Page 197 of Silenced

“Aside from this,” he says, tossing a letter at us both. “Not yet.”

‘Yet’ is the operative word.

It will come.

It always does.

Fatigue settles in my bones.

This life is exhausting but in all honesty, society is not a good place whether you survive in the underworld or above ground, and it’s draining with or without my ties to the Russian Mob.

My girlfriend isn’t a part of the criminal underworld.

She’s the daughter of a rock god, yet she was kidnapped andhurt.

My mouth tightens at the memories of her nightmares last night. Unlike Cassiopeia, there is no closure for Aspen.

“The Krestniy Otets is in a difficult position,” Maxim murmurs, breaking into my thoughts as he hands me the letter from our one-time leader. “You killed his Sovietnik and brought me back to the US,butyou’re the one who has the stronghold in the US South. You have the loyalties of one of the largest Bratva brotherhoods in the States, and you have alliances with almost every Pakhan here too.

“Then, there’s the fact that Miami is still reeling from what happened with B4K. That was an undeniable show of strength, which will echo for years. He can huff and puff as much as he wants, but he has to know you’re not going to be easy to take down.”

Niko concedes that with a nod.

“You obliterated them all?” I ask.

“There’s only a handful remaining. After they licked their wounds, they fled to the West Coast.”

“That’s the kind of power the K.O. should be frightened of.”

Niko hums. “Perhaps. We won’t have heard the end of him, though. That would be too easy.”

“You have to make a choice, Nikolai,” I tell him softly as I watch him sit back in the armchair beside Maxim’s bed. He grimaces when his shoulder connects with the backrest.

The image of him flying through the fucking air as that gas explosion lifted him off the ground will stick with me for a lifetime.

As will the relief that followed when he landed in a goddamn swimming pool like something from the National Lampoon movies I used to watch with Dmitri when he was growing up.

“There is no choice to be made, Misha,” is his cool and maddeningly calm retort.

I share a look with Maxim.

It speaks to how blank Nikolai’s expression is that he’s impossible to read.

“And what choice is that?” Maxim muses, his voice low.

Both of us know the truth—without Nikolai’s support, we’re dead men walking.

Might not be today, might not even be next year, but it’d happen.

Nikolai peers between us. “That you have to ask is irritating.” His mouth tightens as he smooths his fingers over his suit jacket. “There was only ever one answer and I gave that to you when you were a small boy and I agreed to let you call me ‘brother.’

“But I refuse to relocate to New York so we will have to take the entirety of the East Coast. Perhaps the States because I won’t live here. It’s too fucking cold.”

That has Maxim blinking, but he sits up straighter than before, glee overtaking his fatigue from his injuries. “They forgot us once,” he rumbles.

The energy in the room is infectious, enough that I rasp, “They’ll never forget us again.”

“We won’t be silenced.The Forgotten Boys.” Nikolai nods but his lips twist as he releases—

---