I plaster on a fake smile. “Sorry to interrupt your morning, Nina. Is Gavril around? I need to discuss something with him.”
She opens the door wide enough for me to step inside. Their apartment is cozy, with new carpet and the smell of baked goods lingering in the air.
“Take a seat. I’ll grab him.”
I sit down at the kitchen table while Nina disappears down the hallway. A moment later, Gavril pulls out the seat across from me.
“This better be good. It’s nine in the fucking morning,” Gavril says, switching to Russian at the end of his sentence. The gray in his beard seems more prominent this morning, as well as the wrinkles around his eyes.
“We got hit this morning at Rick’s. Emptied the safety deposit box.”
His eyes darken from the slight annoyance at me interrupting his morning to full-on rage. “You’re shitting me.”
I shake my head. He slams his fist on the table.
“Rick’s replacing everything, but whoever took the money is good. They were able to hack into the system and not only get into the bank but also shut off the security cameras for fifteen minutes while they did it.”
“Fifteen minutes?” Gavril asks, his jaw twitching.
I nod.
His hands ball into fists on top of the table.
“It has to be one of his employees. Who else—”
“Miami?”
Gavril leans back in his chair as if thinking it over.
“Heard through the grapevine that Ivan—”
Gavril waves a hand, cutting me off. “I’m taking care of that.”
“How?” It isn’t like Gavril to cut me out of a decision, especially one so important as this.
“I’ll let you know when I want you to know.”
I grind my teeth together to stop myself from saying what I want to say. Whatever Gavril has planned, it must be something I’m not going to like. I have respect for Gavril, but he needs to hand the torch over to me already. He’s gotten weak. If what Mikhail told me is true, Gavril should have immediately killed Ivan and stopped any potential issues with the Miami brotherhood. He should have made an example out of Ivan so no one else would dare do something as fucking stupid and reckless as sleeping with a married Bratva woman.
“How am I supposed to do my job if there are things I don’t know in my organization?”
Gavril leans forward and puts his elbows on the table. “You’ll know soon enough. For now, keep your ear to the ground. Stay away from Miami. I don’t want them to know we’re sniffing around.”
“Why would they care? Unless they’re the ones who stole our shit.”
“The situation is tense. I don’t want to stir the pot. Drop it, Alek. Leave Miami for me to deal with.”