Page 15 of Sergei
“Our Russians?” I scoffed.
“You know what I mean.”
“Afraid I don’t.”
“Well, most folks around here don’t buddy up with the Russian mafia. Hell, they usually do everything they can to steer clear.”
“I don’t know anything about the men he was dealing with, nor do I have any desire to.”
“But they could be trying to form a connection with you,” Preacher suggested. “Hell, they could be the ones who’ve been sniffing around the past few months.”
Preacher was referring to the men Lev had called and warned me about. He’d done some digging and had found me the names I needed. These guys might’ve been Russian, but they had no ties to our family. These were the kind of men you did your best to steer clear of. They had the stink of greed and desperation clinging to them and would do anything for a profit, and it seemed they were hoping to sort out a deal with me and my brothers.
I had no interest in anything they had to offer. I’d built something that my brothers and I could be proud of. We had no debts, no blood was owed to anyone, and these assholes had nothing I wanted.
And with no real leverage, they had nothing, and they knew it. They were wasting their time, and I wasn’t going to waste mine by worrying over their failed attempts to get me rattled. I didn’t try to hide my annoyance when I turned to Preacher and said, “They can sniff around all they want. It’s not going to change anything.”
They continued talking among themselves, but I wasn’t listening. I was too angry to hear a word that was said. Just the mention of my past made my blood run cold.
All those unwanted memories, the faces, and the broken promises came clawing their way back to the surface, and I could feel the old rage creeping in with them.
It was suffocating.
I grabbed my drink from the ledge, and Preacher and Goose’s conversation tapered off as they watched me step away from the group. There was no doubt that they’d noticed my shift in mood, but I didn’t care. I needed a moment before I said something I’d regret.
I was about to head back to the office when I heard Preacher call out to me, “Sergei. Hold up.”
“I’m done talking.”
“You’re making this personal.”
“It is personal!” I gave him a hard look. “You think it was easy to walk away from all that?”
“I know it was rough.”
“You have no fucking clue.”
He didn’t have a clue how hard it truly was.
None of them did. I was only able to walk away because of the secrets I carried with me. I knew names, routes, and favors called in and never repaid. They kept me and my brothers breathing when the bratva wanted to cinch the noose.
Those same secrets keep me looking over my shoulder. I might’ve left New York, but it hadn’t left me, not completely. A debt of silence stood between me and the people I hold close, and because of that, I would walk around the rest of my life with a cold glass in one hand and a list of people who might turn on me in the other.
I was struggling to maintain my temper when I snapped, “I burned bridges and broke ties with the worst of the worst, and I didn’t do it to end up right back in the middle of it!”
I was trying to rein in my anger when I heard the deep rumble of Bogatyr say, “Hey, Boss.”
Bogatyr was one of my most trusted guards. Most called him Bog, and the name fit. He was built like a wall, and he didn’t back down from anyone, except me. I turned to face him and snapped, “What is it?”
“There’s a woman out front… She’s asking for Viktor.”
Viktor was one who typically kept to himself, but like me, there were times when he’d enjoy the company of a woman. It wasn’t completely unusual for a late-night mistake to come back around, hoping for another round or a payout. He’d already gone for the night, and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with any bullshit, so I told him, “Send her away.”
With anyone else, it would’ve been the end of it. I’d given an order and expected it to be carried out, but Bog didn’t move. He just stood there giving me one of his looks.
“You should see her.”
His voice was calm and showed no disrespect, but it was firm in a way that left no room for dismissal. If it had been any other guard, I’d have had their throat. But Bog had been with me since New York.
