Chapter 18 #2
She’s smirking at me, poking me for fun. I just smile back at her and say, “Nope,” then walk out of the kitchen.
I shower and dress and by the time I’m clothed, the call comes in.
Pavel telling me that father’s just been released and we’re to meet him at his house.
I tell him that I’m on my way as I finish dressing.
By the time I’m walking out the door, I pass Isabella as she sits on the couch, her eyes on the television.
I don’t care for how suspiciously casual she appears right now.
If she’s like this when I get back, I’ll have to give her something to do.
It takes me less than thirty minutes to get to Father’s house.
When I get there, Pavel’s already waiting in Father’s office, sitting in his chair, feet on the desk.
He doesn’t see me as he leans back, his eyes closed and no doubt dreaming of being a Pakhan.
I can’t be mad at him. I used to do that same thing when I was younger.
I clear my throat and he nearly falls out of the chair. The moment he sees me, he rolls his eyes. “Shit, Alexei. You scared me. I thought you were Pop.”
I snicker. “Why on earth would you risk sitting in his chair? You must have a death wish.”
He gets up and walks around the desk, greeting me with a smile. “I guess I enjoy living dangerously sometimes. How’s the little wifey doing? You two getting along these days?”
I just scoff at him. “I don’t believe that’s any of your business.”
He cocks his head, looking me over carefully. “You do look a bit more relaxed than usual. You’re at least fucking her, right?”
“Pavel.”
“What? You got yourself hitched to the most popular ride in Fortune and you expect me not to want details?”
“She is my wife now, however it happened. I’d appreciate some respect.”
He rolls his eyes. “Ugh. You are no fun. You know, there’s no dishonor in sharing the dirty details. It’s not like your marriage is real, anyway.”
“And that’s just the type of thing that we don’t need in the brotherhood right now.
” My father’s voice fills the room suddenly.
We both turn to see him standing in the doorway.
He’s still wearing the suit he wore yesterday.
It smells faintly of his body odor, tinged with the metallic scent of the jail walls.
He walks past us, a distasteful look on his face.
“If your brother doesn’t want to discuss what goes on in his bedroom, he doesn’t have to,” he says as he takes his suit jacket off and tosses it onto the coat rack in the corner of the room. “Grow up, Pavel.”
Pavel’s face changes. His cheeks flush with embarrassment and he starts looking down at his shoes. “I was just joking around, Pop,” he said. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
Father glares at him as he walks over to his desk, rolling up his shirt sleeves. He sits on the edge of the desk and crosses his arms. His muscular forearms are like tree trunks against his chest. “Let’s get to the business at hand.”
I glance at Pavel as we both turn to face our father. The time for jokes has passed. It probably never even had a place here.
“This matter of the raid,” he says. “My attorney tells me that he will get the whole thing thrown out. They found nothing of consequence and they’re going to have to try to get me on a bigger charge if they want to put me behind bars.”
I’m suddenly reminded of something he had once told me. Some phrase from some book somewhere. If you’re going to take a shot at the king, you’d better not miss.
“For all intents and purposes,” Father goes on, “that part of it all is done and over with. We must now direct our attention to more important matters… such as who was responsible in the first place.”
I’m taken aback slightly. I guess I haven’t considered the fact of Father blaming even the raid on Pecora. “Pop,” I say, “you don’t think Pecora had anything to do with this?”
“Of course, he did,” he says. “It’s classic divide and conquer. While I’m pushed aside, cooling my heels in jail, he takes advantage of the momentary weakness. What the fool didn’t count on is my getting out a day later.”
I want to argue with him. Especially given the fact that absolutely nothing has happened to anyone in the twenty-four hours since Father was arrested. If that was the plan, then something should have happened in that time.
Debate is allowed. Opposition is not, however.
“Pecora thinks that we will not strike back at him because we are allies. He thinks that we will be diplomatic with him. That we will sit down with him and his men and negotiate while he does his best to strike fear into our hearts. He is sadly mistaken.”
“What do we do?” asks Pavel. “Alexei is married to his daughter. Surely, he understands that he can’t do anything that might bring harm to her.”
“He understands that she is no longer his,” Father says. “And even if he doesn’t, I doubt he cares either way. His love for his daughters is transactional.”
I hate it that I agree with him, at least partially. Pecora basically sold his daughters to us for this alliance. An alliance that my father is certain he’s broken. Father turns his eyes to me and asks, “What are you thinking, Alexei?”
For once, I’d rather just nod and smile, go along with this line of thought. But there is a chance that it might lead to something worse. I do not relish the idea of a war with Isabella’s father.
“I am wondering,” I say, placing my words carefully, “what the motive is. A man doesn’t destroy a powerful alliance for no reason, especially one that nets nothing but benefits for him.”
“Does he need a reason?” Pavel asks with a little bit of a scoff. “Perhaps he just woke up on morning and decided that you aren’t good enough for his daughter.”
“Father just said that his love for them is transactional. Does any of what’s happened sound like transactional moves to you?”
Pavel scowls but says, “All right. But should we discover the reason, will it make a difference in what has already been done? It won’t change anything.”
“Agreed,” my father says. “The reason matters little. You were shot and one of my clubs was raided… and we know he’s behind both. We have to take action, Alexei.”
I nod. I guess that’s that.
“I want him eliminated.” Father says this directly to me. “I don’t care about how or what method is used, but I want him wiped from the face of the earth. No man takes a shot at my sons and can expect to live.”
“Yes, sir,” Pavel and I say in unison.
“Good. Now, leave me. I will contact you with further instructions.”
Without another word, we walk out of our father’s office and then out of his house. As we both walk across the circular drive, I say to Pavel, “We should discuss this thing with Father and Pecora.”
He glances at me. “What’s there to discuss? Pecora is out for Papa’s head.”
I stop, and Pavel takes a few steps before turning around to me expectantly.
“What?” he asks. “You think he’s wrong?”
“I’m fairly sure he is,” I tell him. “It just doesn’t make sense, Pavel. Not unless there’s something more we don’t know about.”
“Alexei, we interrogated the one who took a shot at you,” he says. “He admits to being aligned with Pecora.”
“Let me ask you something, Brother. If you had nothing or were about to lose everything that you hold dear and I came along and offered to help you get back everything that you stood to lose, how readily would you stab me in the back?”
“Well, that depends on quite a few things. Do I trust you? Were we enemies before?”
“But you wouldn’t question it right away, if at all, would you? Trust and mistrust notwithstanding, if you’d already agreed, what reason would you have to break the agreement? No one just wakes up one morning and attacks their allies. Not without reason.”
Pavel purses his lips. “All right, so maybe you have a point. But if it’s not Pecora, then who else would dare do any of this?”
I shrug. “Our family has no shortage of enemies, but I would start with whoever has the most to gain by the alliance going to pieces… and who might have knowledge of our inner workings.”
Pavel scowls. “You don’t think it was an inside job?”
I shrug. “I know that whoever is responsible knew where both Father and I were going to be in order to launch their attacks. How would anyone know those things unless they were one of us? These incidents aren’t random. They knew where to strike and when.”
He sighs and shakes his head. “This is bad business. Blame within our ranks is poison. We have to tread lightly.”
“Agreed. I don’t think we need to convince anyone in our ranks except Father. If he knows the truth, then no one will question him if he calls this whole thing off.”
He nods slowly in agreement. He then glances back at our father’s house and sighs. “Papa is convinced, Alexei. He won’t take too kindly to any kind of opposition on this, even if you somehow manage to get proof.”
“I have to try. I don’t relish going to war with the Pecora family.”
Pavel scoffs. “It wouldn’t be much of one if we did. Pecora and his family are weaker than we are.”
“War is war, regardless. Weak or not, a better placed shot would have killed me either way. I would prefer to resolve this matter without losing any of our numbers.”
Pavel looks genuinely disappointed. Perhaps by my position or just by the idea that Pecora might actually be innocent, I can’t say.
He pats me on the shoulder anyway and says, “I understand. First, things first. We need to find out who knew what and when, then find out where they were when the raid and the attack on you happened. I’ll make some phone calls and check back in with you with what I find out. ”
We shake hands, a strong forearm handshake to signify our personal alliance and trust in one another. For all the ways that Pavel and I have been mismatched as siblings, in the end, he always had my back and that’s the only thing that matters. Especially now.
On my way back to the car, I realize that there’s only one course of action for me now. The one thing that Isabella tried to do on her own. I need to talk to Pecora and warn him before it’s too late.