Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
David glared at me. “But you don’t have them, do you? That’s why you’ve got me.”
“No, I’ve got you because you dared to interfere. You see, I knew who you were, David. I was quite happy for you to be this pathetic thug, thinking he was making a name for himself. It was rather charming. Weren’t you trying to impress me and Mr. Volkov with how … unique your skills were?” His skills weren’t unique. He beat the shit out of people to get what he wanted. The whole fear tactic, like the one I was using now. The only difference was David rarely killed anyone. He might have left them with a broken bone or two. They at least got to walk away. It was rare for anyone to end up like this in my care to get away with it.
Apart from Charlotte. But then, she was a special case and I never turned her upside down, nor attempted to starve her. Ivan would have been pissed if I had done that. Thinking about it, if I’d done that to my wife, I’d have been pissed with myself. I guess I’m going to have to thank Ivan for something after all.
I drew my attention back to the man hanging upside down.
“Hank and Benjamin saw my potential,” David said.
“No, they saw an easy target,” I said. “They knew there was a big chance their plan wouldn’t work. It was a long shot, based on one person and one scenario—Ivan Volkov’s death. They thought they had a chance with him dead, but he wasn’t dead. It was nothing more than an act, a ploy, and now you get to pay the price.”
I was done with this man. Seeing as I had to go out to dinner, though, I stepped away and watched as Vlad slid the blade across David’s throat. He didn’t die right away, but took a few minutes, and by then, boredom on my part had already set in.
“Any news?” I asked, as men already started to dispose of the body and do the cleanup. I stepped aside, making my way out of the abandoned warehouse. I tended to do my kills in some of my basements. I hated these obscure locations, but this was close to where Vlad had located him.
“There are rumors that Hank and Benjamin were approached by another organization larger than them.”
I smiled. “There are a lot of suspects, Vlad. Irish, Italian, even the Spanish.”
“Some believe it’s the cartel.”
This made me stop. Of course it could be the cartel. They were always on the fucking border, attempting to find paths that led straight from the docks to the main cities. I, unfortunately, was one of those fucking routes. It made sense for it to be the cartel. I was hoping it wasn’t, because they were nothing more than a pest. Also, I knew some of the cartel had dealings with the previous Bratva.
“What do you believe?” I asked.
Vlad sighed. He hated delivering bad news, but until all of this was cleaned up, that was all he was going to bring me.
“I believe it’s the cartel, but I also think this is somewhat bigger,” Vlad said.
Now he did have me intrigued and this was rare for Vlad. “Go on.”
“The cartel are noisy. They don’t just sneak in and take over, right? That’s not who they are.”
Not in our experience, but people change and evolve.
“I believe the cartel are working with one of the mafia sects.”
“Intriguing.” I had already come to that conclusion. Running a hand down my face, I glanced across the warehouse. I owned this main warehouse, and five miles away was one of my many cages, where I liked to keep people when they were being a problem. I found some time and careful treatment helped to loosen their tongues, like David had just done.
It was all coming together.
Benjamin and Hank coming together was a stretch. Both men wanted to take territory. They were more likely to kill one another than work together, so that instantly brought in a third player.
The Volkov Bratva had a lot of enemies, and we’d been able to keep them at bay, for the most part, but shit like a fake death and the betrayal of a brigadier had put us in a few difficult positions. None of our enemies were strong enough to outright attack, but they could slowly attempt to build up power. Work on those that are weak who could turn against us.
I needed to speak with Ivan. But I also had a lunch date with my wife. Ivan had been setting us up at different places to go and eat. I knew what he was doing and it was pissing me off.
When we reached the car, Vlad got behind the wheel. I climbed in the back, pulled out my cell phone, and dialed Ivan. The call was never answered. Ivan was like this. In all honesty, it was rare for me to attempt to call him. I often waited for him to call me. He was a busy guy and didn’t usually stay in one place for any length of time.