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She looks at me, studying the tattoos on the side of my face, then moving down to my chest and the buttons on my shirt. She taps a finger against her chin thoughtfully, then looks up at my face again. “There’s a lot of money involved.”
“True,” I reply with a smirk. “But how does one get this much money?”
“Business? You certainly can’t do that working a regular job.”
“The business of crime, yes,” I reply. “Which also entails something else.”
“Breaking the law?”
“You’re getting there,” I encourage, but I don’t think she’s patient enough for more riddles. I can see it in her face that she wants a straight answer.
“Alright,” I relent, “the answer is violence. Cold, brutal violence. There’s no way around it. We’re all going to hell for what we’ve done, and that’s something we must accept in order to be part of the Bratva.”
Lily’s spoon clatters down on the table. “I hope you’re not implying that Dimitri is capable of such violence.”
I see what has happened. She thinks that because her uncle was good and protective toward her, that he’s some kind of saint. In reality, he was ruthless, just like I am. It’s going to be a hard pill for her to swallow.
I lace my fingers together, leaning toward her and lowering my voice. “I’m sorry you have to learn about this so soon after he passed, but it’s in your best interest to understand what you’re involved with.”
“I’m not involved with anything,” she replies, pulling her head back. She looks like she wants to jump up from her seat and leave, but her curiosity is stronger than her revulsion. She wants the truth, no matter how bitter.
I unlace my fingers and lay my hand down on the black book. “Unfortunately, Lily, you are involved. The Red Hitters aren’t going to let you slide after seeing you with me. They probably already know you’re related to Dimitri, so that’s two strikes. If they see you out in public, well, that’s the third.” I run my thumb across my throat. “And you’re out.”
“Who the fuck are the Red Hitters?”
“A state sanctioned police group whose sole purpose is to bring down crime syndicates in any way possible. They operate outside the law because they realized that following the law wouldn’t get them the results they wanted. Currently, they have me as their target. Take down the leader, and you have a much better chance at dissolving the whole Bratva.”
Lily buries her head in her hands, shaking it as she mutters something to herself. I’m sure she regrets getting tangled up in this, but there’s no way out now. Fate brought her here, and she just has to ride it out.
I place my hand on her back in an attempt to comfort her, but she shrugs me off. “Stop that,” she grumbles. “I don’t need you touching me like that. It doesn’t help.”
I pull my hand back, turning my attention back to my dinner for a few minutes. We’ll get to talking again once she’s ready, but she’s still trying to come to terms with her new reality. It’ll take a while.
Lily is quicker than I expect, though. She turns to me in her chair, staring at me with fierceness in her eyes. “You’re telling me that Dimitri was part of the Bratva?”
I nod. “An essential part. Hard to replace once he was retired, but I understand why he wanted to leave. The stress is immense, and he had already made his money in it. Plus, he had a bad knee.”
A smile creeps onto her delicate face. “But he’d never use a cane. I always tried to get him to, but he was stubborn.”
I chuckle, flipping open the black book and riffling through the pages. “He always was like that. Never showed any weakness.”
“That was him. I didn’t even know he was sick until just before he died,” Lily says, her voice cracking as emotions overtake her. She dabs the corners of her eyes with a napkin. “Sorry, I thought I was all out of tears, but apparently not.”
“Take your time,” I say softly.
“Thank you.” Her voice is no more than a whisper as she swallows her tears and looks deep into her soup again. She’s lost in the memories, all the moments she had with Dimitri. I’ll admit I got lost the same way when I learned of his death. We did a lot together, good and bad things.
Lily looks over at me after a few moments, studying my face with more curiosity in her eyes. “You’re not lying to me about all this?”
I shake my head. “I wish I was, honestly.”
The candle on the table flickers. It’s been a cold spring, unlike the previous years, and this old mansion, renovated though it may be, doesn’t keep all the wind out. Every once in a while, some seeps through the cracks in the walls and puts a chill in me.
This evening, the cold is damp and oppressive. I could turn the heat up, but it would do nothing to counter the stray drafts of air from outside. The only thing that really helps is having someone to hold close to you, and that’s not something I’ve experienced in a long time.
Nor have I wanted to, considering the people around me. It’s impossible to trust a woman unless she’s from outside the Bratva, and if she isn’t, it’s exceedingly rare that she will ever make it into my house.
Tonight, someone has made it in, and I can’t stop thinking about what it would be like to have her body on top of mine when we go to bed.
