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For the next hour Gideon interrogated Oleg about the crack house, the drug operation through the distribution center, everything. Oleg was a tough son of a bitch and barely flinched. He didn’t deny the drugs coming in, even smiled as he explained to Gideon that his territory wouldn’t be his much longer. That earned him a good five minutes of punches.

“Oleg, it doesn’t have to be this way.” Gideon wiped his face where some blood had splattered.

The response Gideon got was Oleg spitting blood onto the tarp. “Doesn’t it, though?”

Maksim released a dramatic breath. “Men like Oleg and my father don’t respond well to violence. If you want to break men like him, it’s all about his reputation.”

“What do you suggest?” Gideon asked, and I’d have been kidding myself if I said I wasn’t dying to know what he’d say.

Maksim stood and sauntered over to where Oleg was. He didn’t get too close, but he did bend down to be at eye level.

“He wasn’t lying when he told you I was a disgrace to the family. My father despises me because I’m gay. He’d outright kill me if so many of his business connections he’d cultivated worked so seamlessly because I spearhead them.”

“Shut your mouth,” Oleg growled. “You talk too much.”

Maksim sighed. “Yeah, I know.” He stood up straight and faced Gideon. “If my father believed he’d disgraced the family like I have, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill him and erase his name from everyone’s mind. In order to do that my father would also kill his family, wife, kids, mother.”

“You want me to ruin his reputation?”

Maksim shrugged. “It’s the only way. I’m sure you have connections to make it happen. Maybe photos of him with men, getting arrested. Drawing attention to the Ivanov family in a negative light, not good.”

Oleg started shouting at Maksim in Russian. None of it was nice—that much was easy to tell, but Maksim didn’t react. He just went back to the table and was now polishing his nails. Where had he gotten polish? I glanced at Toni, who averted his eyes.

“Vladimir would never believe it.” For the first time, Oleg appeared almost nervous.

“Oh, I’ll make it believable. I don’t even need your cooperation. So, what’s it gonna be, Oleg? Share info or get wiped from the history books?”

“You are going through all this for what, some people dying because some bitch couldn’t keep her promise?”

Even on my best day, I wouldn’t have been able to stop Alex. He lunged forward and tackled Oleg. The chair fell backward, and Alex delivered punch after punch. Whenever we tried to pull him off, it was as if his strength doubled. In the end, it took the four of us to get him off Oleg.

“Now he’s unconscious,” Toni announced.

“Danny, take Alex outside to cool down,” Gideon ordered.

That was easier said than done. He fought me until we got outside and I was able to give him a shove.

“Breathe!” I yelled at him.

“I want that motherfucker dead.”

“And he will die. But not like this. Not before Gideon has everything he needs from him. You know this. You’re letting your anger drive you.”

He was pacing like a caged tiger, his eyes focused on the door behind me as if he were trying to figure out if he could get past me.

“Alex.”

His gaze darted to mine. “I get it.”

After a few minutes, he calmed. I sat on the steps and soon enough, he joined me. The sun was going down and with no neighbors nearby, it was quiet and peaceful.

“He spoke about her like she was nothing.” Alex’s voice sounded so broken.

“That’s because he didn’t know her. Mila was the brightest firecracker in the darkest sky. She deserved forever. You both did.” I stared at the pink sky, wishing I could take Alex’s pain away. “If I could trade places with her and bring your wife back to you, I would.”

His head turned sharply, and that spark of rage returned. “I wouldn’t want that.”

“I just mean⁠—”