Chapter 1
Three months later
There are never enough drugs.
I put the sheet filled with notes on the pile of papers on my desk and focus on the numbers on the laptop screen.
“Call Sergei.” I lean back in my wheelchair and look at Maxim, who is sitting on the other side of my desk. “I need him to arrange two additional shipments this month.”
“He already negotiated the quantities with Mendoza for the quarter. I’m not sure the Mexicans can double it on such short notice.”
“They will. Now, tell me what the fuck happened because I know that look well, and I know I won’t like the answer.”
“Samuel Grey embezzled three million dollars. Our money.”
I sigh and shake my head. “Who is Samuel Grey, why did he have access to our money, and how did he manage to do that?”
“Our real estate mediator. The money was meant for buying two more lots near the north warehouse. Grey thought he could borrow our money for a week for some investment which ended up being a Ponzi scheme.”
How much of an idiot a person would have to be to steal from theBratva? Sometimes I’m amazed by people’s stupidity.
“Can he pay it back?” I ask.
“No.”
“Kill him. And make an example out of him.”
“I had something else in mind. People... people are starting to talk, Roman. We need a distraction, fast. I think Grey can provide that distraction.”
“Oh? And what have they been talking about?” I’ve known Maxim since he started working for my father two decades ago, as a foot soldier. The oldpakhannever could determine a person’s potential. Wasting a man as capable as Maxim by assigning him to basic fieldwork was one of many mistakes I corrected the moment I becamepakhantwelve years ago. Right after I killed the bastard.
“You. Still being unmarried.”
That’s old news. “But that’s not all, is it? What else?” I narrow my eyes at Maxim.
He’s not looking at me, his gaze focused on something on the wall behind me. “There are rumors that you won’t be able to run theBratvamuch longer and someone else will take your place. Someone more... physically able.”
“And do you share their opinion?”
“Do not insult me, Roman. You know I’ve always stood by you, and I’ll keep doing so. Even if I don’t think you’re the most capablepakhantheBratvaever had. But you’ve been holed up here for three months. You haven’t been to any of our clubs to check on the operations like you did at least once a month before the explosion. And you haven’t been seen with a woman.”
“So the status of my sex life is a better indicator of my ability to run theBratvathan the fact that we doubled our profit the last two months?”
“People need the feel of stability, Roman. They still remember how your father took over the previouspakhan’splace and the chaos that followed. TheBratvalost more than fifty people to internal skirmishes, and the business was devastated. They need to know that it won’t happen again. A wife means there will be an heir who will be ready to take over your place when the time comes, without internal war or people dying.”
“I will not tie myself to some random woman for life just to pacify our ranks.”
“Let me show you something.” Maxim takes out his phone and starts scrolling. “My daughter went to school with Samuel’s daughter. They weren’t close friends or anything, but they hung out together often, and I remember her showing me the videos she took. I asked her to send me one of those last night when I heard what Samuel Grey did.”
“What would videos of teenagers have to do with my ability to lead theBratva?”
“Well, she’s not a teenager anymore. Nina Grey finished art studies at The Art Institute here in Chicago in two years instead of four, and she’s currently the most sought-after young artist in the country. Her paintings sell for four figures each.”
“So what, we’ll hire her to paint us a family portrait?” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You are barely fifty. Are you going senile prematurely?”
“We aren’t hiring her to paint us a portrait. We will be blackmailing her. Her father’s life for her services.”
“To do what?”