Page 100 of Mafia Star

“Do you know?”

Both of them look as mystified as I feel. They shake their head in unison, and it’s rather uncanny. It’s Uncle Cesare who answers.

“I didn’t, but I think I do now.”

We all turn toward him. He’s in insurance. He never came on missions until Carmine started dating Sera, and there were threats to them. He’s been invaluable to us as a pencil pusher. Or at least by looking like one. He’s made us and saved us millions.

We wait, but Uncle Cesare offers nothing. All eyes swing back to Steve as he clenches his right fist. He looks at Beth, and it’s enough to make her lean against me for moral support. She’s dreading what she’s about to hear.

“Beth, what I did today wasn’t because I’m an experienced hunter. It wasn’t even because nothing was going to stop me from protecting you. That first man I shot. I didn’t know whether Marco and Carmine would want him later. That’s why I didn’t shoot to kill. He’s not the first man I’ve shot. Today wasn’t the first time I’ve killed someone.”

“What are you not saying, Steve? Spit it out.”

“At Maks and Laura’s reception, I got into a conversation with Grigori Kutsenko and Radomir Andreyev.”

“I know. I remember. I was there for most of it. You talked about an overnight fishing trip you were taking in a few weeks. You mentioned you take a week off work for the opening of deer season. I guess they’re hunters too.”

Fuck. This cannot be going in the direction I think it is. I look at Uncle Cesare. How the fuck did he guess anything?

“Lizzie, I didn’t realize it at the beginning of the conversation, but they weren’t talking about shooting deer or bears. That wasn’t the kind of hunting they alluded to. I didn’t even know it until a couple months later when I got a call from Anton asking if I wanted to go on a hunting trip with them. I asked Chelle what she thought, and she asked Laura. Neither thought it was a big deal, so I went. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what kind of family Laura married into. I already knew from working on Wall Street. The trip went well, and I impressed them with my skills. Not just my shooting but how I could field dress the animal and butcher it when it was time. I’ve done it so many times that the blood and guts don’t faze me. I’m efficient too. They liked how I left the place cleaner than when I arrived.”

“Steven, are you telling me they recruited you?”

“I’m not a bratok.”

“What’s that?”

“A foot soldier. I think your new family calls them a soldato. The Russians also call them patsan or brodyaga. I don’t know the exact translations, but they carry out— stuff. I wasn’t initiated in or anything like that.”

“Then what are you trying to get at? I’m getting impatient.”

So am I.

“On the way back into the city, we talked about Sam. I guess Maks’s father was Grigori’s younger brother and died in the Second Chechen War. We had something in common. He and Radomir were there when it happened. I told them I couldn’t imagine going through that. Not only seeing it but the rage that had to have come with it. I was so angry for so long after Sam died. I made an offhand remark about how I wouldn’t have thought twice about killing anyone I thought even had a hint of a connection to my brother’s death. They got quiet for a while, and I thought I offended them. When the conversation started up again, I got the distinct impression that it took a while, but they punished the men who caused Grigori’s brother’s death. That it was people from their own side. That’s when I realized the real hunting they’d meant at the reception. I looked Radomir straight in the eye and told him in no uncertain terms that with my experience I would have laid in wait, shot them, gutted them, burned their bodies, and left their organs out for the wolves. They believed me.”

Beth takes a step back and bumps into me.

“You’re a mercenary like those people today.”

She’s not recoiling from him. She wants to look him in the eye without tilting her head back.

“Yes. I work exclusively for them. In three years, I’ve done ten jobs for them. It was situations where they needed someone who could blend in with the Wall Street types and had no accent.”

“Those were not righteous causes, Steve.”

“You don’t know that. They didn’t just give me a description, location, and time. I studied these men. I learned them to make sure I picked the right way to do it. To do it without getting caught. These men were threats to Laura’s family. Not their businesses. Their family.”

“And they paid you for it.”

“No. I didn’t take any money for any of it. If something happened to Laura, it would devastate Chelle. If something had happened to someone in Laura’s family, it would have devastated her. Which meant it would have devastated Chelle. We lost enough when we lost Sam. I wasn’t about to watch my sister grieve all over again. Liz, I don’t know how you’re going to feel in the morning or in a few days or weeks or months or even years. I don’t think you’ll regret what you had to do today, but you might. I haven’t lost a minute of sleep over what I did in the past, and I won’t tonight. In an us-or-them, I will always pick us.”

I look around the room, and I think all of us, but Beth guessed where Steve’s story was going. Or maybe not. She asked if they’d recruited him, and she guessed he was a mercenary.

Beth says nothing, and we all wait. She rakes her teeth over her bottom lip before she steps into her brother’s arms.

“I doubt Mom thought any of us would use the skills she taught us at the range, but she made sure we had them for this very reason. You wouldn’t have become a hunter if Mom hadn’t taught all of us to shoot. I never imagined our Mom had an ulterior motive for any of it, but I’m glad she did.”

“Me too, Lizzie. I never want to see you in that kind of danger again. I never want to watch my sister die. If the O’Rourkes were behind any of what happened today, I won’t back down.”

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