“Hello, Uncle. I think perhaps it is time we discuss this business between us like men.”
“Like men?” He snorts. “A man wouldn’t run from his problems.”
“A man wouldn’t order the death of another man’s woman behind his back,” I return. “But I am coming to realize with each passing day that you were never a man at all. First my mother, your own blood, and now me? Is there anyone you will not betray to save your own skin?”
“Fuck you,” he spits into the phone. “You shot Andrei. Your cousin. My son! Who the fuck do you think you are?”
My grip on the phone tightens as I lower my voice, so that he can be sure I’m in a rational mind. “I’m the man who’s going to destroy you.”
“I will send every soldier at my disposal after you. I will tear this country apart until your blood is spilled. And that of your son’s—”
“You know, I am growing very tired of your empty threats.” I meet Maxim’s gaze as he returns to his car, nodding in my direction. “So, I think I will explain this in terms you can understand. Call off your fucking dogs now, or I will have no choice but to unleash every one of your dirty secrets for the entire world to see.”
“Secrets.” He laughs darkly. “You have nothing on me.”
“Oh, but I do. That drive you were so intent on finding? I have that list of names. And it’s funny what connections you can make from such a simple document. Like the fact that the neighbor you murdered in my mother’s building was a retired fed.”
Silence is the only response on the other end of the line, and if it wasn’t for his heavy breathing, I wouldn’t even be sure he was still there. But I’ve got his attention now. And I’m going to run with it.
“There is also the cop that you killed,” I continue. “My mother. Nina’s father. After all, it’s his name on your list. How many others? Too many connections to count. Deaths that can all be linked back to you.”
“You wouldn’t fucking rat on your family,” he snarls. “You may be a lot of things, Lev, but a snitch isn’t one of them.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes to secure my future,” I assure him. “Even if that means throwing you to the wolves.”
“I think you’re forgetting something.” His voice changes to one of amusement. “Betray the Vory, and you will bring down a whole world of pain on yourself. So, go ahead, talk to the feds. See what happens.”
“Ahh... but that’s the thing. I’m not betraying the Vory, am I? I’m only betraying you. Who sanctioned all these hits? I don’t think I need to tell you that the chain of command was broken in every instance.”
“And I think you’re forgetting something,” Vasily replies. “A Vor will always back another Vor. You were never inducted. If it comes down to you or me, it will always be me.”
“We’ll see.”
On the other end of the line, I can hear him twisting the seal of his beloved vodka. He won’t admit that I have him at a disadvantage. I already knew he wouldn’t back down. Even if it costs him his freedom, he will never let a slight go unpunished.
“You think you are so smart,” he says finally. “Calling me to threaten me like a little bitch. But there is a complication that you did not foresee. Something even I did not see. Perhaps you care to venture a guess?”
In the pit of my stomach, I know what he’s referring to. But he’s testing me. He wants to know if I know about Kat’s relation to Gleb, which means that he’s made the connection himself. It’s the only thing he could be referring to.
“Maybe I won’t kill your little bitch when I find her,” he says, answering my unspoken thoughts. “She might come to be useful after all. You, however, I can’t say the same for.”
“So, this is how you choose to proceed?” My hand balls into a fist.
“Come at me with everything you’ve got, Lev,” he answers darkly. “Because I won’t rest until I’ve hunted you like a dog and destroyed everything you love. Mark my words.”
11
Kat
I sit amid bubbles in a tub big enough for two at what is probably one of the nicest places I’ve ever stayed in. I thought Lev would choose a quiet hotel out of the way, but we’re at a high rise in Times Square in the heart of everything.
Even though I grew up in Philadelphia, I’ve never been to New York City. Josh has his face plastered to the floor-to-ceiling glass wall, Wally in one hand, little toes peeking out from beneath his new Minion pajamas and staring in awe at everything. He didn’t even fight me when it came time to take his bath when he saw the size of the tub. I guess to him it was like a small swimming pool. Which there is an indoor one here and Lev has promised to take him swimming tomorrow.
“Time for bed, Josh,” Lev says from the doorway of the bathroom. It’s so big, I’m pretty sure the entire cabin Josh and I rented in Colorado could fit inside it.
When Josh doesn’t reply, Lev goes to him and crouches down beside him. He wraps one arm around Josh’s shoulders to point out something, and I think about how right this is. How right that he’s with us. Even with everything going on, I don’t have to do it alone, and I didn’t realize how much of a weight that’s been all these years.
Josh giggles as Lev makes a joke, then lifts him up in his arms and walks him toward me.
“Night, Mommy,” Josh says, rubbing his eyes.
Lev leans him down, and I plant a kiss on the top of his head.
“Night, baby,” I say and watch them walk out through our bedroom and to the connecting one. A few minutes later, I hear the familiar words of Good Night, Gorilla. I lean my head back against the cool ceramic of the tub and close my eyes.
My mom was somehow involved in this world. How? And who would know? Vasily, but he would just as soon kill me than tell me anything. My father?
My father.
My mom was in love with him, according to Maxim.
I sit up, disturbing the bubbles.
My mother was in love with a mobster. Not only that, but the boss of them all. And she ran information on him to Vasily? That doesn’t make sense. Why would she do that? Is Maxim right that he was blackmailing her? Or that Vasily “had something on her,” as he put it?
She was barely twenty when she gave birth to me. How much could there be to “have” on a person?
“He’s out cold,” Lev says not ten minutes later, leaning against the doorframe with arms folded across his chest.
“He must be exhausted with everything that’s happening.”
He nods. “You didn’t kill him, by the way.”
“What?”
“We didn’t get a chance to talk about it, but if you’re feeling guilty or upset about the guy at the service station, your bullet didn’t kill him. Mine did.”
Is there something wrong with me that I didn’t care about that man? Should I feel guilty?
“I don’t,” I tell Lev.
He studies me in that way of his that he’s always had. Like he can see right into my mind.
I stand and watch him sweep his gaze over me as soapy water glides off my body.