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“Fine,” Nik relents. “But if we’re going to slap together this plan, we might as well go big. We should split the remaining forces and take out Pavel’s last club on the other side of town. With this hit, you’re declaring war. You want to take out as many of his men as you can to hinder their counterattack.”
“Makes sense to me. I’ll send my men there right now,” Dima says.
I nod in agreement. “Dima and I will hit the warehouse and go for Pavel. Everyone else will take out the club. He won’t see it coming. Not so soon after our truce.”
“I’ll stay here and coordinate information.” Nik tries to sound cheerful, but I know it’s eating him up inside that he can’t come along.
Selfishly, I’m glad he can’t. I almost lost him once; I’m not ready to do it again. Plus, knowing he’s in the house with Luna and Mariya is a weight off my mind.
I grab my phone and speak directly to Dima. “Don’t move in until I’m there. Understood?”
“Understood. I won’t move unless I think Pavel is getting away.”
“Not even then. If you try to take him out on your own, you could die.”
“Then I die,” he muses. “So be it.”
Again, I wonder what the fuck Pavel did to Dima to warrant this kind of undying hatred, but it’s not my place to ask. As long as Dima is on my side, nothing else matters.
“Try not to die and I’ll be there within the hour.” I hang up and turn to Nik. “I’m going to find Isay and deliver the plan in person. I don’t want to risk a leak.”
Nikandr nods, but his gaze is unfocused. He’s deep in thought. Suddenly, he turns to me. “Watch your back, Yakov.”
“Dima has been nothing but faithful.”
“Up to now,” he agrees. “But things could change. Especially as you get closer to actually taking out Pavel.”
“I can handle Dima.”
“I believe that… so long as you stay vigilant. I won’t be there to watch your back, so you have to do it yourself. Don’t trust him. Don’t trust anyone.”
I reach out and clasp his hand, bending down to pat him on the back. “I trust you, brother. You have my word.”
Nik claps me on the back once. Then I leave.
I have a rat to kill.
55
YAKOV
The Gustev soldier’s windpipe crunches in my grip. He spasms, choking for air he’ll never get. I hold on until he realizes it, then I let go and he sinks to the floor in a puddle of blood that doesn’t belong to him.
Dima slashes his knife across the neck of another man only ten feet away.
“Where the fuck is he, Dima?” I roar.
My voice echoes off the high ceilings of the warehouse. Fifteen minutes ago, Dima wouldn’t have been able to hear me over the screaming and gunfire. Now, the room is almost silent, save for the sound of boots splashing through blood.
“He’s here,” Dima pants, almost to himself. He’s ripping across the room, turning over bodies to see their faces. “He has to be here.”
A man behind me moans. Without looking, I fire a single shot to quiet him.
No survivors. It’s what I told myself when Dima and I kicked down the doors and stormed the building. This feud between my family and the Gustev Bratva ends today. There will be no one left to pick up the mantle. No one left to avenge anyone.
A fresh start.
But Pavel isn’t here. I know it.
