Page 70 of For a Price

I clench my teeth. “He requested to meet. That is all.”

“The pakhan does not make requests for nothing, Zver. You may be my blood, but the family comes first. Choose your path carefully.”

Ripping my gaze from Uncle Leonid, I glare at my father. “He wanted to discuss the tension in the Five Families.”

“And you did not mention this to me because…?”

“The pakhan requested discretion,” I grit out.

My father hobbles away from the window with the help of his cane. He’s never looked more withered and fragile, though his mind is the opposite. His expression is sharp and focused, the gears at work inside his liver-spotted head.

“Chto on skazal o sem’yakh?*?” he asks.

“I cannot say.”

“I am commanding you to tell me.”

Uncle Leonid’s grinning like the sorry sack of shit he is. He’s gone from a cowering bloated toad to one shining with glee. It’s worked in his favor that he’s able to use this against me. He’s casting me in a suspicious light in the eyes of the sovietnik.

“The pakhan can tell you if he wishes,” I say simply, standing my ground. “After all, otets, did you not just say we are blood but the family comes first?”

My father’s lips press tight in dissatisfaction, though he says nothing.

I close some of the gap between us. As I do, Uncle Leonid flinches, as if he expects me to launch into an attack on him.

He should because I will.

Soon.

The moment the sovietnik is not around to protect him.

A few feet separating me from my father, I challenge him by peering into his wrinkled face. “I’m no pawn for your scheming against the pakhan or the Five Families. You can choose to listen to your brother. But I will choose to abide by the oath. If you and this fat fuck are in my way, so be it. Ty vykopal sebe mogilu?*.”

I turn to the small group of men I’ve brought with me and beckon my head toward the door.

“Time to go.”

We storm out as a unit, leaving my father and Uncle Leonid staring in silence after us.

For the entire drive home, I am bursting with adrenaline. I’ve chosen to drive, slamming my boot on the accelerator as I speed down the city streets. Kazan is in the passenger seat, nonplussed by my wild driving. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s been held hostage as passenger when I’ve been in the middle of road rage.

He’s aware of what’s just happened.

I’ve essentially made it known that my allegiance does not lie with the sovietnik. I have no loyalty to my fatherormy uncle. I’m in service of the pakhanand our family. The bratva comes first.

But this won’t come without new challenges. New threats and dangers.

Leonid will almost certainly tell the sovietnik about Katerina now. My father is a spiteful man who never lets things go—he will be coming for me.

He will be coming for her.

I slam on the gas as the light up ahead goes from yellow to red. The Hummer I’m driving barrels into the intersection at the last possible second before traffic in other directions enters. Cars blow their horns anyway, angry I’ve flouted the rules.

I don’t give a fuck.

My grip clenches on the wheel and I make a hard and sudden left turn, cutting more people off.

The city lights twinkle in the night, bright blurs of various colors.

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