Page 44 of Vicious Hearts

I tap my phone and call the number Leo gave me. It’s the personal number for Kal Antonov.

Kal is the Pakhan of the Pushkin-Antonov Bratva, and the son-in-law of Fyodor Pushkin, head of thekommissiya. Being that Hillard and I are no longer sympatico, I need Kal’s permission to access resources I used when I worked for Pavel—snitches, info miners, hackers, moles.

No one will give me the time of day without Kal’s say-so, but I don’t know the guy. He and Leo wereSpetsnazbuddies, and I’m sure Leo will have vouched for me, but it’s Kal I gotta convince.

Kal answers after four rings. “Da?”

“Dobry den', Boss,” I say, using the common honorific for Bratva leaders. “This is Benedikt Voratov.”

“Ah, yes.” Kal’s tone is cool. “Leo told me you kicked the fuck out of some creep who touched up your girl, and got yourself in trouble with the police. I should be more pissed off than I am, but truthfully, I like your style.”

“You know what I’m gonna ask.” I look over my shoulder to see Roxy sitting up, stretching her arms above her head. “I’m certain that The Dollmaker is still out there, and the guy in jail was set up for the murders. I need to do some digging.”

Kal sighs. “I have a little girl. If anything were to happen to her—hell, just thinking about it makes me want to punch someone.” He pauses as though he needs a moment to cleanse the thought from his mind. “Your involvement in The Dollmaker investigation was a useful way to get leverage over Hillard, but that won’t change. If the guy sent the wrong suspect to jail, he’ll probably lose his job, at which point we might be able to use our influence to get someone more fucking amenable in the job. So on that basis, I can justify letting you run free.”

“You can make Hillard give me what I need?”

“Icouldlean on him, but it'd blow the whole thing wide open, and he’d know what was going on. Your woman might get hurt before the cops get their heads out of their asses. They let six kids die and framed an innocent man, so do you want to put your faith in them now?”

He makes a good point. “Can you at least stop Hillard from actively getting in my way?”

“Yep. I’ll just tell him to back off. But keep out of fights and don’t make problems for yourself.”

“Sure.”

Roxy frowns questioningly at me through the glass. I turn away.

“Two more things, Benedikt.”

“What?”

“Don’t tell Fyodor about this. My Papa-in-law is kinda paranoid, and you are persona non grata to him right now. It’ll be a lot easier to do what you gotta do and let me cop the flak, but when all’s said and done, your standing with the Bratva might improve.”

Glad to hear it. It’s a fringe benefit at this point, but I’m not complaining.

“Got it,” I say. “What else?”

“Criminals like us have rules, but psychopathic sickos are something else.” Kal’s voice takes on a steely edge. “I can’t maintain a sense of order with a guy like that running free. I need no wildcards playing their nasty little games in my territory. If you find that child-murdering shitstain, fucking kill him.”

15

Roxy

With some trepidation, I agree to call in on Leo and Ali. I played it down when I spoke to Ali yesterday, but she'll know the score when she sees Ben and me together. I’ve never been able to hide from her.

“So what?” Ben asks as he shuts off the car’s engine. “You’re entitled to have your fun too. You don’t owe her an explanation.”

“What if she asks what we are?”

“Just say you never fuck and tell.”

He’s pretending to be obtuse, but he knows damn well that I’m really askinghimto clarify it. I don’t want him to act dismissively toward me in front of our friends. They've seen enough of that.

Ben walks around the car and opens the passenger door. I swallow my irritation as he takes my hand, helping me to my feet.

“Occasionally, you can be a real gentleman,” I say.”

He raises my hand to his face and kisses my fingertips. “Never for long,charodeyka, even if I wanted to be. And believe me. I don’t.”

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