Page 30 of Embracing the Dark Side

Jolie dropped her head in her hands. “This doesn’t sound right, Vincent. It sounds like you’re in over your head.”

“You’ve said that to me before.” A humorous tinge in his voice caused Jolie to look up. He was smiling downat her. A normal smile, one that replicated so many in her memory.

The tension in Jolie’s face faded a little. “A few times, if I recall.”

“And when have I ever failed?”

Her brows knitted as the stress returned. “This is a little bigger than football games or cheating on tests. You’ve picked a fight with a wasp nest. I don’t know how big or how powerful they are, but if I’m right in my assumption, they’ll swallow you whole.”

Vincent sneered at her, backing away. Jolie bowed her head. The disappointment on his face wasn’t unfamiliar. “You’ve always doubted me, JoJo. Always. I don’t need another fucking person telling me I’m reaching too far. My father, my cousins, my fucking uncles. They all think I screwed us. But none of them have had the balls to do what I did. I’m gonna show them. We gonna be fucking filthy rich, and as they’re eating off fucking gold silverware, they’re gonna thank me.” Vincent went for the door, tired of looking at her. But he stalled. “Oh, they denied your boy bail. It looks like he’s stuck in there till his court date. I hear those take months.”

Chapter fifteen

Jail

“Yakov Morozov, the head of a mafia family here in Tampa, was found dead earlier this morning in the Tampa Bay Harbor. No witnesses to the crime, but suspects include his sons: Adrik, Alexei, and Gillian Morozov. Two of the sons have been arrested, and a warrant is out for the adoptive son, Gillian. Yakov Morozov was known for drug trafficking and his connection with a dozen other illegal operations. The FBI is on the scene.”

Adrik walked with his hands cuffed in front of him. The chains connected down to his feet only allowed him to take small steps at a time. He could feel the eyes of everyone he passed. The guards and the prisoners quieted down to whisper to each other. He kept his head straight and his back stiff and made eye contact with no one. They were searching for weakness. But they wouldn’t find any.

Adrik had been arrested once before when he was twelve. After hearing about his brother being bullied at lunch, Adrik found the guys that had done it in a bathroom, smoking cigarettes. He walked in, and though the three of them were taller, bigger, and probably stronger, it hadn’t stopped him. Pain was a fun thing back then. Being hurt only made him angrier. The more hits, the more revenge he wanted. By the end of it, he was bleedingfrom the face and fractured a couple of fingers. But he had won, and that was all that mattered.

Adrik remembered how the police had brought him to a windowless room. The officers were cruel, trying to get him to admit to things. They promised he’d be imprisoned for years. They told him how men in jail would use him as a mattress. They poked and prodded, and Adrik had just sat there.

Then his father walked in, a beaming smile on his face and his arms wide. He laughed. “My boy!” Adrik could still hear the pride in Yakov’s voice.

Adrik had been put in a private cell, far from the regular populace. He wasn’t allowed to go to lunch with the rest of the inmates or have recreational time. As a high-value prisoner, they kept him by himself. So, when the door opened, and the light from the afternoon sun shined in, it nearly blinded him. He tried to cover his eyes, but his chains wouldn’t let him. The guard pushed him forward, and he stumbled out into the courtyard.

Sitting at a picnic table were his lawyer and a stranger. Why they were brought to this clandestine location didn’t make sense until the stranger stood up and approached. Adrik almost didn’t notice, and if not for the limp, he wouldn’t have made the connection. “Gil?” Gil now had a newly shaved head, a fake tattoo of a tiger on his face, and a well-done, full black beard. He looked bizarre, but certainly different. Gil hugged him, but Adrik stared impassively over his shoulder into nothingness. He was now officially the head of the Morozov line. Any feelings he had were to be suppressed and locked tightly away. There would be no tears. There would be no grief. The only emotion he was allowed to express was anger.

“I’m gonna get you out,” Gil promised. “Give me some time.”

The door popped open behind Adrik, and he turned to see. Alexei hid his face from the light, but relief poured over him when he found his brothers there. “What the hell are you wearing?” Alexei sneered as Gil went to him. The brothers embraced, and a little weakness escaped Alexei as Gil rubbed his back, sorry about Papa.

Gil gestured to the table, bringing them over. Alexei and Adrik sat side by side as Gil sat with the lawyer. Though all they wanted to discuss was their next steps to get out, Alexei interrupted, “What happened to Papa?”

Gil chewed his lip. “We need to focus on one thing at a time.”

“Tell me what happened.”

Gil picked at his ear, looking anywhere else but the boys staring back at him. “After you were arrested”—he paused, taking a breath—“Vincent Ortez came into the house and shot him point-blank in the head.”

As Adrik stared, empty and frozen, Alexei banged on the table, cursed, and cried.

“We don’t have time for this,” Gil said. “I’m sorry. Grieve later. Please listen to what needs to happen, okay?”

Adrik turned his attention to the lawyer, and quickly, the old man told them the dos and don’ts of their stay. They couldn’t kill anyone, and they couldn’t attack guards, but everything else was fair game. Take the weak ones, make them obedient, and pay off everyone else. The lawyer handed them two packs of cigarettes, two baggies of cocaine, a bottle of Oxy, and a knife. “It cost me to getthese to you, Mr. Morozov. But I trust there will be no trouble with my salary.”

Adrik shook his head. There was always more money somewhere.

Then their lawyer spoke about how he planned to get them off. The evidence Agent Mally had could be the real deal, but that evidence would have to make it through a fire, one that was going to happen next week.

“What about Morgan?” Alexei wondered. “We have the Chief of Tampa Police on our payroll for a reason.”

“You aren’t in his jurisdiction. And we don’t want to use him with the FBI involved, or they might look into him.”

Alexei flexed his fingers, wanting to punch his way back home. “How long do you think we’ll stay here?” Alexei wondered.

“I’m gonna need time to make everything happen without being suspicious. I estimate it will be three weeks to two months. I have to postpone your court date for as long as possible. One of the main things I will concentrate on is learning about Agent Mally. I need to discredit her somehow. She’s brought a shitload of allegations.”

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