For hours, we discussed and fought each other in the study. Insults and pillows were thrown, but hugs and comfort were also shared. There were questions that had no answers, solutions that had no support. War was declared but so was peace.
I offered my plan again. Konstantin shut me down.
When the dawn arrived, I called it quits. I may love my family but there was only so much I could take. I didn’t have Kon’s endless patience–even if motherhood had given me some more. A piercing headache formed in the front of my head, so painful I had to cover my eyes to reduce the agony.
Kon found me leaning against Niko’s bed in the dark. My son slept peacefully, not stirring when his father joined me on the ground.
I looked around Niko’s room. He had chosen everything he wanted in it, the walls green and the bedsheets patterned with dinosaurs. Every time Kon cleaned it, another mess sprung up. From scattered shoes to ignored toys and broken books. Niko got his inability to be neat from me–my husband liked to remind me constantly of this fact.
On the nightstand was a photo of Niko and me. I had taken it randomly when he was thirteen months. He was asleep on my lap, the awkward angle of the camera showing his bloated belly and scruffy hair. I looked exhausted but was smiling for the camera, arm stretched out as far as it would go to try and minimize how much of my face was detailed.
I hadn’t brought the photo with me but Kon had sent some men to our past home to gather personal items. I had cried when he presented the photo albums to me.
“She spoke to my son,” I said in the dark.
“I know.”
“She…” Emotion clogged up my throat, a mixture of anger and despair. “She spoke to my baby, got close to my child. The teeth…”
Kon took me in his arms, sharing his strength with me. “I know, lyubimaya. Trust me, I know.” His voice had softened but I could hear the fury clinging to every syllable.
I closed my eyes briefly. “I’m going.”
He didn’t say anything.
“I’m going to destroy her, Kon. In the three years she has been at large, not a single boss has come close to taking her down.” I snapped my eyes open, meeting his gaze in the dark. “I will do what none of you could. I will tear her apart limb by limb and use her blood to water my plants.”
Kon pressed his lips to mine, not out of affection, but to claim. “Show them all what happens when they threaten our son. Let the world know what creature I had married to my side, Elena Tarkhanov, and the terror she is capable of.”
30
Elena Tarkhanov
She was waiting for me in between the apple trees.
The ice-kissed branches offered her shelter from the moon and stars, letting shadows bunch around her like the loyal servants they were. Her dark coat allowed her to blend in, but the brilliant color of her eyes stopped her from disappearing all together.
If I didn’t know who she was, I might have thought I had come across a predator in the night.
You have, a small voice said in my mind.
Tatiana said nothing as I made my way over to her. The only sound was the crunch of hail beneath my boots.
“Thank you for meeting with me.” My voice was controlled and tight.
Never let her see what’s going on inside of you, lyubimaya, my husband had warned me. The beast inside of you should be hidden until you need it to leap forward.
“Have you reconsidered my offer?” she asked.
In the darkness, I spotted figures moving about. Tatiana’s loyal men.
“I have.”
Tatiana turned her head, her attention as piercing as the icy wind. “I am very pleased to hear that, Elena. How can I be sure I can trust you?”
I pulled back my hood, revealing the bruise that bloomed over my cheekbone. Danika had shown me how to do it with a door, explaining that sometimes she got prisoners to warm up to her by pretending to also be a prisoner. It had hurt, but seeing Konstantin’s expression when he had spotted the mark had felt worse.
Tatiana’s eyes went straight to it. “Men.”
“I’m not my mother,” I said. “I am much smarter, and I will not succumb to the same fate as her.”
The words struck their intended mark. Her expression tightened. “No, neither will I.”
We stood together in silence until she said, “Your son?”
“Your son?” I repeated.
“All men do is take,” was her reply. “I can teach you how to take as well. I’ll share my greed with you, Elena, and you will have everything you desire. You’ll never have to be stolen from again.”
I smiled, meeting her eyes. I let her see what she wanted to see…and what lived inside of me. “I look forward to it.”
When she stepped into the cloud of shadows, I followed and I did not look back.
Part Three –
The Bratva Empress.
“Tools of men are not inherently evil.
It is how they are used.”
– Helen A. Strindberg, otherwise known as Elena Tarkhanov.
31
Konstantin Tarkhanov
I looked across the table at my fellow mob bosses, assessing their every move and twitch.
We had decided on a vacant office building as our meeting place to discuss Tatiana. After days of discussion, it was the only neutral place all five of us would agree to. Our men lined the walls and hallways, some even circling the building like sharks swimming around their prey.
The air was thick with distrust and wariness.
Chen Qiang, Shan Chu of the Chen Triad; Thomas Sr Ó Fiaich, Boss of the Ó Fiaich Mob; Mitsuzo Ishida, Oyabun of the Ishida Yakuza; Giovanni Vigliano, Don of the Vigliano Famiglia.
And me.
Konstantin Tarkhanov, Pakhan of the Tarkhanov Bratva.
Five of the world’s most powerful men in one room. If the pedestrians that strolled on the streets below us were privy to these meetings, they would lose all faith in democracy and government. Who was elected had never been the true leader; it has always been my kind.
We chose what drugs and money and pleasures you were allowed. We drew the borders and we fought wars over territories. Let the congressmen and senators fight in their cushy chambers with gold-plated name tags, let them believe they reigned over anything.
All the decisions that mattered occurred in rooms just like this one and were made by men just like me.
Didn’t that just horrify?
Today, there was one topic we had come to discuss. Tatiana.
In the years since her reveal and disappearance, my relationship to my fellow mob bosses had been both tense and suspicious. I had failed by allowing our largest enemy to live in my house, eating my food and exploiting my protection. They weren’t sure if they could trust me. I could see the questions in their heads.
Is he working with her? What will they do together? Is our power and are our territories safe?
I wasn’t bothered by their worries. If the roles were reversed, I would have the same questions.
But the situation had changed.
My wife was with Tatiana now. I didn’t care if I had to force every boss in this room with a gun to the head, they would help me in the fight against Tatiana and they would do it smiling.
“The facts you have presented us are interesting, Konstantin,” Mitsuzo said. Out of all the bosses, Mitsuzo and Giovanni were the ones I had the better relationships with. Mitsuzo respected me; Giovanni was in my debt. “Tatiana…or Titus, or whatever she is called, using the underground tunnels and abandoned train stations to grow her organization is believable.”