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Chapter Twenty-Four
Sasha had retreated back to her bedroom. I came home from a meeting one morning to find that she had moved her things back to her own space. I tried not to focus on my disappointment.
I knew why Sasha had moved her things. She was angry with me over what happened at the wake. I couldn’t say that I blamed her. I’d screwed her against the desk, something she’d begged me for, but afterwards, I told her I had every intention of killing her father.
I couldn’t blame her for being angry with me. I had hoped that she meant what she said when she promised me that she was on my side.
“Where’s the wife?” Marco asked. We were conducting business out of the house for the time being, which was something that I didn’t like. Too many people in the house meant that it was difficult for me to keep track of who was coming in and out.
“She’s at class,” I said. It was the middle of the day, so I knew that she was on campus. I also had three men tailing her from a safe position to make me aware of her every move. Marco refused to be her personal bodyguard citing his sheer boredom as the reason why.
“You know,” he said, as he sat across from my desk, “I was really nervous about her at first, but that was before I realized that she’s a huge nerd.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. Marco had developed a sort of begrudging respect for Sasha. I wasn’t sure what had prompted it, but I wasn’t going to question his change of heart.
I needed Marco on my side.
“Did you get anything from the cops?” I asked.
Marco had leaned on our men on the force to try and get more information about the warehouse explosion. Generally, we tried our best to keep our business off police radar, but the explosion had been too big to explain away.
“Someone planted several bombs tied to a tripwire in your office. The only reason you are alive is because the bomb in your office failed to detonate.”
I released a small grunt. I didn’t feel lucky. I had been the one who had to explain Matte’s death to his mother, and it had been the hardest thing I’d ever done. I would never forget the way she wailed in my arms begging me to tell her why her son was taken so soon.
I promised her that I would find vengeance for her son, and that meant killing Isaac Petrov, even if he was my father-in-law.
“There’s some chatter on the street though,” Marco said, breaking me away from my thoughts.
“What?” Marco’ always had an ear to less than reputable places. It was one of my brother’s strongest attributes. He wasn’t too good at getting his hands dirty. Sometimes I suspected that he enjoyed the low lives more than he did the elite.
“There’s word that there may be a new player in town,” he told me.
I raised a brow. “I would know if there was another outfit in the city. It’s always been Petrov Bratva sniffing around Manhattan. The Kings tried for a few years, but dad made sure they couldn’t get a foot in the city.”
“No one is talking, but no one thinks that the Bratva blew up the warehouse.”
It wasn’t the news that I was hoping to hear. “You were supposed to bring me evidence that the Bratva broke the treaty.”
Though I hadn’t told my wife this, I knew that I couldn’t make a move against her father until I had hard evidence. The Bratva would see it as an act of war, and I was down too many men to go to war with Petrov. For the moment, at least.
“Killing Isaac is going to start a war we can’t win,” Marco said, voice my thoughts aloud.
“I’m not scared of the Bratva,” I said. “We are twice as deadly.” I wasn’t bluffing either. Isaac was old. He wasn’t prepared for the type of games that I was willing to play.
“There’s more,” Marco said. He ran a hand through his hair, and for a moment, he appeared worried. I didn’t like that. Marco was never worried about anything. At least not outwardly.
“What is it?”
He blew out an exasperated sigh. “Whoever has been targeting you is also targeting the Bratva.”
I cursed under my breath. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. It added too much credence to the idea that Petrov had nothing to do with the warehouse explosion. I wasn’t going to be able to sell that idea to my men.
Marco wouldn’t tell me, but I knew that there were already those who were suggesting I string Sasha up for her father to see. That wasn’t something I planned to do.
“You don’t think they had anything to do with the explosion, do you?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “I’ve got a few ears to different grounds.”
