Page 47

He was a bad man, a terrible man. I could never be happier that he is dead. He haunted this family for years. I know he still haunts Mama. I know she still has nightmares. She jumps at every small noise, thinking it’s him coming to punish her, over shit that’s not even her fault.

Mama has been out of the hospital for a couple of months. They wanted her to stay there for a couple of weeks before they released her. She’s been staying at my penthouse since then. I’ve made her be surrounded by five men anywhere she goes until the Mexicans are taken down. She hates it, but she can complain all she wants. Her safety means everything to me.

My focus goes back to the cameras, seeing her talk to some boy in the kitchen I didn’t see before. It’s not Kai. As much as I don’t like her talking to other men, I guess I can make an exception for Kai because it’s a group of friends and not just them hanging out.

She moves closer to him, too close for my liking. I see her eyes stare at the camera in the corner of the room before leaning in and kissing him on the lips. I stand up from my chair, the force knocking it back. “Oh, FUCK no,” I growl, putting my mask on and storming out of my office. Viktor strolls out of his room, stopping me in my tracks.

“Brother, we have the meeting with Marcus soon.” I groan, rubbing a hand over my stubble, twisting my neck, and cracking it to relieve tension.

“When will they be here?” I question, my voice carrying throughout the empty, stoic hallway. This house is fucking terrifying, and once I can, it will be demolished.

We have this all set up. He’s going to come here, he and his men are to give up all their weapons, and I will be searched as well to show them I don’t have any weapons, to gain a little bit of trust.

Little do they know, there will be one gun stashed under my desk that I won’t approach until it’s time. Once Marcus is down, my men will rush the room, killing his men and taking Marcus to the basement. I need him to be alive. I need him to find his father so I can kill him.

I need his father dead. I need the Mexican Mafia to be abolished. I know it never will be, but it will be in shambles for at least a decade before someone new takes over and another decade after that for everything to be fixed.

So, once father and son are taken care of, I can go back to my girl. Only a little longer to go.

A pattern of knocks hit the large wooden door. Why did he knock in a pattern? I have no fucking clue. I stroll to the door, opening it to see a man I’ve never seen before. I assume this is Marcus.

He stands in the front, four men flank each side of him, weapons on their hips. I look over to a few of my men, tipping my head to signal them over. They cover both of my sides, making an almost hallway of men.

“Riot! So good to see you again so soon! How have you been?!” He exclaims, raising his hand to shake mine. I give in to the gesture, placing my hand in his before shaking it tightly.

“Wish I could say the same,” I grunt, giving him a tight smile which he returns, and I pluck my hand from his. “Apologies for the frisk you and your men are about to go through. I will be going through the same. We’re here to settle an agreement, right? We need to start on trust.” I open my arms in a welcoming gesture, plastering on as fake a smile as I can, chuckling darkly.

He chuckles nervously before walking in, his men following suit. They walk through the hallway of men, each man getting their entire body searched thoroughly.

Once all the men are frisked, I show them to my office, leading them away from my desk and through the small side door to a conference room. We all sat down, me at the head of the table. Viktor was already here when we got here. He sat in the chair close to mine, the chair that has the second panic button under it.

“So,” I start, and I see Marcus straighten, his whole body going tense. “We need to figure out something for you, or your father, to pay me back my twenty million dollars. I know it’s not you that stole it, but you know this life,” I point, not giving him room to argue. He nods his head, leaning into the table more.

My eyes catch one of his men leaning into another, whispering in his ear, before returning to their normal spots. I see their cheeks turn pink at me watching them.

Clearing my throat for what feels like the trillionth time, I continue. “So, you could just pay me the money, but I know you guys are going into debt. You could work for me?” I question myself, trying to string them along.

No fucking way will they work for me or around me. It took a whole fucking lot to ask them to even come to Russia. How would they ever take real orders from me?

“Well, I was hoping we could just forget this whole ‘debt’ thing.” What the fuck is he talking about?

My blood runs cold when one of his men scoots a tablet towards us, and a woman tied up in a chair is broadcast on it. I look closer at the image. Her brown hair cascades over her face, her small tattoo of a beaver on her arm. Mama.

I shoot out of my chair, anger raging through me. “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!” I bellow, rushing into my office, grabbing the gun from under my desk, and pointing it at Marcus’s head. “Where the fuck is she? How the fuck did you get in the penthouse?” My voice bellows through the room, spit flying from my mouth, the veins in my neck popping.

Marcus laughs, like a full belly laugh. “What the fuck is funny?” I speak, my voice painfully dark, my gaze burning into his face under my mask.

“Your mother will die if you kill me.” I lower my gun in an instant, tucking it in the waistband of my jeans before letting him continue. “Do what I say, and she lives.”

I laugh out loud, and he looks almost scared. “Here’s the thing. You’re in Russia, MY territory. MY country. I have this place surrounded. Let go of my mother, and you won’t die.” For now.

I know Marcus is scared of me, but I also know that he is a tough nut to crack. He gets up from his chair, all the chairs in the room scraping on my floor as all his men get up after him. “Oh, Dmitri.” Whoa, slow the fuck down. How the fuck does he know my real name?

I walk towards him, grabbing him by his collar and pushing him into the nearest wall. “How the fuck do you know that name?” I growl, fear starting to creep into me at the thought of him knowing my real name. Nobody but Mama, Viktor, and my Moss has called me that.

“I get to learn a lot when I have someone in your organization working for me. Having a mole pays a lot, and they were happy to switch sides.” My blood boils even more than it should. I have a fucking mole.

It dawns on me. The mole is one of my men with her right now. My eyes snap over to Viktor, trying to get him to understand. None of Marcus’s men is focusing on him. I see the realization on his face, and he nods tightly, slinking away through the door that everyone is facing away from.