Page 24 of Lies (Wicked Empire 1)

FIVE

Davit

“What was that?”my brother Elias asked, looking around the docks for anything out of order.

Through some miracle, he hadn’t yet spotted Amethyst, but I couldn’t count on that to last.

“Nothing for you to worry about,” I responded in Armenian, trying to shield our conversation from prying ears.

He narrowed his eyes at me and glared.

“If it involves my business, it’s something for me to worry about,” he said.

“Don’t you mean our business, Elias? The business I told you I was taking care of tonight?” I asked.

“Now’s not the time for semantics, Davit. Or should I call you Josh?”

He scowled after he uttered my fake name, something he did on each of those rare occasions that he used it.

“I know my name just as well as you do. And it’s not semantics. More importantly, I told you I’ll handle it,” I said.

“Make sure that you do,” Elias responded.

“Don’t I always?” I countered.

“You never let anybody else have the last fucking word, huh, asshole?”

“Looks like you can’t either.”

He gave me a grudging smile, the tension of the previous moments fading just like that.

“I don’t have time for this bullshit, Davit. Just confirm that the shipment has arrived,” he said, transitioning back to business in a flash.

“Yes. Just like it has every time for the last three years. Like clockwork,” I responded.

“You have been consistent. I’ll give you that.”

“Gee, thanks,” I said, smiling at him.

“What? Do I not praise you enough, little brother?” he said, giving me a hard slap on the shoulder.

“You don’t, but don’t let that bother you. And besides, if you were praising me, I’d be worried about a knife in my back,” I said.

Elias just laughed, and then he shrugged. The casual movement wasn’t one that most would expect from the head of an organized crime syndicate.

Of course, he was my older brother, so I got to see parts of him most others didn’t.

“Don’t worry, Davit. If I want to knife you, it will be directly in your chest,” he said.

“I appreciate that about you, Elias. You’re very straightforward,” I said with a laugh.

“I don’t have time for anything else. And speaking of time…” He made a big show of looking at the quarter-million-dollar watch on his wrist.

“Don’t let me keep you from more important affairs,” I said, shaking my head.

“Don’t worry; I wouldn’t let you. That problem from earlier…”

So he hadn’t missed Amethyst after all.

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