Scarred (Lost Series Book 2) (12 page)

Politics, I hated them. I really did. But sometimes you had to put a politician in the ground to get the law down.

Ethan

I
hated fucking with the politico of the group. That meant a change in regime, potential safeguards in place and more. What I needed to do was get Evgeny alone with Anatoly. Those two I trusted to help pave the way. Later, when things had been figured out we’d bring Grigory in. But Samuel was mine to kill. We’d decide how everyone was going to divide the proceeds later.

“My wife is River Kendall, but her maiden name was Hoyt.”

“That name is familiar. I know it from somewhere. Not every day you see someone named River,” Samuel said. With his brow furrowed and his fingers pinching his chin, he looked like he was really in thought. I looked to Evgeny. He nodded with imperceptivity.

“Was engaged to Senator Connor Reese’s son,” Evgeny provided. “There was some shit I had to clean up for them in one of my clubs up north. You remember, Samuel, you called me about it.”

“That’s right. Reese is one of ours. Every once in a while he asks that I make sure things stay clean for him when he can’t handle it. He knew the club was one of ours,” Samuel said. “I wouldn’t have known the son’s girl offhand though.”

“Your wife asked you to put a hit on a senator’s son? How did she know to come to you?”

I wondered that too. No one talked about the family, about our business. But maybe there was more going on than I thought about originally. Maybe this was more about River
and
me, versus just River.

“She says from the bar. While she was working there she heard some men talking about me and my gym. About my record. You know the media has been hinting at my connections for years.”

“They always hint. Media loves their sensationalized stories, true or not. Some of your exploits in prison may have gotten out from other prisoners,” Samuel said.

True. Very true. I never worried about the hints. As long as it was just an alleged connection in the media, I didn’t give a shit. They couldn’t hurt me, and business went on as usual. Right now the question was, how did Samuel tie into all of this?

And why?

“When she came to me, I turned her away, but some thugs working for Derrick Reese found her and put her in the hospital.”

“Turning into a good Samaritan?” Grigory asked.

“Fuck that. I wanted her, and I needed the time to check if her story was real. Once I found out it was, I moved in to claim what I wanted.”

“How do you know you were betrayed?”

“Because one of my men was supposed to take her to the gym for rehabilitation when everyone was under orders not to leave. Pavel was able to find some suspicious money transferred into Vadim’s account and noticed he was acting odd while I was taking care of other business. Once I was alerted, we were able to sabotage the plan.”

They didn’t need to know that River had been running from me. As mine, she shouldn’t have been able to run away. But what went on between River and I would never be family business. Pure and simple. That piece of my life belonged only to me.

“I assume he’s been dealt with,” Anatoly said.

“Skin and bones,” I said. They would understand what I meant.

“Good choice,” Grigory said. There were a few different ways to send a message through a dead traitor’s body. Skinning them alive usually added shock factor the rest of the bratok. No one wants to die like that. No one. Maybe if it had been a lesser offense I would have just killed him and left him somewhere, but he nearly hurt River, and that meant he deserved the worst.

“Vadim was high up your ladder. Only second to Pavel,” Anatoly said. I could see that he was putting things together, seeing how I assumed I was betrayed.

“Pavel offered his life for the failure, and has been checked. There are no connections between the two of them. They didn’t even socialize outside of business.”

“That could all be a front. Maybe we should have a conversation with Pavel,” Samuel said.

“You demand rights to my avtoritet?” I stared at him, hard. No vor was granted access to another’s avtoritet. It was like saying, come on and fuck his wife. Samuel knew better. Anatoly frowned at him before looking to me, and then to Evgeny.

“No, Pantera. Was just trying to help.”

“Well, help less.”

“How well do you know Senator Reese?” Anatoly asked Samuel.

“We’re not friends, if that’s what you’re asking. We’ve met a few times to discuss politics and what he needs to do to keep the families happy. He knows his place and I don’t have to check up on him often. He knows who gave him the money to secure his place.”

“We can check into this Senator Reese. He may have gotten a bit greedy. Or thought he could undermine the family and deal with this problem directly. But he never should have been able to get to Vadim. That’s too high up the food chain. Vadim must have thought he’d have the protection of another vor,” Grigory said.

“My thoughts exactly,” I said.

“But who’d be stupid enough to challenge another vor like this? It’s sloppy and doesn’t even count as a coup. So River got killed? Taking away that she’s your wife now, no one knew that before, so they wouldn’t have known how important she is to you. And even as your wife, the family comes first,” Grigory said.

He was only partially right. River was very important to me, but the family, as much as I loved it, didn’t come first any longer. I was out here, right now, for her. I wanted to keep her safe, and that meant keeping my fucking head attached to my body.

“Yeah, but if you’re a boss that wants my territory, or my gym, that brings in multi-millions every year, then you start looking for ways to turn people. You find one of my men and you put them on payroll. Then maybe you have them put feelers out, go to the bars I own and start listening for a chance.”

“Or you hit a gold mine when a friend brings you the opportunity you’ve been waiting for,” Evgeny added, shrugging out of his jacket.

What I liked most about Evgeny is he didn’t carry guns. Even flying on his private jets, he was always aware of customs and the appearance of things. His thing was you could only pay so many people off before you went broke. So he had specialized blades made. They were sheathed under his arms, much like all of our guns. They were Karambite knives, made of carbon fiber. The curved blades, much like the one I had Pavel give River, was untraceable in metal detectors and blended in when he wore dark clothing. He exposed them rarely, and I felt my hands itch again to go for my blade.

“Or that, but I don’t think anyone would betray the family. It’s taken too long for some of us to get into our positions, and that isn’t worth losing,” Samuel said.

Ah, there it was. The bullshit reason that Samuel wanted me gone. He hated that I meant more as a vor than he did. That I paved my way with blood and crushed skulls. But his most recent actions showed why he wasn’t a match for me. It wasn’t just about the strength I had. It was my honor, loyalty, and connection with the other vors. They saw me as an equal because I wouldn’t let them see me as anything less.

I had clawed my way to my place after trials through fire. Samuel had gone to school, gotten degrees, and made debts. He learned to pay those debts back by doing favors, and had gotten good at it. Then he came to Viktor’s, the vor before Anatoly, attention. Viktor had taken Samuel under his wing to groom him for politics. It was the highest position Samuel could attain.

And if Samuel was happy with that, I would have respected him more.

But Samuel was the little shit that believed he deserved the fucking world on a platter because politicians kissed his ass while he was on Capitol Hill. Vors didn’t kiss ass. They ripped their power and held on to it with strength, fear, intelligence, and strategy. Samuel was missing a few of those, no matter how much he tried to act like he wasn't.

But every vor trained their replacement. If something happened to me, Pavel would take over while he groomed the next man. Shit, Pavel could have been vor from day one, but he saw something in me, and didn't have the urge to fight anymore. No vor went too far without his avtoritet far behind.

Time to appease Samuel’s ego and get him to make a mistake.

“You asked me about Pavel earlier, but I didn’t ask you how your avtoritet was doing, Samuel. Did he finish his time at Yale?”

Samuel preened immediately. For such a smart bastard he acted like a fucking idiot in these meetings because he was trying too hard to appear more important. That would be his downfall.

“He did. He’s officially a holder of a Ph.D. I had him working with Anatoly this summer on how to deal with the family.”

“And he traveled with me to understand trade routes. He’s smart as a whip, and loyal,” Evgeny said.

“He understands how he should act as the politico and how his position is the glue of the vors, keeping our tempers cooled when need be, but making things go away when they can’t be contained,” Anatoly said.

Samuel didn’t know it, but he was fast losing support. Two of the vors had just agreed that Samuel’s avtoritet would do better than he was doing. I needed one final vote to take that son of a bitch’s life.

“He will be coming to work with me next on our illegal business before he goes over to you, Pantera, to learn to defend himself.”

There it was. The final vote.

“I didn’t approve of him meeting with you and Pantera. He’s not rough like that,” Samuel said. “He’s to be the business man, like I am.”

“Oh, but Sammy boy, you’re wrong. I am rough, just like that,” a voice said from behind Samuel.

“Leo?” Samuel asked. He spun around toward his fresh-faced avtoritet. The man was blond and blue eyed too, almost in Samuel’s image. He wore a black suit, like his vor, but there was an edge to him, a trait Samuel never had.

Leo looked like a man who would ask you nicely the first time, and gut you the second time. I liked him immediately. But something about him was familiar. Something was just off, and if I could figure it out, I’d know. But Anatoly moved at the same time Grigory did and I wasn’t looking at Leo anymore. The two men gripped Samuel hard and pushed him to the ground.

“Evgeny told me already what was going on before we met,” Anatoly explained.

“Wanna tell me how you knew?” I asked Evgeny. He looked to Leo.

“I did spend time on his routes with him,” Leo said. “When I knew he could be trusted, I let him know what Samuel was planning.”

“Why betray your vor?” Anatoly asked. Leo’s answer here would make sure he survived the night as well.

“Because he isn’t a vor. He’s a player, acting like he means something, but bratva doesn’t mean shit to him.”

“And it does to you?” I asked him.

“Yes, because if it didn’t I’d have let him kill you,” Leo said, looking me in my eyes. I frowned at him.

“And why is that?”

“Because you killed my brother. I may have been a whore’s son, but blood is blood, da?”

I’ve killed so many men. Who his brother was may not have mattered to me. But it mattered to him.

“Who was your brother, Leo?”

“My name is Leonid Kataya,” Leo explained. “I’m blond and blue-eyed because of my mother.”

He closed his eyes and smiled. Maybe it was the eyes that were throwing me off, but when he closed his eyes I felt gutted. Like the world was spinning around me and I couldn’t keep my head on straight.

“Mikhail,” I said.

“Yeah. You guys were older, and I was never allowed to see him except in secret. He could tell no one about me or my mother would take me away. He kept his promise.”

I couldn’t say I was sorry. It was stuck in my throat, but I couldn’t say it. It wouldn’t come out. I needed to kill Samuel, I needed to make sure that River was safe. I couldn’t fall into the past and lose the edge I needed.

But later, later I’d talk to him.

“Come find me later, Leo. We will talk.” I forced the words passed the lump in my throat. He nodded and then looked at Samuel.

“Family means everything,” Leo said, and I knew he was saying the vor, because he had a right to kill me. Had the right to take out his revenge.

“Give him a knife and let him go Evgeny. I think I need to take out some frustration,” I instructed Evgeny.

“Sure, but I better get my fucking knife back in pristine condition, or I’ll use the bitch on you.”

“Agreed,” I said.

Samuel was going to die slowly and painfully tonight, because I couldn’t hold back the rage and shame brewing in my soul.