Page 16 of Reign of Four

No, Valentina won’t be getting away again, and we’ll get a chokehold on our fucking Bratva as soon as this bullshit with Katya is over. When the old woman lies dead at their feet, the dissenting half of the Bratva will realize they put their faith in a brittle promise of the past.

Nothing will be the same, and I’m damn sure looking forward to it.

“It’s only a matter of time until we find her.” For a man who spent five years searching for his lost bride, Andrei has been very calm about losing her again. Part of that comes with the title of pakhan. He can’t show weakness, or that he’s just as rattled as Ezra and me.

But I’m held to no such standard. I can be as dour about our situation as I want. “It’s been two days.”

Andrei’s silence is suffocating. He hasn’t said it, but I know he’s angry about my little wager. Seven days may not seem like a lot of time to him, but to me, it’s a lifetime. It’s a death sentence.

If I can’t find Valentina in seven days, I’ll go crazy and burn the entire city down, looking for her. Ezra’s ping on the video call helped narrow our search to the south side, but it’s still like finding a needle in a haystack.

Very fucking annoying.

“Maybe she’ll find us,” Andrei muses, sounding damn near wistful about it. “Maybe she’s already on her way.”

“I don’t know how you’re not losing your fucking mind.” I feel like I’m losing mine, and I haven’t been in love with her for half a decade.

“I’m confident we’ll find her, just like I’m confident Liam will suffer when we do.” Andrei may not physically be in the car with me, but his commanding presence lingers. His confidence is contagious, and my heartbeat slows from a fucking jackhammer to something resembling normalcy.

Ezra raps on my passenger window, and I unlock the door for him. He slides in easily, grunting in greeting. “Seven boys total. All speak Russian. They do not yet know loyalty.” He scoffs. “First mistake was not training them.”

We sit in silence for a moment. None of us have been sleeping, and if we happen to slip unconscious, it doesn’t last but a few minutes, at most. We’re running off of caffeine and adrenaline, although I have a sneaking suspicion that Ezra is hitting something harder. Something from his soldier days that keeps him wired way too long and way too tight.

He lights a cigarette, and I’m too tired and stressed to yell at him for smoking in my ride.

“Where would snake hide?” Ezra blows out a puff of smoke. “Where would Katya feel safe inside city? She would not leave Valentina alone, or somewhere unsafe.”

That’s likely true.

“She has friends in high places.” I rub my forehead, willing the ache in my skull to subside. “She wouldn’t be in bed with just anyone, and she couldn’t have made a large purchase without us knowing about it. Anywhere worth living around here is at least one mil.”

The former Madame, her chosen usurper, and the true blood heir to the Baranova Bratva won’t be hiding in your everyday hotel or house. Our people would be just as likely to find them as we are, if Katya dared put them somewhere within the general public’s sphere.

“She’s with someone who can hide them in plain sight. Someone with money.”

“Or influence,” Andrei agrees.

“Or both.” Ezra pinches his cigarette between his fingers. “When did you last hear from mayor?”

Andrei’s exhale crackles across the speaker. “I haven’t heard from him since we left his birthday party last week.”

The mayor is an older man, someone from the old guard inducted during Tolkotsky’s reign. He has power, and influence, and money. We’ve been lining his pockets generously, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t turn on us if given the opportunity.

I’m already turning the ignition when Andrei’s order comes across the line.

Meet me at his penthouse.

Time to pay the old fucker an unwelcome visit.

Chapter 6

Valentina

If I thought stepping into Liam’s meetings would teach me something, I was right.

So fucking right.

Not only do I have access to all of Liam’s plans for overtaking not just the Bratva, but the city. Most of the notes written in the margins are in English, but a delicate hand has marked a few pages with Russian words and phrases.

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