Page 49 of Brutal Bratva King

Alexei grabs the map back. “I said Second Street will be fine,” He snarls.

I glance at Leon, expecting him to control his brothers, but he does nothing.

“Is this a joint operation or not?” I ask.

“It’s a joint effort,” Leon nods.

“Then why not trust our advice where we know we can add value? You said you wanted this to go smoothly—no mistakes. We want the same thing. Second Street is a terrible option.”

Every single one of the Dubrovs is glaring at me now.

Rigor and Rad stand up with their hands resting on the table. Menace in their eyes tells me this meeting is not going well.

I hold up my hand towards them. “Guys, sit the fuck down,” I snap. I don’t need them making shit worse.

They sit down, but the tension increases.

Leon pulls the map towards himself and asks Alexei, “did you factor in the school? The tRodyafic around midday?”

“Do I look like this is the first fucking time I’ve plotted a route?”

I feel a hand on my shoulder and glance around to see Anya standing there. “Hi everyone,” she says. “Sorry, I’m late.”

Anya takes a seat next to me while her brothers and mine all mumble very tense hello’s to her.

“Wow, ok. Is the planning going alright?” she asks, looking around the room. The stark, annoyed faces staring back at her is all the answer she needs.

Leon, dismissing his sister’s question, which annoys the hell out of me as I find it incredibly disrespectful, says, “We are taking Second Street. Now let’s discuss—”

Rigor is back on his feet, his fist slams into the table. “Are you not listening to a word we are trying to tell you? Second Street is chaos at that time of day. Don’t be an arrogant fucking asshole, Leon—“

Anya quickly reading the room, realizes the issue. She has been to my building on Second Street.

“Isn’t your building on Second Street? The one where you gave me a tour a few weeks ago?” She asks me calmly.

“That’s the one,” I nod, narrowing my eyes towards her.

“Leon, I’ve been past there twice. Once early morning and once after lunch. Don’t you think it would be better to turn off a few streets before Second? That way we can loop around and avoid any delays.” She stretches across the table, throwing Alexei a massive smile. “Remember, you taught me how to do this,” she grins at him. I can see his face softening.

“Here,” she points on the map.

Alexei grunts, “Fine.”

She digs around in her purse, pulls out a black pen and traces a new line on the map. Then she carries it around to where Alexei is sitting, leans over his shoulder and says, “See, I listened to what you told me.”

He chuckles, “I guess you were paying attention.”

“I have to pay attention if I want to learn from the best.” She laughs, then walks back to her seat.

Leon pulls his mouth tight. “Alright, then let’s talk about the handover process.”

The rest of our planning meeting goes well after Anya defuses the situation over the route. My brothers still look agitated, but no one argues over the remaining plans.

When the meeting ends, the Dubrovs are quick to get up and leave.

“We’ll see you Thursday,” Leon says formally.

“Thursday.”

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