Page 27 of Lethal Legacy

I force my face into a neutral expression and distract myself by remembering the juicy heat of Lucia Lopez’s open mouth as she screamed against my palm.

Khuy.

I’m immediately hard, and this is no place for that.

I drag my attention back to Yuri.

“You saved Mikhail from the consequences of a stupid mistake with no thought for your own safety.” Yuri smiles fondly in reminiscence, and despite the fact that I loathe the occasions when he drags this story out, I feel my heart soften a little. If there is one thing that Yuri and I unquestionably share, it is our love for Mikhail.

Yuri’s eldest son was reckless, there was no doubt. But even as a teenager, he was also incredibly generous, with the biggest heart I’ve ever known.

The week I met Mikhail in Miami, he was drinking every night in the restaurant where I was busing tables. He lit up the place night after night, with laughter and enormous tips. One night he even took me with him and his friends after the restaurant closed, insisting I drink tequila with them until we were both rolling drunk. Unfortunately, his generosity put a target on his back.

The following night I noticed two of the more notorious thieves in our district eyeing up Mikhail and his friends. When I saw them follow the college kids on their way to a beach party, I knew it meant trouble. It might not have, if Mikhail was the kind of person to just hand over his wallet when they pulled a gun.

But of course he wasn’t. He was Yuri Stevanovsky’s son, after all.

“You saved my son’s life when you stepped between him and that bullet. Then he saved yours by bringing you out to my yacht, where we found a discreet doctor and managed to keep you out of jail.” Yuri gives me his serious look. “That is why you became brothers, and why I brought you into my family. When a man saves a life, that life belongs to him. You and Mikhail belonged to each other. I always respected that.”

Nikolai has stayed silent throughout this little recital, though he has chain-smoked the entire time, his face wearing a petulant expression that is all too familiar. Nikolai was barely ten when Mikhail and I met at the age of seventeen. He’s only twenty-five now. And he hates this story almost as much as I do. Nikolai was still a teenager when Mikhail and I lived the blood-soaked days of the bratva wars that followed Yuri’s incarceration. Unfortunately, while we were fighting, Nikolai was visiting his father in prison and absorbing Yuri’s business views. Back then it had seemed harmless enough. Now, I fervently wish we’d taken him in hand.

“Nicky has a proposition for you,” Yuri says now.

Pizdozh. Here it comes.

“Oh?” I say politely, still not looking at Nikolai.

“Cádiz Football Club.” Yuri announces this with the same pomposity Nikolai used when he boasted about bribing the prison guards. “The manager has approached Nicky, looking for sponsorship.”

“You want us to launder Nicky’s income through Cádiz FC?” I keep a straight face with no small effort. “You don’t think that might be, er, ared flag, if you’ll excuse the football pun?”

Dimitry’s snort of laughter is discernible enough that I hastily speak again to cover it. “I mean no disrespect,Otets. But using a football club to launder profits is how you ended up in jail the first time. I just think it might be... risky, to repeat that pattern.”

“Not if it’s Hale, rather than Pillars, who is the official sponsor.” Nikolai speaks up for the first time, glancing resentfully in my direction. “Nobody would see anything wrong with that.”

Nobody except the hundreds of federal officers currently watching our every move.

God, Nikolai is stupid.

“If you want to work with Cádiz, Nikolai, you have my permission to do so.” I’ve heard enough, and I don’t have time for this shit. It’s time to remind them both that no matter how I got here, I am nowpakhan. What I say goes, and they both know it. “When I gave you Pillars, you asked for complete autonomy in running it. I gave you that, with my respect and trust. I don’t interfere with Pillars, or any of the businesses you operate from it. I don’t even ask,” I say pointedly, “for you to pay tribute on those businesses, as is my right. I have given you free rein, Nikolai. Helped when you’ve asked for it and stayed away when you haven’t.” I glance between Yuri and his son to make sure my next point drives home. “But nor will I risk Hale to wash your income any more than I already do. I’ve set up an entire branch of the company to manage your earnings, at no small cost to the organization as a whole. If you want more than I can offer, then you are free to pursue Cádiz independently.” I pin Nikolai with a look hard enough to remind him of who I am. “You will also take whatever consequences might come from that decision. Am I understood?”

For a moment it looks like he might argue.

Oh, please do, you little fuck.

Between my state of semi-arousal and waiting for Lucia Lopez to say yes to that goddamn contract, I’d like nothing better than to connect my fist with Nicky’s face.

But in the end, he just nods sulkily and lights another cigarette.

Good choice.

I spend another twenty minutes giving Yuri a bullshit update and listening to Nikolai boast about the celebrities that are patronizing Pillars and all the money he’s making. I even pretend to be interested, for Yuri’s sake.

I’m about to make my excuses when Yuri pipes up again, this time in a wheedling tone that makes my skin crawl.

“When will you bring the children to visit their grandpapa? And what about darling Inger?”

Neveris the answer to the first question.

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