Page 105 of The Oath We Take

My phone vibrates, and I glance down at it. It’s a video call from Vex.

“Brother,” I say in greeting. Next to him is King. His presence alone makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “Prez.”

It feels weird calling both him and Butcher that. But in terms of respect and honor, it’s the right thing to do.

And I’m not sure after today that I want to call ButcherPrezanyway.

“You got a problem,” King says.

“Tell me about it,” I reply, but then realize there is no reason for King to be up to date on what’s happening inside our club.

King shakes his head. “No. A problem you don’t even know about yet.”

“What is it?”

Vex leans forward. “I found the organization that rented the truck at the airport for that Rocco guy. I’ll send you the screenshots.”

Ember looks up sharply and narrows her eyes. Fuck me. She doesn’t know I had Rocco looked into.

“Sorry,” I mouth, haplessly.

She shakes her head and rolls her eyes, as if she’s utterly unsurprised that I did such a thing.

King leans closer to the camera. “The company has an innocuous name. Utilities, Services, and Storage Resources.”

“Is it meant to mean something?” I ask.

“First, you got to look at the first four letters,” Vex says. “USSR. The old Soviet Union.”

“Don’t like where this is going,” I say.

Ember looks at me from across the island, her eyes wide.

“Second thing you have to know, is that the USSR was a proxy replacement, of sorts, for the Russian Empire,” Vex continues. “At one point, it covered about a sixth of the world’s landmass. It’s like the third-largest empire in history.”

I take a breath. “I don’t think you’re telling me this because you think I need a history lesson.”

King shakes his head. “Rurik Zakharov is descended from the Tsar of the Russian Empire, like a king or some shit. He’s also the head of the Bratva. Not a local affiliate, butthehead.”

“Fuck,” I curse. “I know who Zakharov is. Wraith’s old lady’s ex got into some shit with them. How does this tie into the truck?”

“It’s a holding company, traced back through the Bahamas. But the parent company is Rurik Zakharov’s legitimate business empire. Real estate.”

Ember suddenly stiffens.

“What?” I ask.

“Rocco said he worked for his father’s real estate company in property development,” she says, wrapping her arms around her.

“Who’s that?” King asks.

“Butcher’s daughter, Ember. She’s been targeted by the Russians too. They’ve been extorting business owners in our town and set fire to Ember’s bar. Rocco was a guy she went on a date with.” Ember moves the skillet and turns down the bacon before stepping around to my side of the island. I wrap my arm around her waist and tug her to me, grateful King and Vex can only see her upper body and not her luscious thighs.

King raises an eyebrow. “You used Vex’s resources to check up on a guy because he went on a date with your…”

“Old lady,” I say. “She wasn’t when I asked.”

Vex chuckles. “And I thought King moved fast.”

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