Page 39 of Surrogate for the Bratva
I nodded to Maxim, and he made a show of using a crowbar to open one of the crates. Maxim pulled out one of the weapons and walked it across the room before he handed it to Darius.
“Damn these Makarovs are the real deal, yeah?” he held it and tested the weight with a wide grin. “You got the AKs too?”
“I do.”
Darius nodded to his VP once again and once again the man dropped a giant bag of cash. “I want them all.”
With a short nod from me, Maxim took the cash and counted it while one of Darius’ men checked the crates. “That’s a lot of guns.”
He shrugged. “I always need guns. Enemies are everywhere, something you know all about.”
The way he said those words or maybe his tone gave me pause. “Do I now?”
Darius shrugged. “Word on the street is you’re a dead man walking.”
I laughed at that. “No doubt that particular word came from Voronov.”
He confirmed it with a nod. “Him and anyone else dumb enough to believe his shit.”
“Not a fan?”
He shrugged casually but I didn’t miss the tension in his jaw. “Fucker doesn’t do business with Black people, what the fuck do you think?”
“Dmitry is old school. You and I don’t run in the same circles so I have no concern these guns will be used against me. Your money is as green as the next, even if your mode of transportation leaves much to be desired.”
Darius’ lips parted into a grin. “I’ll let that slide because bikin’ ain’t for everybody. And because this metal is beautiful.” He stroked the Makarov before tucking it into his jacket. “Voronov is gonna shit.”
“Good.” Anything I could do to mind fuck Dmitry would help him spin and spin until the moment I had him in my clutches, watching as life drained out of his old, miserable body. “It’s a pleasure doing business with you.”
Darius accepted my handshake while his men loaded the crates into a black van. “I won’t forget this, Igor. You ever need weed, girls, or backup, hit me up.”
His offer surprised me, but I accepted his gratitude with a tighter grip. “Watch out for the cops.”
Darius grinned. “We got our white boy driving the van, but thanks.”
Ten minutes later business was done, and the money was on its way to get cleaned before being put into circulation, and Maxim and I were headed back to the compound.
“Is everything okay Igor?”
“Of course. What have you heard?”
He opened his mouth and then sighed without a word. He did it again before he finally spoke. “I overheard Mikhail talking about finding you half naked in April’s room.”
“What is your point?” I didn’t like the idea of my men speaking of me behind my back at all, but especially my personal life.
“No point, just checking to make sure you’re okay. You seem agitated and distracted.”
My frown intensified. “You think I’m not focused on my business?”
“No, I think you have something else on your mind, and I am merely asking if you want to talk about it.” Maxim never spoke to me that way and I knew I had offended him.
“Don’t even know where to begin if I am being honest.” That was the fucking truth. “I like her which is stupid andridiculous. I have turned her whole life upside down and paid her an obscene amount of money.”
Maxim nodded, his gaze steady on the road. “It isn’t as if she’s using that money to buy designer handbags. What’s the problem?”
I barked out a laugh. “The problem is that she’s carrying my baby, and her life is in danger.” But knowing all that I couldn’t stay away from her, and I couldn’t stop thinking about her telling me that if she loved me, she would have my child even knowing the danger. “It seems untenable.”
Maxim shrugged. “You lead an unorthodox life, Igor so why would love or romance, or whatever this is, be any different?”
