Page 70 of Savage Beauty

Igor takes the floor. “Damy i gospoda, dobryy vecher. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.” He clears his throat. “We are here to formally welcome Alexandr Sergeyev Kislev to our family as the new pakhan of the Kislev bratva.” He clears his throat. “Now. There’s been some speculation going around about the murder of Sal Tosca and also the tragic death of my old friend Commissioner Webster. Both of these killings will be investigated, and if there is a connection to Vlad Kislev, we will find out.” He waves a finger. “This does not mean we, thekomissiya, have any concerns about Sasha here. His loyalty is not in doubt.”

Igor is a clever bastard. I’ll give him that. If there was anyone here who didn’t think my brother killed Tosca and Webster, they sure as fuck suspect him now.

“What aboutyourloyalty?”

Everyone turns their heads in unison toward the voice. Claudia Tosca steps forward defiantly, standing tall.

“Be quiet, Miss Tosca.” Igor’s voice has a steely edge. “As I was saying—

“Youkilled my father,” Claudia says, raising her voice as shocked murmurs move through the room. “I was there. He told you the place would be empty when Sasha came by, but it wasn’t, and you were too arrogant to think of checking. I heard voices, came downstairs, and saw you shoot Papa. I heard you threatening Sasha, too.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Is Claudia coming to my defense after everything?

Igor waves his hand dismissively. “This woman is a fantasist. Sal Tosca released Sasha from their honor debt, and I ratified it. Nothing to see. I don’t know what happened after that, butyou,” he points at Claudia, “need help.”

What do I do?If I back her up, it won’t do any good. Claudia has no proof, and as a witness, she is not credible. A hysterical, unstable drug addict, messed up by a broken engagement and her father’s sudden death? Versus the calm, stoic leader of ourkomissiya, a man renowned as a safe pair of hands?

It’s already too late. Claudia is buckling under the pressure, her defiance crumbling away. Oleg goes to her, taking her arm.

“Now, that’s enough,” he says firmly. “You’re making a scene. What have you had?”

“I’m sober,” she says, outrage giving her a boost. “Let go! You people have a traitor and a murderer in your midst, and he’s taking you all for fools!”

A couple of otherkomissiyamembers join the effort, escorting the ranting Claudia out of the ballroom. Josie meets my eyes, and her sorrow burns me inside.

It’s all over.

“Well, that was entertaining!” Igor says brightly, to a ripple of nervous laughter. “Let’s get this show on the road.” He turns to me. “I will kill her for that,” he whispers.

I believe him. There’s a manic look to him now; perhaps he understands just how much his need for vengeance has warped him. A flicker of something crosses his face—regret, maybe—but he locks it down, replacing it with a benevolent smile.

“Alexandr Sergeyev Kislev, second son of Sergey Kislev, proven soldier of the bratva,” he begins. “It’s my honor to—”

The ballroom door crashes open, and when I look, I’m sure I’ve lost my mind. It’s Vlad, dragging the blood-soaked Freddy by his shirt collar. Behind him is Arman, a gun in his hand.

“Everybody stay fucking calm,” Arman shouts. He trains the gun on Igor, but not before several others in the room draw weapons of their own. “If you shoot me, Igor will die too, so keep those trigger fingers steady andlisten.”

He holds something out toward me, and I take it. An old-school file full of paper. I flick through, realizing immediately that this is my ticket. Freddy didn’t bullshit me; he really did have the evidence. Message screenshots, call recording transcripts, the works.

I stare at Freddy. “Why did you keep this stuff anyway?”

Vlad releases him, and he falls to the floor, coughing. He’s pretty fucked up; I don’t know who worked him over, but I couldn’t have done a better job myself.

“Leverage,” he croaks. “I’m a cop; I have my ways. I thought Tosca might try to screw me over once he got what he wanted. Didn’t expect it to go down like this.” He gestures at Igor. “You wanna tell him, or shall I?”

Igor knows what’s up. “Shoot him!” he cries, pointing at Vlad. “He killed Sal Tosca and Commissioner Webster. Thekomissiyano longer claims him!”

No one moves. All bravado aside, it would be quite something to gun down Vladimir Kislev on a whim, and no one has the balls to do it, not with so many witnesses.

“Thekomissiyahaven’t agreed to that, Igor,” Oleg says, getting to his feet. “And you just said we would be investigating, so how can you drop a death warrant on Vlad Kislev on your own authority?” He nods at me. “You’re at the center of whatever this is, so I want an explanation, and I want itnow. Are you and Igor working together?”

“No, we are not.”Fuck, that feels good to say.“Igor Gusev plotted with Sal Tosca to bring about my family’s downfall. They orchestrated a scenario where I repaid my honor debt to Tosca by killing a specific mark, not knowing that the man was Lawrence Webster, the former police commissioner.”

Oleg frowns. “So you admit to killing a cop?”

“Yes,” I reply, “but it was a set-up. Tosca thought the plan was to destroy my family, and he expected to be handsomely rewarded, but all he earned was a bullet to the head.”

Oleg raises an eyebrow and takes the file from me, thumbing through the paper leaves. Igor sees the situation is rapidly unraveling and starts panicking.

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