Page 130 of The Payback

Ellie rolls her eyes. “No, we flew commercial, so we couldn’t bring ours. Besides, we’re seeing friends with the best security system I’ve ever heard of. We don’t need to roll up armed to the teeth.”

There’s never an excuse to be unarmed, but if there are no guns, then there are no guns. Nothing to do at the moment but move on. “So tell me everything.”

Dimitri sighs beside me. “I thought running that Bratva chapter was tedious. This was worse.”

I chuckle because I remember the meetings I was subjected to when I was employed there, and I’m glad I wasn’t brought in to sit through them. Getting the highlights will be more than enough. Add in all the other agencies Interpol was working with, and it must have been a shitshow.

“We reviewed a bunch of the evidence gathered, confirming and signing statements we were there. Your death has been confirmed, by the way,” Ellie says. “The bodies from the ambulance were burned beyond recognition, and pulling all their teeth out before stuffing them in the bags was a good call. Though there were some questions about where all the teeth went.”

“Not something I want to repeat,” I say.Slippery fuckers, no matter which pliers I used.

“Anyway, they arrested most of the guests, surrounding the place and locking it down until everyone could be taken in and processed. A few avoided charges because they were just dates to the event, but we got a lot of the big players, along with most of the members of your chapter.”

Ellie looks relieved as she relays the most critical points.

“And Natasha?” I ask. I don’t know what I want her answer to be. It’s safe to say I have mixed feelings about Natasha’s arrest. She’s my cousin and was put through hell until she became the head of the Bratva. It’s not a stretch to say she’s done some horrible things while rising to her position. Murdering her husband is the first in a long line of misdeeds, but she’s my last blood relative on my father’s side.

“She slipped away,” Ellie says, her eyes tracking the emotion on my face. “You seem relieved.”

I shrug. “Can’t help feeling what I feel.”

Dimitri chimes in. “Oksana murdered my father.”

I whip my head in his direction. “What?!”

He nods. “She tried to put it all on Sergei in a plea deal, and while he was supposed to be home that night with no alibi, his mistress had a video of them fucking all night.”

“Jesus fuck, that’s disgusting. Who would film that?” I say, my stomach roiling worse than when I was poisoned.

“Someone who was holding it over his head for blackmail. Sergei had a copy of the video, and they brought in the mistress to confirm. But the kicker is Oksana said Sergei told her how he did it. Which was false, of course, but no one else knew the murder method, so from there, it was easy to pin her in her lie, according to the agents handling her.”

“So she’s going down for his murder?” I ask, hope in my voice.

“For sure. And even though the lawyers will try to drag this out, it won’t go far. The government has seized all their assets since they’re criminal earnings. Hard to retain a lawyer without the cash.”

I crow with laughter at their predicament but then my face falls.

“Are you okay?” I ask Dimitri. I know his dad’s death has weighed on him, especially since he wasn’t sure who killed him.

“Yeah, I’m just glad I finally have answers.”

“Why did she make it look like I did it?” I wonder aloud.

Ellie fields this one. “She knew of your old friendship with Dimitri, and when you returned unexpectedly, she panicked. You’d last seen each other ten years prior, and her sexual relationship with Dimitri’s father—yes, there was one of those—led to them talking about the two of you. Dimitri’s dad believed that united, you would be an unstoppable force. So, Oksana planted that doubt in Dimitri’s head by killing Danil the way you would and stopping that reunion from happening as soon as she could.”

She sighs before continuing. “Anyway, she killed Danil to make sure Dimitri was isolated. It was a surprise when Dimitri didn’t kill you outright, and she knew she was running out of time before the two of you worked things out. Hence the drive-by.”

It feels like a soap opera, and I’m only sorry I wasn’t on the other side of the glass, watching as this all unfolded.

“Sergei didn’t know about her moves. He only knew she wanted him aspakhan, but he wasn’t interested. He played along with her whims to keep her happy, but she had him by the balls and kept him in the dark about a lot.”

“So, who hasn’t been arrested?” I ask, needing a moment to process all of that. My life was fucked, and my best friend was betrayed to keep us from working out our shit, all to put a man into power who didn’t want it.

“Ana and Valentina, but their husbands were swept up in the raid. We have nothing concrete on them, but evidence might come to light with Oksana singing like a canary to lessen her sentencing. Her bodyguard flipped on her pretty quickly, especially about the assassination set up at the gala. His loyalty isn’t what Oksana thought it was.”

The New York chapter is in shambles, and while it will invite other organisations to fill the gap, the Bratva is done there, at least for a while.

An island comes into view, the dark foliage starting just past a strip of sand. A pink spire juts from the centre of the small land mass.

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