Page 89 of Forbidden Vows

Tommy and I exchange glances. Lee managed to say a lot with a few words but it’s a good thing. It gives me a clear direction forward, while worst-case scenarios of what Eileen is enduringconstantly replay in the back of my mind.

“Here’s the thing, Howie. I understand Sergei’s got you doing business with him. Big business with a lot of money involved. I’m guessing he promised you’d make way more than you ever made with the Karpovs.”

“And the Fedorovs put together,” Lee mutters.

“Wow, that’s mighty ambitious coming from a man who is virtually broke.” Tommy chuckles dryly and takes out his phone, showing Lee several key screenshots. “He’s been lying to you, Howard.”

“That can’t be,” Lee says, an expression of disbelief on his face.

“Sergei Kuznetsov has been running quite the con. Promising money he doesn’t have in order to gain access to favors and market segments that he wouldn’t be able to touch otherwise. He’s been working the Donovans for a while now, and he’sthisclose to getting his grubby hands on their estate,” I say, squeezing my forefinger and thumb close together for emphasis. “That’s what Sergei is using to do business with you. Money that isn’t his.”

Lee gives me a hard look. “It’s still money.”

“It comes at the cost of my wife’s life. She’s pregnant with my children, twins.”

“Not to mention her stepsister,” Tommy adds. “That’s four innocent lives, Howard. If you allow that to happen, you’ll give us no choice but to reconsider our business arrangements with the Triads going forward.”

“You wouldn’t.”

The Camorras’ and the Triads’ history is about as long and fruitful as ours, minus the bloodshed. The Italians and the Chinese seem to get along okay, probably because they learned from my forefathers’ mistakes. You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. Threatening to pull your whole business out of the Triads’ reach is quite the grievous threat.

Tommy probably doesn’t have that kind of authority, but Lee doesn’t know that.

“I would. You see, there are lines we do not cross, Howard,” Tommy says. “Hurting women and children is one of them.”

“The treaty our organizations signed years ago still stands,” I add. “If Sergei hurts my wife, he’s directly attacking a Karpov, in which case, you would all be required to support us. If you don’t, every other member and co-signatory of that treaty would be entitled to cease doing any business with you. The Chinese are mighty in Chicago, I’ll give you that, but you don’t have the juice to take on the Russians and the Italians together. I know you are well aware of that.”

“I thought we were sitting down for coffee, not issuing threats.”

“Howie, it is what it is. I just need your help,” I say, sitting back in the booth and slightly raising my hands in mock defense before turning serious again. “He’s got my wife. I need to know where he is.” My raised hands turn to fists that I slowly lower onto the table, my expression one of angry determination. I can almost feel my eyes turning cold and black.

“How would I know?” he asks innocently.

I’ve been around liars my whole life. I can spot deception from a mile away.

I give him a small smile, though my eyes remain cold and unyielding. “He asked for your help. He knows I’d find him anywhere in Bratva territory. Sergei needs a safe place to hide while he obtains the legal paperwork he needs to conclude this giant con that he’s been playing. He came to you, didn’t he?”

“What if he did?”

I lean forward. “Do you have children, Howie?”

“Are you threatening my children now, Mr. Karpov?” He meets my gaze, stern and unafraid.

“No, I’m merely trying to explain that I’d very much like to have children of my own. I just told you that my wife is pregnant with twins. If anything happens to them, it will be on your head. And I will make sure that your children, that your entire family, knows it. I will also make sure your children know what their legacy is. From what I hear, patricide is quite common among the Triads.”

Tommy releases a heavy sigh. The waitress approaches our table to take our order, but he waves her away. We won’t be staying here much longer.

“I cannot betray a business associate,” Lee insists, albeit weakly. His walls are almost down. He just needs one last bit of encouragement.

“Have you received any funds from him yet?” I ask.

He shakes his head slowly. “No. They’re in escrow.”

“He’s not your business associate until money passes through your hands. If there’s been no transfer yet, then there’s no partnership. It’s the ‘yet’ that I’m banking on. Howie, I’m only asking for some information here. I need to know where to find him.”

“I need an incentive,” is his reply.

In the old days, I would’ve just pistol-whipped the shit out of him until he sang like a fucking soprano, but these aren’t the old days anymore, and there’s too much at stake.

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