Page 15 of Born into Sin

Roman answers for him. “A little, but it’s never going to be our main source of income. We’ve got a few guys supplying pills. The nightclub makes it easy. We always have sellers there on the weekends. The students pay a cover charge, buy overpriced drinks, and then spend a small fortune on pills that will help them forget about their stressful classes for a few hours or help them stay up all night to study for them.”

“And there’s Lev’s thing,” Vitaly says with a grin.

“How is the underground fighting business going?” I ask, giving a soft laugh. “You started something huge all those years ago when you took Sebastian out.”

His lip ring moves as he gives me a big smile. “Paying to fuck and paying to watch a fight—I’m guessing those have both been lucrative businesses since the first currency system was put into place.”

“True enough,” I agree, “especially when they know it’s a fight to the death. People are so damn predictable. Violence, sex, and money, it always draws a crowd.”

“Speaking of,” Matvey says, “what are your plans with La Dolce Vita?”

“I’m keeping the main nightclub area, but I’m going to add a second floor. It’ll have very restricted access to only a select few.”

“What the hell is going to be going on up there?” Vitaly asks with a soft laugh.

“Gambling. High-stakes only.”

He grins at me and nods his head. “Fucking nice, man. That’ll bring in some good money.”

“It will,” I agree. The Alessi family has always been involved in real-estate in this city. That’s what we’re known for, and that’s what we use to hide our money, but I’ve been wanting to branch out for years, and now feels like the right time. I bought the nightclub under an LLC, making sure my name is completely hidden from everything, and the plan is for the upper level to be private and word-of-mouth only. I want to appeal to the men who have money to spend and don’t know when to quit and walk away from the table. Too much money and zero self-control, that’s the crowd I’m looking for, and I have no doubt I’ll find it.

After a few more minutes of small talk, I tell them to let me know if any more attacks take place and that I’ll inform my men of what’s going on and tell them to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. When Luka stands up, I notice the large tattoo on his left, inner forearm.

“May I?” I ask, motioning for him to hold his arm out.

He smiles and leans closer, giving me a better look at it. It’s an image of the Grim Reaper, and it stretches from the crook of his inner elbow all the way down to his wrist. The cloaked skeletal figure is wearing a black robe, the hood tilted back so the wicked grin he’s giving is visible. The scythe he’s carrying is dripping bright-red blood, the only spot of color on the entire tattoo, making it stand out even more. There’s a black raven perched on his shoulder with its head cocked to the side like it’s studying me, and beneath the whole thing is a sentence in Russian.

“What does it say?”

“Brothers in blood, in life, and in death,” Luka says. I hear the pride in his voice when he speaks the words. None of the kids have accents, but I know they all speak Russian fluently.

“Svetlana designed it,” Vitaly says with a proud grin. “It’s based on a tattoo that Matvey has, but she tweaked it a bit. They wanted a tattoo that’s all their own, and every male in the family will get it when they turn eighteen.”

I thank Luka for showing me and look over at Lev. “You know Mia’s going to want one.”

He sighs. “She’s already asking for it.”

His brothers laugh while we all stand to go in, knowing everyone else has waited long enough. I’m about to make my exit when Danil says, “Don’t even think about it. We’re about to play some pool. You have to at least stay long enough to get your ass kicked by Matvey.”

I relent and grab my coffee cup. “Maybe one game.”

When Svetlana sees us walking towards the French doors, she opens them and runs her eyes over us. “Come on, Dad. I’m stepping in for Val. I know we can beat Uncle Matvey and Aunt Alina this time.”

“Hell yes we are, sweetheart. Get ready to pose for some celebratory photos, because we’re documenting this win so we can constantly remind them of it.”

Svetlana laughs, but I notice the way she keeps looking over at me. I’m not sure what she’s up to, but when she goes out of her way to keep everyone distracted, leading them down the hall while Natalya slips out onto the deck with me, I’m more than a little curious. She turns her light blue eyes up at me and gives me a nervous smile. She must’ve recently reapplied her lip gloss, because her lips are glistening ever so slightly, and I have to force myself to not stare.

“What’s going on, Natalya?”

She meets my eyes and swipes her tongue over her bottom lip, making me nearly groan. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“About?”

Turning her head, she looks in to make sure no one is watching and then takes a step closer. I raise a brow at her, waiting to see where this is going. She fidgets, shifting her weight from foot to foot and swiping at her dress in an effort to keep her hands busy.

“You might want to just say it,” I tell her. “I’m guessing someone is going to come looking for us in a few minutes.”

She gives another nervous glance towards the window. “I just,” she starts and then stops. Looking back up at me, her cheeks turn even pinker when she says, “I was wondering if you could get me and Svetlana into your new club.”

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