Five minutes later, I left with him.
26
KIRILL
The message from Nikolai came in late. I’d been expecting it, but it still sent a fresh shower of tension across my nerves. This was it. I sent out a few messages and headed for Brighton beach. It wasn’t where we’d agreed to meet, which was the first sign that shit wasn’t going as planned, but I’d expected that. I was supposed to be summoned to see Viktor at the Pravda, like I had been a hundred times. If I wasn’t looking out for a trap, it would seem like any other night, but Nikolai, acting as an inside man, had let me in on the fact that Viktor felt I needed to be taught a lesson.
I wouldn’t be learning any more lessons from my father. Tonight, I would do the teaching—he just didn’t know it yet. This sudden change of venue meant Nikolai was playing a deeper game than Viktor or I expected. I’d had men posted all around Pravda, ready to tip the scales in my favor. I wasn’t going to Brighton Beach right now; it would be walking into a trap. The game had started, and I couldn’t be more relieved that Molly was safely out of it.
The one thing I could bank on with my family was that anything could happen, and never to underestimate them. Still, when the fight for leadership came tonight, I knew who most of the bratva supported. In recent weeks, my men had been feeling out support for me aspakhan, and it was strong. Something Viktor had never understood was that even the hardened criminals we boasted in our ranks liked to make money and provide for their families. They liked to live to spend their money, too. Sure, there were a few who liked the grimmer, violent aspects of bratva life more than comfort and security, but those were the old guard. Viktor’s men. Nikolai had little support. He’d been too erratic over the years. When it came down to him or me, I was the clear victor.
Tonight was about removing the head of the snake, and then becoming it, even if I had to kill my half-brother to do it.
I wouldn’t allow myself to feel anything about potential fratricide. Nikolai had kidnapped Molly in the past, scared her, treated her roughly, and now, he was no doubt about to double-cross me. He didn’t deserve mercy.
Leaving The Tower,I got into a SUV, with another following me, and Ivan pulled us out into traffic. I stared at my phone. Fifty missed calls. Molly was furious, with good reason, but I couldn’t let her sit around to be snatched up. She was the only thing that mattered in all this, and I had to know she was safe. Detective Levin had been on my personal payroll for a few years. He held influence at the NYPD, and tonight, he’d make sure Molly was held harmlessly, long enough to ensure any fall out was taken care of. He was also under strict instructions of what to do should I not make it there to get her.
“So, once more into the breach, my friend? Isn’t that what the English say?” Ivan rumbled from the driver’s seat.
I found a smile for him and his relentless hardiness.
I never got to answer, however, as when he pulled across an intersection, a truck plowed into the side of the SUV, and the world went black.
* * *
The smell wasthe first thing to hit me. It was mildew, and the salt rotted scent of my nightmares. In my darkest dreams, I was always back here, in the warehouse where Viktor had welcomed me back to the fold with a bullet to the knee. He’d made me a Chernov man, and no longer Kirill Lewis, the rising track star with a bright, shining future.
A persistent drip sounded in the distance, echoing through the room. I heard a muffled groan, scraped my eyelids up, and blinked in the semi-darkness. There was a tripod light set up, like at a construction site. Ivan lay on the floor with a plastic sheet under him. He was tied up, and terror clutched me until I saw him wriggling. Still alive then, thank fuck. However, if I didn’t make it out of here, there was no way Viktor would let Ivan, Max, or Pyotr live. He’d probably take out Olga, and every other Chernov man who respected my leadership.
Voices reached me from far away and I tried to turn. The zip ties on my wrists stopped me. I was bound to a metal chair and stripped to only my pants. The cold, damp air of the shore made my skin prickle. My head pounded. I must have hit it in the crash. I wondered what had happened to the security team behind us.
“Finally awake?” Viktor’s voice scraped along my bones.
He strolled past me to lean against the desk set up in the corner. He looked haggard and utterly furious. Lighting a cigarette, he took a deep inhale. His fists were stained red, and the skin of his knuckles was torn.
“What’s going on?”
“You tell me,son. This is why little boys shouldn’t play together. They get ideas above their station,” Viktor said roughly, and jerked his head toward the door.
A scraping sound like something being dragged echoed off the walls, and a dark shape slumped to the floor beside me.
It was Nikolai. He rolled onto his back and coughed. He had beaten badly.
“What can I say,bratan? We tried,” he coughed, giving me a grim, blood-stained smile.
“I know one of you has to replace me, but knowing and letting it happen are two very different things.” Viktor waved his cigarette and tilted his head to the side. “I had my money on Nikolai, but after this betrayal, I’m not so sure.”
“Geez, break my heart. Does that mean I shouldn’t take up acting?” Nikolai muttered from the ground.
I fought the urge to tell him to shut it, or Viktor was going to lose the last of his patience.“Is that why you’ve always kept us at odds? To avoid us working together? Maybe if you hadn’t been the worst fucking father in the world, that might have worked too.” I spit out a hot mouthful of metal, streaking blood across the floor.
“I don’t know any other way, and now, neither do you. If you survive tonight, and one day have sons, you’ll see. My legacy lives on in you.”
“How cheerful,” Nikolai groaned.
“So, what are you going to do? How do we end this? You still need an heir,” I reminded Viktor. My whole body ached, and not just from the crash. Whatever beating he’d given me while I was unconscious had blunted my senses .
“Sadly true, so here’s what I’m thinking. I could have you gunned down by my men, or end one of you myself, but then, I’d still be making the decision. It’s probably best for you two to do it. Here, in the place where you first met and trained together . . . in the end, let’s see who is the better man.”