Page 19 of Absolution (The Titans of Founder's Ridge 3)

He gives me a nod and turns back to his drink and the man he was talking to before we came up. It’s not an enthusiastic yes but probably the best I’ll get out of any stoic Russian. We take our drinks and walk over toward one of the ballroom balconies. I’m almost to the door when I feel a hand land on my shoulder. All the hairs on my body rise when I feel the familiar squeeze.

I turn around and look my uncle in the face. “Ivan.”

“Connor.” He turns and pulls a girl up to us. “I bought you a late birthday gift.”

The girl is in a skintight black mini-dress and heels. She looks young and drugged out of her mind. “No.” I glare at him.

“Why? She’s lovely, isn’t she?” he asks, pretending he has no idea why I would say no.

“Where is Dad?” I ignore his goading. This is just attempted psychological intimidation by him.

“Around here somewhere. I see you brought your friends.”

“Figured, why not? Lilith is having her bachelorette party this weekend. Might as well bring the boys over here with me.”

“Exactly why you should take Karina into one of the private rooms for a bit.” He shoves her at me. “I even paid her extra to cry and scream.”

The impulse to pull my gun and shoot him point blank is so strong right now. I can feel the red haze of anger and hatred falling over me, driving me to make him beg like I used to beg. I want him to feel every bit of pain he forced me to inflict multiplied by ten.

“I don’t think Lilith would appreciate that,” Levi, addressing Ivan, pulls me from my violent fantasy.

“There you are,” Dad steps up next to Ivan. “The meeting is about to start.”

We follow Dad and Ivan through the ballroom and down a long hallway that ends with a staircase. Lake falls in behind us. We go down two flights of stairs and down another dark hallway. The room where the other eight families are already sitting has a large oval table. I stand directly behind Dad with Ivan to my left. Griff, Lev, and Lake sink into the darkness along the wall.

The meeting begins the way they usually do, discussing business and how to continue to build the power of The Nine. There’s a lot of pressure on the families who control the areas to the south. A similar group of powerful families from Turkey, Greece, and Croatia are beginning to run drugs and weapons into our territory. As the usual infighting begins among those who want to expand our boundaries and those who want to maintain them, I look over my shoulder.

Griff is paying extra close attention to everything going on, he’s probably got some sort of recording device actually. They made us drop our cell phones into a basket at the door, but obviously no one is giving up their weapons in a room full of power-hungry and blood-thirsty gangsters and criminals. Dad stands and bangs his fist on the table to get everyone’s attention.

“It’s come to my attention,”he says in Russian once everyone stops arguing,“that we have someone within The Nine double-crossing us.”

Ivan tenses up beside me, just enough for me to notice a slight change in demeanor. His jaw clenches once Dad continues.

“I’m not actually talking about one of you, though.”He turns to Ivan and points,“I’m talking about my brother. His list of offenses is long. Starting with double-crossing myself and framing us for corporate espionage. Next is the murder of my future daughter-in-law’s father.”

Ivan gives Dad a bored look.

“Worse is the plot to sell my daughter and daughter-in-law into the sex trade,”Dad pulls his gun and shoots the man who Ivan was paying off,“Anton knew the plan.”

Everyone in the room reaches for their weapons.

“I’m done.”Dad sets the gun down.“The only one still at risk here is Ivan. His worst offense was the years of psychological torture and abuse against my son. So, in honor of the most fucked up thing he ever did to Connor, I propose a game.”Dad turns to Ivan, who still has a bored look on his face.

“All I did was toughen him up, Victor. You raised a pussy American boy. To inherit everything, I was giving him what he needs to be strong.”

I don’t even think, my fist just flies at his face, snapping his head to side. I’m not surprised when he turns to me, laughing with blood running his face and staining his teeth. He’s completely insane.

“See?”He points at me.“I did that. I taught him to be strong.”

“You taught me nothing,” I answer in English.

“How about some Russian Roulette, Ivan? Instead of my son and homeless children, though, you and me. There’s only one bullet left,” he lifts his gun and shakes it in Ivan’s face.

What is he doing?

Panic begins to bubble up inside me. This is not the plan. This is my mess to clean up, not my dad’s problem. I, along with everyone else in the room, stand watching the stare down between brothers. At some point, Griff and Lev moved beside me. Their proximity might be the only thing keeping me from going off the rails.

“Fine.” Ivan steps toe-to-toe with Dad. “But you go first.”

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