Page 39 of The Pakhan’s Heir

Right after the incident with the Central Park warehouse, we finally got in contact with the Blue Devils from the Bronx, or rather, they got in contact with us. We’ve been a regular supplier for them for years and I would say we’ve got a good relationship with them.

But according to my father, they’ve reached out to us with a problem. Someone jumped them for one of their shipments. All of the brigadiers have been called in to discuss the matter… and for the last few minutes, I can’t seem to get my mind off Nona in that little red nightgown.

She knew what she was doing. It’s been nearly three weeks since we had sex. Offering that tight pussy to me on a silver platter like that was bound to send me over the edge, and it almost did. I left the room with my head held high, but the thought of her still haunts me.

I tried taking a cold shower, but it didn’t seem to help at all. I keep hearing her moans in my ear and I keep tasting her on my tongue. The only reason I didn’t take off my belt and turn her over my knee like I said I was going to do was because if I had, I wouldn’t have been able to pull back. There’s something about her that wakes something up inside me. It makes me wonder how far out of control she could take me if I let her.

“Alexandr?”

The sound of my name pulls me out of my internal revelry. I look up to see everyone around the table looking back at me… including my father. He frowns deeply.

“Did you hear what I just said?” he asks.

Suffice it to say, no is the wrong answer, but I know better than to admit that. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” I say instead, sitting up in my chair. “I apologize.”

A warning growl rumbles in his chest. “This is exactly what can’t happen when we meet with the Devils,” he says, more to the rest of the room than me. “The act of them reaching out to us so soon after our last shipment means that they are desperate. It could also mean that they’ve decided to ambush us. We can’t let our guard down.”

“With all due respect,” Gedeon says from his place across the table, “the Devils and the Rostovs have been allies since Stanislov’s era. There’s no reason to believe that they would stab us in the back.”

“There’s no reason to believe that they wouldn’t,” Dad says. “We’ve survived this long—all of us have survived this long—because of one fundamental fact of the Bratva. Trust no one. Not even your brother.”

He looks at everyone around the table carefully and gives me a side eye. “The meet is tomorrow night. Midnight. Alexandr, I want you with me to negotiate. Gedeon, I also want you and your men there as well. As for the rest of you, stand by for orders. If all goes well, we will need to make adjustments to account for our gracious assistance to the Devils.”

With that, he waves everyone away. “Dismissed.”

I go to stand and he says, “Alex, hold on for a moment.”

I stop, waiting as everyone files out of the room. Once they’re gone, he says, “Make sure Rikki is available to come as well.”

I blink. Rikki is almost never present for something like this. He’s an enforcer. His job is to enforce our rules and eliminate whoever doesn’t follow and in terms of ranking, he’s almost never in on these meetings. “Of course,” I say. “Is there a reason you want him there?”

He gives me a half-shrug. “I think he could be valuable. Plus, being that I plan to be there, I would like some extra security at my back.”

“You don’t have to be there,” I say to him. “I can handle a deal like this with just Gedeon watching my back.”

He shakes his head. “No. I want to speak to Deshawn face-to-face about this matter, given that word of this hit didn’t come directly from him. His second reached out to us.”

I shrug. “We’ve gotten messages from the Devils without talking to Deshawn directly, Dad. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for it.”

“Maybe,” he says. “Still, there’s something about this that’s leaving me a little unsettled. Can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’d rather be overprepared than not. If they are planning some kind of ambush, I’ll be able to tell once I talk to him. He has a terrible poker face.”

I nod. “All right, then we’ll see you there tomorrow night.”

He waves me off to leave and I do, walking out of his house without another word. Once I’m in my car, I call Rikki. “You busy tomorrow night? I need you for something important.”

I’ve asked Gedeon and Rikki to meet me at the house beforehand. The more and more I think about Dad’s suspicions, the more it’s set me on edge. I think he’s right to be overprepared than not at all. The more, the merrier, after all.

Gedeon was supposed to be with his men, making sure they were all in place before we got there. Instead, he offered to come with us despite having his own men to worry about. “Don’t sweat it,” he said to me over the phone earlier. “If my men can’t figure out how to get in formation to keep us covered, then I should turn in my title anyway.”

They should be here in a few minutes. I’m in the parlor, the hidden door behind the armoire is open, and I’m going through my guns. I’m tempted to try and conceal one of the bigger ones in my clothes somehow. That may be overkill, though. As cautious as I want to be, I’m pretty sure that they’ll notice an AR shoved down my pants. That might sour our negotiations.

I hear a soft knock at the door. Nona, of course. I grab three of the handguns I plan on taking and call out, “One moment,” as I close the armoire back over the hidden cache.

I set the guns down on the nearest end table and unlock the parlor door. Nona stands on the threshold, looking up at me with those big pond green eyes. “Gedeon and your brother are here,” she says.

“Good. Go and tell them I’ll be out in a minute.”

I turn back to the end table and holster my guns—one under my armpit, one in the front, and the smallest one around my ankle. She watches me silently the whole time.