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“He’s going with the voyage. Have him dropped off at sea. If he makes it back, he gets to live.”

Sergei’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

“Oh, yeah. Send his wife an endowment for the baby.”

He tugged my arm again, still looking at me quizzically.

“It’s the time of giving, Sergei. Have some Christmas spirit.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll get right on it and send out a memo to the troops.” His grin was practically evil.

CHAPTER 24

Maxsim

A Christmas party.

There was one in full swing on Christmas Eve.

“They’re enjoying themselves,” Sergei muttered from beside me.

“Yes, they are.” The sun was about to fade into twilight, the limited light creating ominous shadows that had masked our approach.

It had been a long time since this Aristov Bratva had eliminated an entire organization, or at least a significant number of those involved. It was widely frowned upon by almost every crime syndicate in the United States.

However, in Russia, my father had been the master of ceremonies in reducing several smaller Bratva organizations to ash. It was easy to do when they believed themselves omnipotent as with the Dixie mafia.

I had little experience with basic biker clusters other than a few times I’d sparred with the former president of the club when my father had still been Pakhan. While there’d been bad blood, it was not enough to necessitate a full-scale war, which was what Rocky Torrent had begun with his attacks on me and my family.

I was no fool in that I’d need to handle their eradication carefully. This wasn’t about destroying a city or even torching acres of land. Summerville was a small town approximately twenty-five miles to the northeast of the city.

Quaint. Historic. An excellent place to raise a family.

Since the group had barely been a thought in my mind, discovering the location would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack. They’d done an excellent job of hiding almost every detail about themselves and for men who enjoyed partying and pontificating, that meant the organization had been much more dangerous than I’d given them credit for.

From the limited time I’d given myself to discover more about them, I’d learned several of the members had long-standing ties with the group, fathers and even grandfathers as former members. Which meant they were very much like brothers in arms.

Similar to the Bratva and our code of honor.

Making this decision had been easy. There was no other choice.

Yet that didn’t mean I hadn’t spent some time determining if there was any other outcome that would satisfy me.

I could handle the situation in one of two ways. Wait for some large-scale meeting or pick off the leaders one at a time. My choice had been based on my level of anger as well as my desire to spend Christmas with Isabel and Mina.

Fortunately, my luck was starting to turn. Handling the situation could have been very messy, but evidently, the group had also decided to celebrate the holidays.

The clubhouse was located on private property, the series of buildings surrounded by thick woods and several acres. While there were cameras and trip wires protecting the area, my men had managed to disable almost all of them within thirty minutes of our arrival. The last camera was one I recognized as it was used on almost every warehouse.

Anyone daring to interfere with the hardware in any way would trip an alarm, which would then be sent to the phones of various Dixie mafia soldiers. I had no problem with the group being warned of our arrival as I wanted them to know the reason behind their deaths and who to hate as they made their way to hell.

However, I didn’t want to alarm the guests until we were in position.

With nearly fifty men, we approached the building, every soldier trained in how to handle the situation. Although Sergei had reminded me that they were a little rusty. That’s what happened when an organization moved away from brutal violence to legitimacy.

The outside of the massive structure was covered in Christmas lights, most flickering or blinking on and off. There were at least two dozen vehicles surrounding the building. A few Harleys and also trucks and even two Mercedes.

They too had evolved over the years.