Page 27 of Dark Truths

Fuck.

I looked into him like I promised Jacob, but nothing concerning stood out. Since he’s just a low Bratva soldier I’ve never encountered before, I’m certain that my identity remains a secret. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have secrets to share otherwise and when faced with torture, a man will say anything to save his life. Even something he swore he’d never admit out loud.

“How did you catch him?”

“The idiot was getting his cock sucked off at some club, bragging about how he sold our drugs.”

“Has he said anything?”

“Nothing useful.” Alexei throws the unconscious man an angry look. “He kept saying over and over that he did nothing and then passed out after three blows. Worthless piece of shit. If I’d known he was such a pussy before, I wouldn’t have bothered making him a soldier.”

“Who vouched for him?” I ask.

“Some guy called Igor. He passed away last year from prostate cancer.”

Well, that’s…fortunate. It leaves only Anton to deal with.

The loud bang of a metal door slamming open echoes through the room. Alexei and I turn as one to face our newest arrivals.

“What the fuck is this I hear about our drugs ending up in those filthy Ukraine hands?” Sergei demands, his face red already from anger.

“How could you let this happen, Volkov?” Igor attacks me which immediately puts me on edge and ready to fight.

“I didn’tletanything happen,” I snap back. “This is the first I’m hearing about it, too.”

“Enough you two,” Sergei orders, but I'm already done arguing with the fat fuck. Igor crosses his arms, trying to intimidate mewith his stare, but he just looks constipated. “Alexei, wake our guest up so we can get to the bottom of this.”

Alexei grabs a hose and twists the faucet on full blast. A jet of water slams into Anton and the man wakes up with a shout. With his hands tied and unable to wipe the water from his face, it takes him a moment to focus. When he does, fear fills his face as his body shakes.

“Hello again, Anton,” Alexei greets the beat-up man with a pleasant tone and smile. “We have guests.”

“Alexei, please…let me go. I didn’t do anything. I swear.” He shifts his eyes across the room, snagging on each of us before settling on Sergei. “Pakhan. I didn’t do it. I would never sell drugs to the Ukraine.”

Sergei grunts and pulls a lighter and cigar from his jacket pocket. He cuts one end and lights the other, taking a long inhale before blowing the smoke out. “Is that so?”

“I promise,” Anton begs.

“You didn’t sell our drugs to the Ukraine mob?”

“No, boss.”

“You didn’t know that the drugs you sold were dirty? That the man you sold them to was arrested?”

My head snaps to attention, glancing between Sergei and Alexei. This is the first I’m hearing about this. Well, to be fair, this is the first I’m hearing about any of this. Alexei shakes his head at me. It’s news to him too.

“Wha—what?” Anton stutters.

Sergei takes a long drag of his cigar before answering. “Oh yes. And the moment he was in that interrogation room, do you know what he did? He flipped on his Ukraine buddies and then he told the fucking pigs where he got the drugs from. That they came from you. From the Russians.”

The police investigating the Bratva is annoying, but not uncommon. Our men get arrested often, but our lawyers are thebest in the city. But that’s not what concerns me now. I’m not the one who instructed the idiot to sell product to the Ukrainians. It’s something I need to ask Jacob about because if Ford is giving orders to informants beneath me, without telling me, it puts the mission and my life at risk.

“Pakhan, I’m–I’m so…so sorry,” Anton sobs, his tears blending with the blood and sweat on his face. “I didn’t know…I didn’t know.”

“Who told you to sell to the Ukraines?” Igor steps in and asks.

I don’t appreciate the side glance he sends my way, like he expects Anton to blame me.

Anton drops his head and shakes it from side to side, crying and mumbling incoherently under his breath.

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