tells me all I need to know. You trust her, and I trust you,” Dmitri replies.
I hear my phone ringing, and see Maksim calling.
“Tell me you have her,” I say, skipping right to the point.
“We have another problem,” Maksim says, hesitating to tell me what he’s doing.
“What problem? Do you have Emma or not?” I ask. I can see by the tracker dots that the car has stopped on a road outside Lowell. Emma should be there.
“We found the car, but Emma isn’t here,” Maksim replies.
“WHAT THE FUCK, MAKS?” I roar.
“The car is abandoned outside Lowell. Emma is gone, and so is Patrick O’Brien. The two guards we sent with her this morning are dead in the front seat.”
“What aren’t you saying, Maksim?”
“I found Emma’s bracelet…” Maksim adds. “It looks like it was cut off her wrist and left in the car.”
“Fucking hell. Call a crew and get it cleaned up. Get to the house now and bring Emma’s bracelet with you,” I tell my brother before hanging up the phone.
I turn towards the window of my office and look out over the lawn. Security has increased since we arrived and is walking the grounds.
Grigory moved his things into the main house before leaving to pick up Lidiya from the airport. Our private jet is landing in half an hour with her on board.
I pour myself another drink and take a long sip. If something happens to Emma, I’ll never forgive myself.