I’m annoyed.
No, that’s an understatement. I’m teetering on the edge of rage and loss of control.
It’s taken inhuman strength to keep a cool head about the situation I’ve found myself in. Namely, the distance Sasha has slowly but surely continued to implement between us.
It’s been getting worse since I put that tracker in her about a week ago. But then again, it’s not like she wasn’t doing it before. The only difference is that she’s taking it further.
She’s been trying to spend as much time with anyone but me. And while she has a surprisingly heightened sex drive lately, she pulls away almost immediately after, throwing out all sorts of excuses.
I have to meet Kristina.
I promised Karina I’d go on a walk.
Rai and Lia invited me for lunch.
Viktor is taking me to see my brother.
Every day, there’s some sort of reason why she can’t spend time with me. It doesn’t help that I’ve been caught up in some new shit Damien stirred, and I’ve had no time to corner her.
Maybe I should take her to that cabin again so that it’s only the two of us and no one will dare to interrupt us.
Otherwise, she’ll keep getting further away until we reach the fucking deadline she imposed on this relationship.
“I have a bad feeling about this. It smells like a trap,” Viktor says while watching our surroundings with a gun in hand.
We’re near a shipping dock on the outskirts of the city. It’s one of the sites where we complete our transactions with the cartels. I haven’t been here in ages, though. Especially not since I became Pakhan.
All these petty operations can be taken care of by others.
It’s late at night, so the only sound is Viktor’s harsh breathing and the occasional crash of the water against the pier.
“We already have backup stationed all around the dock.” I adjust my glasses. “So even if Makar planned to ambush me, we have enough manpower to eliminate him and whoever he brings along.”
“What if he colluded with the Pakhan of the Chicago branch and brings more men than we have?”
“One, that’s paranoia. Two, you’re overestimating Makar’s influence.”
“Or maybe you’re underestimating it…” he trails off and tenses, and I sense a third presence near us.
Sure enough, Makar carefully slips out from between the containers. He carefully studies the area as he approaches us.
His steps turn heavier after he notices Viktor by my side. He asked to meet alone, but he should know by now that Viktor vehemently refuses to stop being my shadow.
Makar is a bald man with an average build, a pointy nose, and thin lips. He also always wears suits that look a size too small.
“I thought we were meeting alone?” he asks when he’s in front of us and motions at Viktor with his chin.
“You have no place to set down rules, motherfucker,” my senior guard says in his usual blunt way.
“You know how he thinks we were born attached at the hip.” My tone is welcoming and less intense than Viktor’s.
Makar manages to relax a little, even though his gaze keeps shifting sideways.
“Care to tell me where you’ve been?” I ask in the same friendly tone.
“Around.” He releases a breath. “I was never supposed to come in contact with you again.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“I found out that the person I worked with is planning to take you out, and that was never part of the plan. I couldn’t just sit back and watch. Your father told me to help you get to the top, not get rid of you.”
Viktor steps forward. “You have the goddamn audacity to stand there and admit that you colluded with someone else against your own boss?”
“I didn’t have a choice! My family was threatened.”
“You could’ve come to me for that, and I would’ve made sure they were safe.” I grab Viktor by the shoulder and pull him back. “But there was another reason, wasn’t there?”
Makar scratches the side of his bald head. “I thought Sasha was taking away your concentration from what’s important. Besides, she’s the daughter of your father’s enemies.”
“So you decided the best way to take care of that was to kill her.” My affirmation is calm, so calm that he swallows.
“I was only asked for assistance.”
“By whom?”
“Konstantin.”
My body goes rigid, and a ringing sounds in my ear. Even Viktor’s brow furrows as if he can’t believe what he’s hearing.
Have I been too mellow and too negligent with my brother? How can I possibly ignore that he could’ve participated in this mission?
It makes sense from what the Albanian guy said about meeting secretly and how his ally wanted to hurt me as much as possible.
Was everything he’s done in the past few months excellent acting? Or have I slept on the fact that he could be a better manipulator than me?
He said the right words. Displayed the right emotions. He stood by my side like when we were kids and looked up to me as a brother.
“Proof,” I say with enough tension to make Makar stand upright.
He shows me texts he exchanged with my brother about the plan and some photos of them together.
Logically, that shouldn’t be enough evidence since they can be faked, but my mind is veering in the exact opposite direction.
This is the detail that I’ve been missing during my search for Sasha’s killer—or the one who attempted the blasphemy.
Ever since my wife told me she’d left a fake behind, and I realized the DNA results had been manipulated, I knew the perpetrator was close.
I just didn’t know how close.
I was willing to suspect my guards, but I never really suspected Konstantin. Especially since I’d started to see glimpses of the old him after his wedding.
Maybe all of that was a façade, too.
He must’ve enjoyed seeing me crumble and lose control during the two months I thought Sasha was dead.
He must’ve been laughing on the inside while offering his support.
“You said he was planning to take me out.” I glare at Makar. “How?”
“I don’t know, but he thinks you’re not fit to be Pakhan and that he should be the one to take your position instead. You have to believe me, Boss. I would never help him with that. Your father didn’t want him to ever become the leader of the family and I agree.”
“Did Roman already know that Konstantin wasn’t his son?”
Makar’s lips part, but he nods. “He put all his effort into finding the man Yulia cheated with. He became friends with him, too, since the bastard didn’t even know he was her husband. When the time came, he eliminated him.”
The pieces of the puzzle start to fall together. “Was he perhaps part of the Belsky Organization?”
Makar nods again.
“Which one?”
“Anatoly Ivanov.”
Sasha’s uncle. Thank fuck it wasn’t her father, or else the situation would get too complicated too fast.
She’s still cousins with my fucker of a brother, though.
“How did Roman find out?”
“Yulia goes to Russia’s countryside every summer. The first time she went was a year after you were born. But then she started going religiously. In the beginning, we all assumed it was a holiday. But Roman found out that she used that time to meet with a certain man. Apparently, they had an affair that lasted for years, but they only met during the summer in some nameless Russian town, away from everyone they knew. After that time was over, she’d come back to New York and he’d go back to his family.”
“So Roman decided to annihilate him and his entire family.”
“He only thought about toying with him and then killing him in front of her, but then he was approached by the Russian government to infiltrate and eliminate the threat that the Belsky Organization posed, so he immediately agreed. In their last days, Yulia could’ve found out about Roman’s involvement and might have tried to warn Anatoly, but it was probably too late.”
“Did my father keep any records of that operation?”
“Only a few notes hidden in the pages of his favorite book.”
“Crime and Punishment.” I was wondering why the fuck he put that book in the safe, but now I’ve got my answer.
“You need to be careful, Boss. Eliminate Konstantin before he manages to eliminate you.”
“I will.” I pull out my gun and point it at his forehead.
His face blanches. “What…you promised my safety.”
“Only for the duration of your confession. You made a terrible fucking mistake by attempting to kill my wife, Makar, and that sin is punishable by death.”
I shoot him between the eyes, the echo of the gunshot filling the air as he falls to the ground with a thud.
Ah. Fuck.
I promised Sasha that I’d let her decide his fate, but I went ahead and lost control. Again.
My face is too tight, I’m surprised no tendons snap.
Viktor observes the scene and then focuses on me. “Now what?”
“Now, I punish the other motherfucker who thought he could kill my wife.”
No one gets to hurt Sasha and live.
Not even my fucking brother.
When we go back, I find my family—or what I thought was my family—having dinner.
Konstantin is laughing at something Karina said while Sasha and Kristina pass dishes to each other.
This mood has been prevalent ever since Yulia left. Konstantin hasn’t gone to visit her, not even once, and has preferred to remain here with his wife and the rest of his family.
Or, more like, he wanted to keep his eyes on the prize—aka my position.
The moment I step into the dining room accompanied by Viktor and a few of my other men, their attention turns to me.
“Kirill,” Konstantin says, still smiling. “You should hear the nonsense Kara’s been talking about.”
“Wanting a dozen nephews and nieces isn’t nonsense. You and Kristina can have half, and Kirill and Sasha can have the other half.”
Sasha peers up at me, a blush covering her cheeks, but the moment she sees my face, her movements freeze.
If there’s anyone in the world who can figure out when something’s wrong, it’s that woman right there.
I don’t have to say anything, and she’s already sensed the black aura that’s been surrounding me ever since I heard Makar’s confession.
“How about you, then, Kara?” Konstantin waggles his brows. “Are you not planning on children?”
“Nuh-uh. I only want to be the cool aunt.” My sister glares at me. “You better hurry up and worship Sasha so she agrees to have your children.”
Sasha forces a smile, but her attention immediately slides back to me as she mouths, “What’s wrong?”
“Come and join us, Kirill,” Kristina says. “Viktor and the others, too, if you like.”
Karina grins. “Yes, join us!”
I give Viktor the signal. “Take him.”
Silence falls on the dining table as two of my men head to Konstantin. His eyes widen when he realizes the reality of the situation.
He has the audacity to look at me with a betrayed look, as if I’m the one stabbing him in the back and not the other way around.
“Kirill…?” he asks in a choked voice.
Karina latches onto his arm and glares at me, shrieking, “What are you doing? Tell them to let him go.”
Sasha swings up from her chair, but her tone is gentle as she asks, “What’s wrong?”
“He attempted to kill you and is vying for my position, among other things that I’ll fully investigate.”
Konstantin struggles against my men. “What the fuck are you talking about? I’ve never done that!”
“I wouldn’t expect you to admit it easily, but we’ll get to that point. Take him to the basement.”
“No, please.” Kristina’s voice and body shake as she gets to her feet.
She’s been watching the whole show with a pale face and bulging eyes as if she can’t believe the turn of events.
“There must be an explanation for all of this,” Sasha says, her attention on Kristina and Karina, who are trying to claw at the guards fruitlessly.
“I already know the explanation, which is why I’m taking him for his punishment.”
“Kirill, please…” Kristina’s eyes fill with tears. “He’s your brother.”
“It’s because he’s my brother that I have zero fucking tolerance for his betrayal. Viktor, take him to the basement. Now.”
He and the other guards comply. Konstantin is dragged away, despite fighting and cursing and asking me to talk this out.
Karina starts kicking and screaming and hitting me in one of her extremely dramatic episodes, but I have no time for her nonsense, so I push her away.
The most drastic of the bunch is Kristina. The more she sees her husband being taken while fighting, the paler she gets. Tears stream down her cheeks, but when she tries to go after him, she loses her balance.
Sasha catches her and sits her back down, then gives her a glass of water.
Konstantin goes crazier at that, and he nearly manages to escape the men’s clutches, but he has no chance when Viktor takes over.
Once he’s out of sight, I go upstairs without another word.
I choose not to hear Karina’s screams and wails, Kristina’s brittle pleas, or even Sasha calling my name.
The traitor will pay, no matter what those women say.
I go to my office, open the safe, and retrieve the old Russian copy of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Although I found nothing weird when I first looked into this, I still kept it in the safe. Maybe because I already knew Roman wasn’t the type who did things arbitrarily. He wouldn’t have just put a book in the safe, even if it was his favorite.
The door to my office barges open as I’m laying the book on my desk. Sasha storms in, looking as fierce as a warrior, even though she’s wearing a loose navy blue dress. I think those are her style now, even though they’re staggeringly unflattering.
She stops in front of my desk, her eyes blazing with fire. “What are you doing, Kirill?”
“I told you. Punishing a traitor.”
“I don’t believe anything you’re accusing him of. You don’t have any proof.”
“Makar does. He showed me his exchange with my dear brother.”
“You…met with Makar?”
“And killed him, but not before he revealed the identity of who put him up to plotting your murder.”
She shakes her head a few times as if she’s not hearing me. “I refuse to believe that Konstantin would ever do that.”
“Then you’d be as naïve as he made sure you’d be.”
“There’s more to it. You must feel it, too. This is Konstantin! He always respected you as a brother, even when he had to pretend he hated you.”
“Maybe the hate part is real, and this whole thing was a pretense.”
She releases a long breath, her shoulders drooping. “You’re not going to change your mind, are you? You’ll always be this man who’s doubtful about everyone, your family included. Maybe one day you’ll lock me up and torture me at the thought of betrayal.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“How is that ridiculous? If your own flesh and blood doesn’t get any benefit of the doubt, how would I? The moment I do anything you don’t approve of, you’ll suspect me.”
“And why would you do anything that I don’t approve of, Sasha? Hmm? Why the fuck have you been creating distance between us lately?”
“Because you’re a fucking idiot, that’s why!” She breathes harshly. “Are you going to release Konstantin?”
“No.”
“In that case, I’ll be staying with Kristina until you let her husband go.”
And then she turns and leaves, slamming the door shut behind her.
I’m tempted to follow after and yank her back by the hair, but that would just complicate matters.
So I take a few moments and release a deep breath before I focus on the book again.
Sure enough, two pages are glued together. I carefully peel them apart and find a small memory card and letter inside. I open the piece of paper and stare at the words scribbled in my father’s messy handwriting.
To Kirill,
If you’re reading this, then it means I’m dead, and you’ve become my heir.
There are a few things you need to know…
The more I read, the clearer the picture gets. On and on, it feels as if I’m in Roman’s head when he wrote this.
Once I finish, I know exactly what to do to punish the traitor.
