Sasha
The first gunshot makes me flinch and blink my eyes open. The pain in my cheek and the taste of blood in my mouth have overtaken my senses, and I feel like my mind is just drifting back to consciousness. What’s going on?
I hear Yuriy’s unintelligible yelling and screaming, a rustle of clothes, some kind of commotion around the room-and then, another gunshot. This time it’s even louder, and my body reacts on pure instinct. I sit up on the floor, trying to focus better on my surroundings, and from the corner of my eye, I see Yuriy slump to the floor.
Wait, did they shoot him? Is it real?
I look at Yuriy’s body and instinctively crawl back and away from him when I see that he’s still trying to move. The gunshots are still ringing in my ears, so it takes me a moment to realize that the room is completely silent. In that silence, Yuriy’s wheezing and convulsive attempts to grab his own chest are that much clearer.
“You-how could you-”
His words are cut off by another coughing fit, but the look of his wide eyes is fixed on Olga-and only then do I realize that it wasn’t Louis who shot him. Olga lowers the gun in her hand, looking at him with cold indifference, and slowly walks around the desk to get closer to Yuriy. The clacking of her heels echoes in the silence, and I freeze as I watch the scene in front of me.
For the first time in my life, Yuriy looks petrified. His eyes are wide open, his teeth are gritted with blood trickling down to his chin, and his face looks like a grimace of pain and fear. He gasps for breath and attempts to crawl away from Olga, gurgling through the blood.
“Sergei, Sergei, where are you? Kill-kill her, do you-” He coughs again, unable to take a breath, and wheezes, “Do you hear me? S-stop her.”
But Sergei doesn’t budge, watching his father thrash around with a distant look. None of the guards moves either as if waiting to see who will win, and it looks like Yuriy understands that as well because he grunts a curse in Russian under his breath and turns to Olga. By now, she’s already standing right in front of him, looking down at her husband with no mercy in her eyes.
“Just tell me…” Another gurgle interrupts him, and Yuriy has to gasp for breath a few times before he manages to finish with a single word.
“Why?”
“You’ve lost your grip, darling.” She raises her gun and aims at his head. “It’s time for me to take over the crown.”
She pulls the trigger, and even I flinch and look away from the gruesome scene, looking for Misha instead. He’s on the other side of the room, and thankfully, it looks like the desk covers Yuriy’s body from him. But my heart still squeezes when I realize that he’s crying with his knees pressed to his chest and his eyes tightly shut.
God, my baby. A pause inevitably settles in the room after the second most powerful person in Chicago’s underworld dies, but I ignore it and, with my hands still tied behind me, rush to Misha. My cheek and lip are still swollen, my shoulder is bruised, my muscles are sore, and every movement hurts in one way or another-but I don’t pay attention to any of that.
“Teddy bear, are you alright?” I drop to my knees next to him, leaning forward to take a proper look at his face. As soon as he hears my voice, Misha looks up at me with swollen eyes and lunges forward with a stifled sob.
“Mommy! I was so scared!”
At the same time, I hear some commotion behind me and awkwardly crawl around to look. With a loud curse, Louis pushes Ivan off himself and hurries toward us, dropping the gun on the floor. His eyes are full of so much worry and affection that my heart tightens, and when he wraps his arm around my shoulders, I can’t help but lean in.
God, is it finally over?
As if in response to my thought, the door swings open, and I hear people walking in. What, are these Yuriy’s people? Is this another trap? I feel so exhausted I don’t even have enough strength in me to care about the potential danger. I only lean closer into Louis’s embrace that enwraps both
Misha and me and shut my eyes. Just give us some peace, please… “What happened?”
I blink in surprise and feel Louis’s shoulders tense up as he turns around to follow the voice. I look up as well and see Riccardo and Elena at the doorstep. They both look caught off guard, looking around the room with surprise and confusion. Yeah, I’m sure this is not what they expected to see, although I’m surprised they even got to Yuriy’s office so easily.
“You’re too late,” Olga says suddenly and places the gun on the desk before fixing her hair. Her voice is as calm as always, as if she hasn’t just killed her own husband. “We’ve already finished. Boria, Ivan, take the body away.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Uh, but where should we take it?” Ivan hesitantly lingers next to Yuriy’s body, and Olga gestures at the door.
“Put him in the freezer in the basement, I’ll take care of the burial later.” She turns to her son and nods at the body. “Actually, Sergei, you can help them. Your father was one hell of a boar. ”
Without a hint of grief or hesitation, Sergei nods and walks past her to Yuriy, joining the other two. As he passes Olga, she briefly squeezes his shoulder and murmurs something into his ear with a softer look in her eyes before letting him go and turning to Riccardo and Elena. It’s unusual to see Olga showing her feelings in public, but I guess today is special.
While the guys carry Yuriy’s body through the room, we all watch as if hypnotized. God, how little it takes to turn such a powerful man into a pile of flesh and bones. When they finally leave, it feels as if everyone breathes out simultaneously, and a moment later Riccardo clears his throat.
“Does this mean our deal is sealed?” he says rather cautiously, looking at Olga with slightly raised eyebrows. Next to him, Elena weaves her hand around his shoulder, squeezing it with what looks like nervousness.
“It is.” Olga nods and even smiles a little, leaning on the desk with her fingers. “Welcome to the new era, ladies and gentlemen.”
Wait, what? I look at Louis, he turns to look at me, and I see the same confusion in his frown. Oh, okay. Good to know I’m not the only one clueless here. Actually, as I look at him, it reminds me of something, and I nudge Louis with my elbow and nod at my back. My hands are still tied and my muscles feel numb at this point, so it’d be nice to free them.
“Ah, sorry.” Louis immediately moves behind me to undo the ties and, while his hands are busy, looks up. “Is someone going to explain to us what’s going on?”
Riccardo looks at Louis in surprise as if he forgot he was there, but a moment later he clears his throat and scratches the back of his head. “Oh.
Right.”
If I knew him any better, I’d say he looks awkward, but I don’t really care.
As soon as Louis unties my hands, I turn away from Riccardo and Elena and focus on pulling Misha into my arms. Whatever they’re gonna say, the only important thing right now is that my son is safe and sound. He’s still trembling slightly, and I hear sniffles in his breathing, but he’s definitely feeling better now, and god, it’s so good to just hold him like this. I even close my eyes for a moment, holding Misha tighter, but Riccardo’s voice pulls me back to the present.
“I guess now there’s nothing to hide anymore.” He looks at Olga and Elena as if checking with them before turning back to us. “A few months ago, Olga secretly sent me a message through Elena, warning me that Yuriy planned to break the truce and offering to help her in taking him down. She already had quite a few people on her side, but she needed someone from outside the family to keep him distracted. So I contacted Gerardo Escarra and offered to secretly use some of our storage if he agreed to keep the
Russians occupied.”
What? All three families had an agreement and nobody knew about it? I think about every time my family and I had to risk our lives to chase the Mexicans out of our territories, and it sends a wave of anger through me. I can feel Louis tense up next to me, and I guess he had no idea about this either.
Riccardo seems to catch our discontent and shrugs before continuing, “I know, it was risky, but it was worth it. The Mexicans kept Yuriy distracted while Olga was gathering people and information to find the best time to kill him-and that’s when you entered the scene.”
Us? I exchange a quick glance with Louis and instinctively pull Misha closer. Is he talking about our wedding?
“To be honest, I think we owe you a thank you.” Riccardo chuckles, patting Elena’s hand on his arm. “It was almost impossible to catch Yuriy off guard, and if we made even a single mistake, he’d kill Olga without a second of delay. But after you two got married, oh, it got him so excited.”
Riccardo looks at Olga, prompting her to continue, and she chuckles in her usual cold manner and nods. “Yes, Yuriy had come up with the idea of setting up Nikolai and pushing Sasha to break the truce even before she accepted the proposal.”
“Wait,” Louis suddenly says with a look of realization on his face. “Does that mean that Yuriy sent you to tell me about her mom?” Oh, shit. It does make sense.
“He did,” Olga confirms with a nod. “He hoped that Sasha would lose herself as soon as she found out the truth-and I have to say, you fulfilled his expectations.”
She looks at me with a small, amused smile, and I feel sick at the thought of being Yuriy’s doll. Am I so easy to manipulate? Goddamnit!
“Even more so,” Olga continues in the meantime, “Louis, one of the Messinas, joined you, and you both wreaked so much havoc that no one would doubt Yuriy’s decision to get back at the Italians. And, well, the rest is history.”
She gestures at the spot on the carpet where Yuriy’s body lay just a few minutes ago and scrunches her nose. I guess the bloodstain doesn’t fit the interior of the office.
“So what now?” Louis shakes his head after processing their story for a few seconds and turns to Riccardo. “Are we friends with the Russians?
And the Mexicans? What does it all mean?”
“Looks like we are friends with the Russians.” Riccardo chuckles and looks from Elena to Olga. “But about the Mexicans…we’ll see.”
“We’ll see,” Olga confirms, and I catch a cold note in her voice. “They have to abide by our rules. Otherwise, we’ll have to join forces and get rid of them once and for all.”