Chapter 79
Dmitri
A burst of adrenaline pumped through my veins when I met Armen in front of the club that housed our hidden torture hole.
Though he was known for always wearing a blank look that masked his true feelings, I couldn’t help but notice the uncertainty lurking behind that veil.
“Where’s the motherfucker hiding?”
“He isn’t hiding, boss. He’s in your office… Seated on your chair, even,” He muttered and blocked me from opening the door.
“What’s the matter? Do you think I’m going to lose my senses over a man who doesn’t have control over his addiction?” I chuckled confidently and shrugged. “I took care of his father and I’d do the same to him if he tries to mess up,”
He wasn’t bothered anymore as he gave way for me to go in. The club was quiet with fewer customers since it was afternoon, and I preferred it this way because I didn’t want Ivanov’s scream to fill the club when people were partying even though they might have gotten used to it already.
Armen pressed some buttons and the murphy door opened on its own accord. We walked noiselessly through the silent hallway and got to my office.
Without hesitating, I pushed the door open and found the little fox seated comfortably on my chair with his legs crossed on my desk.
He let out a smoke from his cigar stick, his thin black hair in disarray and it dawned on me that he might have taken more than enough crack before coming here.
The only thing I had to do was find out how he got out of jail and why he was here.
“A very bright morning to you, Ivanov,” I greeted with a cold and sarcastic tone and leaned against the wall.
He waved off the smoke and coughed, sitting uprightly. “Oh, hey, cousin. What a pleasant surprise! I didn’t expect you’ll be coming into the office,”
“Well, it’s my office and I can come in any time I want to, you know,”
“Your office? Is it still yours?” He snorted and barked out a derisive laughter.
Armen and I exchanged glances and red lava began to form in my stomach. One more word from him and I doubted I’d be disciplined enough to hold my temper.
“Careful, boy. Don’t forget who has been helping you all this time,” I warned sternly.
He chortled, tapping the surface of the desk loudly. And then he sprang to his feet with his eyes narrowed as he glared at me. “In what way did you help me?” He scowled, approaching me in a wannabe confident stride.
“Don’t be an ingrate…”
“You killed my father, Dmitri. You are lucky to still be alive,” He sneered and I grabbed his shirt roughly, his cigar fell off his hand.
Armen intercepted me, clutching onto my wrist so that I wouldn’t go ahead with my plan to strangle him to death. I let go of him and he staggered backward, letting out a chuckle.
“You shouldn’t have done that, Capo. I came here thinking that we could have a truce and a peaceful business meeting, but you just shown me that there’s nothing peaceful about you,”
“A truce?” I clicked my tongue. “Peace? You show up in my office unannounced and even sit on my chair then ask for peace. How were you even able to get out of jail?” My temper was rising and I wasn’t making any effort to put a lid on it.
He shrugged and plopped down on one of the empty chairs. “Getting out of jail was easy, man. The judge had some skeletons in her cupboard that I knew about so I used that to help myself. Is there anything wrong with that?” He passed a glance from me to Armen.
“Ivanov,” I growled.
“Anyway, that’s not why I’m here. A little birdie told me that your goods have been falling short of standard and our customers are complaining,”
I threw a glance at Armen whose eyes were squinted in confusion and asked. “What are you talking about?”
“Okay, so I’m going to explain further since both of you are quite confused right now. So my late father and I share a similar notion about your position as Capo. I don’t like that you are the leader of our gang when you knowingly brought in a woman who was the daughter of our archenemy…”
“I didn’t know that Anya belonged to the outfit,” I said in my defense.
“Oh, but you knew after and kept it to yourself,”
“Was I to tell you about it? That was the worst mistake I’ve ever made and I tried my best to rectify it-”
“And yet you kill anyone who makes the same mistake or even less. Isn’t that hypocritical?” A cynical smirk crept to his face.
“You haven’t told me what you want, Ivanov,” I gently sat down on my chair, getting tired of the back and forth.
“I’ll go straight to the point, cousin. The thing is, I can’t watch you lead this gang to its downfall so I’m going to take over as Capo. Don’t worry, you’ll still have a territory to yourself, but I want Solntsevo District to myself,” He declared.
Though I’d been more angry than happy for a while, I couldn’t help myself from bursting into hysterical laughter. He stared at me, his face scrunched up in a frown which spurred on my laughter.
After a while, it died down to a light chuckle. “Oh, Ivanov, how many wraps of coke did you take before barging into my office and spewing out this nonsense?”
“Surprisingly, I took none. I wanted to confront you being free from any influence,”
“Then why are you so confident that the Solntsevo district will agree to be ruled by you?”
“Because I have someone who believes in me and is ready to help me out with my plans. He should be here any moment from now,” Ivanov glanced at his wristwatch and then a firm and steady thumping sounded on my door.
“Who’s that?”
“You’ll see,” He grinned with his complete set of teeth almost visible.
The doorknob was twisted and the door itself gave way for the only person I never expected to see again.
Nikolai, my older brother and the eldest son of my parents stood in front of me; his signature brusque smile carved on his face.
The nonchalant tilt of his head stirred up strong emotions within me, but I suppressed them and instead, I relaxed, loosening up the buttons of my shirt.
“It’s good to see you again, Nikolai,” I stretched my hand for a handshake.
He lowered his lashes, regarding my hand for a while then he dropped his suitcase on the desk and passed a cursory glance around my office.
“Won’t say the same for me though. It’s been a while since I left and I can say that you’ve done a good job with the office… And your wife, she’s so pretty and young,”
“Everyone, leave,”
No one dared to go against me when I employed my Capo tone so they all left including Ivanov who hissed loudly and slammed the door behind him.
“Why did you come back, Nikolai?” I rested my hands on the desk and leaned forward.
“To help my cousin. He wants to be a Capo, and I’m very capable of aiding him to climb the ladder of success so what’s wrong with that?” He replied flippantly.
“I won’t allow you to take the Solntsevo District. Dad and I worked hard to make it what it is now and it would be over my dead before that drug addict becomes the Capo. If not for my influence, he’d have been wasting away in rehab by now and he even left jail illegally,” I banged my fist on the table.
“You have to stop speaking as if you have done anything the legal way. You maim people, sell drugs, run whorehouses, collect taxes, and kill people in the most gruesome manner ever so why are you sounding like you are a saint?” He interrogated me calmly.
I got up and crossed over to where he was seated and tipped my body against the edge of the table.
“Look, Nikolai, the only reason I haven’t thrown you out of this office is because of the relationship we have. You have been away for ten years and we haven’t experienced any troubles since you left. We both know that I don’t sell substandard drugs so quit playing this shitty game with me and return to Europe,” I demanded arcing over so that we’d be on the same eye level.
His eyes darkened as he met my gaze squarely. “Unfortunately, I won’t be doing that, brother, because I didn’t just come to visit… I’ve come to stay,”