Page 10 of Zafira

Lithe but strong, she didn’t look anything like the middle-aged, crouching woman who went about cleaning houses, well, two houses—the one she resided in and the one Andrus Klavan occupied. She was sent to Estonia with one goal—to keep an eye on him. Make sure he concentrated on achieving the mandate her adopted brother had given him—to assist in ending Zafira Guzun’s miserable life.

“Stop complaining, Svetlana. You know as well as I do this needs to be done. We’ve procrastinated long enough. Now, with Luciano Maranzano desperate for money and the reclaiming of power, we have the perfect tool to get that Guzun bitch out of the way. The gall of the woman to believe strong men, with more money and power than she and all the Guzuns combined, would ever yield to her rule. No, I’ll show her how naive she truly is.”

“You’re a fucking bastard. Don’t forget I am also a woman, dear brother. A strong, capable killer who many men fear.” Svetlana hated how chauvinistic her brother, all the men in the criminal world really, were.

“No one disputes that, my dear sister, but you at least know your limitations and will never overstep that line. Zafira Guzun is an arrogant, entitled bitch, and I won’t stand for it.” The sound of a lighter snapping open and closed invited a picture of her brother pacing his study, flicking his priced gold lighter like a scepter. “So, what’s Maranzano up to?”

“That’s just it. Nothing!” she snapped, not bothering to hide her frustration. “He’s still the same. Broods around the house all day long. He hardly goes out for a walk. I’m afraid we might have chosen the wrong assassin for this job. Nothing seems to interest him but wallowing in his own self-pity.”

“Then it’s high time he snaps out of it. His brilliant plan to have Zafira Guzun locked up during the raid at the U Holubu restaurant failed.”

“What do you mean? You confirmed she had arrived in Czechia the day of the party.”

“Indeed. So did she at the party, but within minutes, she left with her bodyguard after a heated discussion at the bar. No one overheard what they were talking about, but she didn’t return. My sources informed me that they were already in the air, flying back to Moldova, when the armed forces arrived at the restaurant. All the time, effort, and money I put into executing Maranzano’s plan was for nothing.”

“Not for nothing. Wasn’t it there that Artem Melnyk was locked up?”

“Proboha, Svetlana! Don’t you know anything? Melnyk, as the head of the Solntvesoka Bratva, is invaluable to our plan to have the Guzun, the Red, and the Kolva Bratvas kicked out of the EU Dark Rage Association.”

“I know the plan, brother, and I don’t appreciate you belittling me. I’ve said this before, and I will say it again... you are naive if you for one moment believe all the Bratva groups and crime syndicates are going to turn against those three families. They are each a force to be reckoned with on their own. Now that they have combined forces... it’s going to take more than Artem Melnyk and the Solntvesoka Bratva to kick them out of the round circle. Arian Guzun has been the chairman for over ten years, and now with Andrei Rusu, the leader of the mightiest Bratva group from Russia, siding with him... it’s not going to be easy to sway individual families to turn against them. They fear them too much.”

“They will come to fear my power more.”

“I have always respected your decisions without asking questions. Now, I believe I need to know. Why do you hate Zafira Guzun so much?”

“Zafira Guzun interfered in our lives at a time when I was ready to take a leap into greatness. Because of her, I was forced to retreat. Yes, I live a life of luxury and am idolized by all in our country, but I wanted more... more money, more power, and she alone is responsible for changing the course of my life.”

“You’ve said a lot without answering my question, brother.”

“That’s all you need to know... until such a time that she is no longer a threat to once again disrupt my life and plans of greatness. When she’s dead, that’s the day I will tell you all.”

“I thought you wanted her put in jail? Wasn’t that the reason for the raid on the restaurant?”

“Yes, so that she could suffer the most degrading atrocities first. Then I would visit her and watch her face when she realized I was the one who orchestrated the torture she would endure in one of the worst Russian prisons. Then, and only then, would she die.”

“Forgive me, brother, but how exactly are you going to achieve that with your master brain assassin wallowing all the way here in Estonia? I don’t see any progress being made. To the contrary, it seems destined to fail.”

“I agree. Maranzano needs to man up. If he had been present at the restaurant, he could’ve put a preventive measure in place to keep Zafira there. I’ll talk to him. From this point forward, he has to lead every action. I don’t need a paper planner. I need action.”

“Good. At least that means I’ll be able to stop cleaning his fucking toilets.”

“Ah, my dear sister, it’s good for people in our position to become humble now and then and live the life of the other half.”

“Don’t let your followers hear you say that.”

“I am not an idiot, Svetlana. Now, get ready to move. Find a way to get Maranzano into Moldova without being detected. You leave in the morning.”

“Why me? I don’t—” But she was talking to herself as her brother had cut the connection. “Fucking asshole,” she swore under her breath as she walked toward the ensuite to run a bath. “Always the high and mighty, expecting everyone to bow to his command. I’m so fucking tired of playing second fiddle to him. I am just as capable of running the Chez Bratva, actually more so, than him. I can shoot a feather off a bird in flight. I doubt he can even punch someone in the face, let alone kill another human being.”

Between Svetlana and her brother, she was the least emphatic and the most likely to shoot to kill before asking questions. She didn’t have a bone of regret in her body for the kills she had under her belt. Some deserved what they got, others... well, they should’ve known better than to oppose her and interfere with her brother’s demands.

“Buh zatracene! I don’t want to be the one babysitting Luciano Maranzano,” she bleated to the reflection in the mirror. The woman staring back at her could have been beautiful but the harshness of her eyes and her lips permanently pressed into a straight line, she presented a sour and cold expression to the world. If not for the stark contrast of her hair and eyes, no one would bother giving her a second glance.

“That bastard on a bad day is the devil; depressed, he’s even more dangerous,” she mumbled as she got into the tub. Evil, treacherous, and merciless came to mind. Her brother had no idea what that man was capable of. If he did, he would never expect her to attach herself to him like a proverbial leech.

“How would he? He sits in that luxurious, cozy office of his. He has no idea what goes on in the world out here. But I do... I’ve seen what he’s capable of.”

Svetlana shuddered as the vision of the guard, with half his face ripped off by a chain, flashed through her mind. That was when she had first come face to face with Luciano Maranzano... the day he had escaped en route to the prison. When the back doors of the prison van had opened, he had stood there, like a devil on the rampage, holding the bloodied chain, his chest expanding as he watched the man doing the final tango ritual before his body became still. As he lifted his gaze, the pleasure and glee of the kill had shone from his eyes like a beacon on the darkest night.

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