My shoulder lifted. “Depends on how he answers.”
My brother sighed like I was the difficult one. “I am serious.”
“So am I.”
For a moment we just looked at each other. Two brothers. Two sons of the same dangerous man. Two niggas with the same gray eyes and different ideas about how this shit should go. Finally, Maxim gave one little shrug.
“Try,” he said.
I’d try, since he asked nicely.
That was the best he was getting.
We found Viktor in that warehouse. It looked empty from the outside but was tricked the fuck out on the inside. There were lots of soundproofed rooms and a too-clean office in the back. We saw security feeds on three big ass monitors. He even had a weapons locker tucked behind a false wall. This nigga sold access to a lot of shit.
Grigor, Timur, and Kael had gone in first to clear the outer space. Kael just happened to be meeting with Maxim when shit unfolded. Nigga would never turn down a chance to be involved in a little murder and mayhem. Two guards lay zip-tied and bleeding near the loading bay. Another had made some mistake. He was on the floor, the life strangled out of him. I shook my head. Kael and that damn garrote.
I was the last one to step into the office. Viktor looked up from where he sat handcuffed to his own chair, his face already swollen from however Grigor had introduced himself. His gaze hit Maxim, then me behind Maxim. His face changed then as the realization set in that he was probably about to die.
“Gentlemen,” he said, trying to sound calm.
I closed the office door behind me before walking over to him.
“You know who I am?” I asked.
He licked his lips. “Mr. Sidorov.”
That could’ve meant my brother or me, but his eyes stayed on me. Good. Let him know exactly whose attention he had. I took off my jacket and folded it over the back of a nearby chair. I stared at Viktor as I rolled my sleeves once, then twice, all nice and neat. My mama raised me right, even if my life had taken some ugly turns.
Viktor watched all that closely. “That is a bad sign?” he asked, trying to joke.
I smiled. “It is for you.”
I moved before he could brace himself and hit him hard enough across the mouth to snap his head sideways. Blood sprayed across his desk. He cried out, chair scraping as he tried to move away from me. I leaned down until Viktor had to look at me through tear-filled eyes. “You provided men and vehicles used for a break-in at my wife’s house and an ambush on the road today. Start talking before I lose patience.”
“I don’t know what?—”
I hit him again. This time a tooth came loose. Hell, maybe more than one. He whimpered and tried to spit blood. I wanted him to choke on it.
“I don’t like repeating myself,” I said.
Viktor coughed, his breathing panicked. “Mr. Sidorov, please. I am a broker for a lot of things?—”
I grabbed his jaw. Hard. My thumb pressed into his cheek, into those now fucked up teeth. He whined a little. I would forever hate a bitch ass nigga, especially a lying one. Men like Viktor pretended to play the background, pretended not to know the big picture, just the small part they played. But it wasn’t true. He wouldn’t have lasted this long if he weren’t smart enough toknow exactly what he inserted himself into. Someone had paid him enough to plot against my family. He would not have taken the risk without knowing the plan.
“Let’s make it easy. Same source hit the house and the road?” I asked.
His eyes dropped. “I—I just arranged logistics.”
I smiled. The eyes, the stammer. He was lying.There we go.
“What logistics?”
“Vehicles, comms equipment, a temporary location. A few men.”
“A few?”
He swallowed, Adam’s apple bobbing. “I do not hire them all directly. I subcontract. It protects everybody.”
