Page 9 of Defiant Devotion

I remained ramrod straight, posing like the other waiters in the room. We were expected to blend in and be at the ready like slaves or butlers, it seemed, but I worried that we’d be expected to exit the room with this conversation continuing. I hoped not. Ihad to assume after this bickering that these two men would talk more about who could’ve killed Boris.

Igor shook his head, narrowing his eyes as he lifted his hands in a truce. “No. No. You don’t get to be mad at me. I told you before. I had nothing to do with Irina helping Lev escape your warehouse. I’ve disowned that bitch.”

“She helps Lev escape,” Geoff growled, “and then turns traitor to marry into the Baranov family. It looks awfully suspicious from my perspective.”

“Don’t remind me,” Igor snapped. “That ungrateful bitch is nothing to me. Nothing. She doesn’t represent the Petrov power.”

Geoff didn’t reply, still looking displeased but not pushing the matter any further.

“Didyoutry to have Boris killed at that reception?” Igor asked, as if he wanted to move past the topic of his daughter not siding with him.

It was Geoff’s turn to show an annoyed expression. “No. Why would I? Like you said, Boris is a waste of space. No one will miss him.”

“But do you think someone else could’ve had him killed?” Igor asked. “Another enemy who is trying to use him as a diversion?”

Geoff shrugged. “How would that work? No one would care whether Boris lived or died.”

Igor didn’t agree if his doubtful expression was any indication. “He’s a waste. Even Oleg would agree with that. But he’s still a Baranov, and killing any member of that family would be viewed as an attack.”

I thought so too. It didn’t matter if Boris didn’t have much power in the organization. He was still a member. But I didn’t suspect another outsider or other enemy of sending a message to Oleg with Boris’s death.

I’d become something of an expert with these Mafia Families, taking and passing on hits from all of them in the New York circle of crime. No one could call the Baranovs their enemies like the Petrovs and Ilyins did. Their antagonism was obvious, sometimes irritatingly so, but both loathed Oleg’s family above all else.

“Maybe so.” Geoff shrugged. “But I haven’t heard of any other organization scheming to bring down the Baranovs. Not even the Cartel, and they’re building up near the ports again.”

Igor slitted his eyes. His ruddy face reddened as he showed his fury. “But the Baranovs must be ended. I’ll be damned if Oleg Baranov remains in power any longer.”

Geoff nodded, sipping his coffee, as though he’d heard this like a broken record.

“I want the Baranovs killed. I want their power and reach reduced.”

Geoff nodded some more, dismissing Igor with a wave. “I know. We want the same thing, but Igor, you are worrying about nothing.”

Staying still, I tried my best not to look like I was soaking up all that was said. Incriminating plans were being shared here, and I was grateful to be this informed as an independent player.

“Worrying about nothing?” Igor spluttered. “How the fuck can you think this isnothing?”

“Because the Baranovs will be ended. Their power will be cut down to nothing.” Geoff grinned slowly. “Eric Benson will see to it.”

Igor furrowed his brow. “The politician? That young Benson kid?”

“He’s not so young now,” Geoff argued lightly. “He’s all grown up, ready to go into office, following in his father’s footsteps. And like his father, Eric will prove instrumental in removing the Baranov power. He’ll side with us and make it impossible for the Baranovs to get away with anything anymore. He’ll have his agencies come down hard on them all.”

Damn. They never stop.It was no secret that the government was corrupt. Plenty of people in the courts and in the capital looked the other way when crime families were being charged. A little money deposited here or there, and things were taken care of.

“That’s not going to do anything quickly,” Igor said. “And that’s never a guarantee. Benson might say he’ll side with us, but until that happens, it’s all talk.”

Geoff shook his head. “Not this time. We’ve been playing the long game here, Igor. The Ilyins had the eldest Baranov daughter taken and held so she could be married off to Eric. Once a member of the Baranov family is part of the Benson family, they will have leverage and the ability to destroy the Baranovs from the inside out.”

Yeah, right.Again, I resisted making a face at his claims. Sure, arranged marriages were commonplace in the Mafia, and they could be used as a way to control or manipulate other families.But this was Oleg, and he didn’t bend to others. I had already noticed what a formidable man he could be.

“I’m not sure your supposed long game will pan out how you want it to. So you force a Baranov to be the politician’s wife. That isn’t a guarantee that this Benson guy would do anything we’d expect.”

“He would,” Geoff insisted. “And Eric Benson will also have the backing from O’Malley, the next governor to be sworn in.” His smile was smug. “It will all be fine.”

For you.

I followed the other waiters as they moved toward a coffee station. In this private room of the restaurant, intended for hosting secret meetings like these, the guests were served and pampered.

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