Page 6 of Control

“You look good,” I said as I took a seat.

He managed to compact his muscular frame barely contained by his t-shirt and camo pants into the chair in front of my desk. He was a former Muay Thai fighter and was even more lethal in skill than by muscle. Though, when he was around those he was closest to, the hardness of his angular jaw and thick brows turned warm and full of light, making anyone in his presence feel safe.

He was like the third Sethi brother, except he wasn’t biologically related to us. His father had worked for our father as his right-hand man. Zayn had been raised alongside us by our mother who treated us equally and loved Zayn like he was her own child. He was older than me by a couple of years but still younger than Shyam.

Until now, he had lived in India and helped us keep our base in Punjab running in our absence. He had been pivotal to rescuing Amelia and taking down her captor, Tarun.

Perfectly content in India, Zayn had no plans to move to the states—not until I told him about my meeting with Leonid.

“You don’t look too bad for someone who just came back from Russia. What do you plan to do about Leonid?” he asked, clasping his fingers in front of his chest, ready to get to the heart of why he was sitting across from me.

That was the real question. Leonid felt that I still owed the Brotherhood for Amelia’s freedom, despite honoring the terms of the contract I had negotiated with his father.

His father, Nicholai, was his predecessor. He had been just as heinous as his son, but he respected business deals. When Amelia was kidnapped by Tarun, he had made a deal to buy her for a large sum of money. The Bratva were heavily involved with human trafficking, and he had found value in her association with my brother, as well as her exceptional computer-programming skills. Amelia had successfully killed Tarun, but Nicholai still wanted the deal to be honored. He wanted her or money.

I had cut a deal with him that involved giving him a discount for the drugs we supplied him, in addition to decreasing our supply to neighboring countries to hurt Russian competition. The Serbians and Ukrainians were less than thrilled having their supply reduced, but I was desperate to appease Nicholai to get him off Amelia’s trail. My brother couldn’t deal with the stress and left the business to me. So, for nine months I had to bend over backward kissing Nicholai’s ass to get him to drop his interest. After I paid my time, Nicholai fulfilled his promise and I restored Russian costs and supply as they were before the Amelia deal.

Unfortunately for Nicholai, Leonid didn’t agree with things going back to normal. He saw an opportunity and had his father killed without his Brothers ever knowing. Only I knew the truth, thanks to my hacking skills and Igor’s stupidity by texting his cousin to confirm details about the assassination plot.

Leonid blamed Nicholai’s death on the Serbs and their need for revenge because of their supply being cut because of the Russian deal made with us. He had essentially been a sniper from the side of his father’s throne, watching and waiting for the right moment to strike.

I fiddled with the pen on my desk. “I cancelled all future shipments.”

Zayn stilled in his chair. “You what?” He stared at me in disbelief.

“We’re not doing business with him anymore until he pays up.”

He placed his palms on my desk, as if to steady himself from what he had just heard. “You’re asking for your head on a platter. These guys don’t fuck around, Jai.”

“And neither do I.” I wasn’t about to be played for a bitch by some boy with daddy issues who held a grudge.

Zayn shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “You have some motherfucking balls.”

Hearing someone as murderous as Zayn sound hesitant of my judgment made me question my decision.

“If Leonid was so pissed about the deal you made, why did he wait five years to do anything about it?” he asked.

That was the part that stumped me. The Bratva weren’t known for patience. They acted on impulse, needing immediate gratification to satisfy their thirst for blood. “I have no fucking clue.”

Zayn pressed a finger to his temple as he brainstormed. “You think he was trying to store arms or something?”

“It’s a possibility.” I hadn’t noticed anything strange about their accounts when I did my routine checks on my business affiliates. But maybe I hadn’t looked hard enough.

“Have you told Shyam about this?” Zayn’s stare made me feel uneasy knowing exactly how he’d react to my answer.

“No,” I replied holding my breath, waiting for him to let me have it.

“You need to tell him!” he barked.

I sighed, flinging the pen I had been fiddling with across my desk. “What does it matter? He’s out of the business now.”

“But it involves his wife and the safety of their children,” he shouted. The vein on the side of his neck was bulging with how angry he was. “If Leonid finds out they have children together, though I’m sure he probably already knows, nothing would keep him from taking them!”

I would always worry about the welfare of my niece and nephew, but I was certain Leonid wouldn’t dare mess with them. “I’m in charge now, so it doesn’t make sense to involve him. Shyam would just worry too much about Amelia. And Amelia would be scared shitless. I’m handling it!” My patience with this conversation was waning. I knew what I was doing.

He stared at me like he had so many more things to say but was too stunned to speak.

“I swear, no harm will come to them. I would never let that happen.” I would lay my life down before anyone touched those children.

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