CHAPTER3
ANDREI
I wasglad to be done with that messy business, even gladder that it hadn’t been as messy as it could have been. Mikhail could be hair-trigger on even the best of nights, and he wasn’t always receptive to reason. I thanked my lucky stars that I’d been able to convince him to take the right path. Upward and onward, and back to the business of making money.
The ice cubes clinked in my glass as I swirled my drink in my hand, watching Mikhail tidy himself up and put his tie back on, leaving it loose. “That was the smart move,” I said. “This isn’t the Wild West anymore, cousin. You know that as much as I do.”
Mikhail shot his wrists out and adjusted his cufflinks. “I’m not in the mood for Andrei the Wise advice right now.”
“What, are you still angry?” I asked. “Tonight, of all nights?”
Mikhail strode to the bar. I knew where this was going. If I left him alone, he’d pace back and forth like a tiger, getting angrier for the sake of it. He and I had always been close, even as boys growing up, so I knew what to expect. I loved him, and my life was dedicated to him, and if that meant defusing a few anger bombs, so be it. He came by it naturally, after all; his old man was a hothead too. Mikhail was just carrying on another family tradition.
Brooding was one of their traditions, too. When Mikhail didn’t answer me, I spoke up. “Hey, cousin, don’t do that.”
“Do what?” Mikhail growled, swiping a bottle of vodka from the bar and picking up two shot glasses between the fingers of his other hand. He turned around and approached me, wiggling the shot glasses at me with mock excitement on his face.
I grinned and shook my head. “Don’t drink angry. Don’t drink sad. If you need a reason to celebrate, let’s talk about our big night.”
I knew he knew what I was talking about. Our big night was the grand debut of our newly renovated No Holds Barred Club. When we’d started our underground boxing club in the mostly unused basement of the casino, it was mainly a lot of the guys that were already in the crew, a few of their deep-pocketed friends, and once in a while we would get the wealthy tourist type that wants to see where the real action happens, so long as we could promise their safety.
It wasn’t big at the time, but it was the last little independent venture Mikhail and I had started together before his father grew ill and Mikhail needed to step up even more than he already had.
Mikhail was calming down. I could hear it in his breathing. Finally, he said, “Okay. Yeah. You’re right. Tonight’s the night.” He looked at me and handed me one of the shot glasses, and we took a moment to smile about what was to come. What had started as a few punks smacking each other around in a dark basement had become the most exclusive private arena in the city. The cops might have called it an unlicensed boxing organization, but who cared what they thought as long as they knew they had to keep their mouths shut or lose access? The law, politicians, everybody had something they wanted. We knew it all, and we provided it all. In exchange, everybody played the game. After all, who could possibly want the game to end?
Certainly not Mikhail and me. I reached over and pulled him in by his far shoulder. “Cousin, it’sfight night. We have our fingers in every slice of the pie, and all the big-money clients are going to be there.” I patted his arm. “So if we drink, we drink happy because this is the result of alotof hard work paying off. Blood, sweat, and tears, from both of us, finally transmuted into beautiful, cold, hard cash.” I took the bottle from his hand, pulled out the stopper with my teeth. Before he could react, I spat the stopper across the room and took a deep drink.
Mikhail laughed in surprise and snatched the bottle out of my hand before I could drink too much. “Cousin, we’re still working tonight.” His voice sounded much lighter, more playful, and I knew I’d brought him out of his dark cloud.
I grinned. “Hey, what’s all of this for, hm?”
He tilted his head. “I don’t know what you mean.”
I motioned around the room and out to the view of the city. “This. All of this. What is itfor, if we don’tenjoyourselves a little?”
Mikhail shook his head and slapped me on the back. “One night. Business is good, we took out the trash, and maybe I can relax a little bit.”
I shrugged. “A little bit of relaxation. From you, I’ll take it.” I cocked my head toward the door. “Give me an hour, let me settle the last of tonight’s business and get myself cleaned up, and then we’re going to go downstairs and have a great rest of the night.”
Private elevators wereto be found all over the casino. Many of them were for our staff to move around at will without disturbing the players, but with the right credentials, they would take anyone down to the sub-basement.
When we had first cleared it out, we’d realized that it was a massive space of untapped potential. It was spacious and soundproof, and the giant steel industrial pillars gave it a lot of potential for a fantastic look.
Now, as the elevator opened onto the floor of the sub-basement, I looked at our greatest victory in all its glory. While the upstairs club, the Desert Pearl, was a classy gentleman’s club that catered to the rich elite, Mikhail and I had had a vision, and it was that vision that had completely transformed the space. The decor for No Holds Barred was plush industrial by way of Hell itself; red lighting dominated the club aside from the occasional strobe or laser show, making it feel like you were inside a massive beating heart. A long gleaming bar ran the entire length of one wall, the view of beckoning shelves of top-shelf booze only interrupted by a gorgeous bartender or five. An arrangement of sofas, leather loveseats, and tables sprawled around the area. Tonight, they were circled around a stiff caged ring for the Friday-night main event.
If you were wealthy and wanted to show off, this was where you brought fifty or a hundred of your closest friends and paid a hefty price for the privilege. We made it worth it for them in the end. An exclusive network of contacts was developing down here, and we reaped the benefit. Everything that happened down here was a spectacle, bigger than the last. We brought in the best of everything. Women, men, all the best liquor and all the cleanest drugs. Whatever you wanted, you could have. The older crowd didn’t usually partake down here, but Mikhail and I were aiming for new money. Tech billionaires alone made the operation worthwhile, and they kept us crowded and looking like the most exciting place to be.
Everyone’s attention was on the ring action. Two of the Strip’s best known underground fighters were about to take center stage in the cage, both of them making their entrances. Boulder Jackson and Vince Steel were big, strong, and ruthless. It was a dream fight, and the crowd was eating it up.
I looked over my shoulder at Mikhail, and though he wore a stony expression, I could tell he still enjoyed the attention on some level.Good for him,I thought. He was gonna be the boss soon enough, and I didn’t know anyone who deserved it more, regardless of bloodline. He’d worked his ass off for the title.
I walked to his right side, and we got to the bar, where Naomi was serving. She was a bit of a wild thing, with multicolored hair draping all around her cute face. She wore a fishnet bodysuit underneath a pair of short shorts and a cropped sweater. She leaned forward and smiled for Mikhail. “I was thinking about you all night,” she said with a lilt in her voice. “Glad to see you finally swagger in here.”
Mikhail took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I could see that he was relaxing again, now that he was truly in his element. His people were working, his father was cared for, his business was secure, and his enemies were kept at bay. It was a good time to take a breath.
He nodded to Naomi and gave her a quick half smile and a wink. “Where’s my usual, sweetheart?”
She ducked beneath the bar and pulled out two copper cups. “Right here, of course. Fresh and all yours, if you want it.”