Page 160 of Silenced

Yet I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.

“It’s not your fault, Nikolai.”

Isn’t it?

My fingers dig into my fatigued eyes.

“I should never have picked Pavel over Maxim as my Obschak.”

“Maxim was young,” he retorts.

“And you’re not?” I slice my hands through the air. “I betrayed him. I-I didn’t see it at the time.”

“He wasn’t good at listening to orders.”

“Dmitri, neither are you. What I forgive in you, Ineverforgave in him. I was hard on him. Too hard. And now, he’s gotten himself exiled from the fucking Bratva while in the heart of the homeland.” After rubbing my forehead, I sign, “The situation has changed. Iwasgoing over there on a fact-finding mission. Now, it’s to bring his ass back here.

“Arrange for the jet to takeoff in an hour.”

Though he nods, he argues, “You can’t still intend on taking Cassiopeia with you?”

“You’ll have enough on your hands keeping the peace here.” I frown at him. “In your opinion, who has the men’s loyalty?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“I’m talking about me or the Krestniy Otets.”

He blinks. “Oh. Well, that situation with Pavlivshev came out of the blue, but when you claimed Cassiopeia at the gala, that made the situation make sense to most of the men. You have some hardcore supporters like Vladimir and Oleg—”

I waft a hand because I know about them.

“—but for the most part, you. The past ten years have been good and everyone knows that’s because of you. The Krestniy Otets didn’t make himself popular when he increased the tithe—”

Every Bratva brother had to ‘donate’ twenty percent of their earnings to the Bratva.

Everyone knew that lined the Krestniy Otets’s pockets. When six percent had shot up to twenty, it had pissed many off.

“—and when you ate the cost on their behalf, that amped up the respect they have for you. Another leader wouldn’t do that.” His lips twist. “You chide Maxim for bringing communism to the Bratva, but I bet he got the idea from you.

“What are you thinking, Nikolai?”

“Aligning myself with Maxim is to unalign myself from the Krestniy Otets.” Another reason why I didn’t want him there. I grab his shoulder again, squeeze, then let go to sign, “Take control of Miami if I don’t make it, Dmitri.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m being serious. There are no guarantees.”

“Then why are you taking Cassiopeia with you!” he snaps.

“Because she’ll be safer with me than on her own and you need to hold the city.”

“So, you’ll take her into enemy territory?”

“The only true ally I have right now is you, son.”

“No. Pavel—”

“Is out of commission. The last time we talked a week ago, he fell asleep on the video call.”

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