AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lyon watched as a couple walked past them holding hands. The woman’s fair hair was long and windblown, her cheeks pink as she gazed adoringly at the man walking beside her. He leaned down and captured the woman’s lips in his own, lingered almost long enough to make Lyon uncomfortable.
To fill Lyon with an unwelcome longing.
He refocused on Ivan. He looked older to Lyon’s eye, although it might have been the cold, the way Ivan’s sagging chin folded over his red scarf.
“I wouldn’t call this cover,” Lyon said.
“You might have been killed,” Ivan said. “And yet here you stand, pakhan of the bratva, just as you wanted.”
There was a hint of required gratitude in Ivan’s voice, as if he expected Lyon to be grateful for the predicament in which he found himself, and he fought against a tide of annoyance. Ivan had mentored him during the long years in which he’d planned his takeover of the bratva. He’d been Lyon’s only confidante after his father’s imprisonment and death, had offered Lyon invaluable advice.
But Lyon had done the work. Lyon had bit his tongue a million times while slaving in low-level positions. Lyon had built his father’s nest egg into a powerful and significant sum, a sum that would see Lyon and his heirs protected for generations.
It was Lyon who had quietly amassed the pieces of a winning game.
He took a breath. He and Ivan were partners, but more than that, they had become family. Sometimes family disagreed. Sometimes they squabbled.
But they were still family.
“Yes,” Lyon said, clapping the old man on the back. “Thanks to you and your guidance. I simply didn’t expect the vanquishing of an invisible enemy to be a condition of my leadership.”
“Let’s sit,” Ivan said, his gaze on an empty bench at the edge of the concrete circle.
Lyon walked with him to the bench, dusted off the snow on its surface so that they could sit.
“Pawns are sacrificed in every game,” Ivan said.
Lyon paused, letting his frustration settle before answering. “You’re right of course.”
“You’ll find Musa, eliminate him. All will be well,” Ivan said, his eyes on the pedestrians milling around the Bean.
“Yes,” Lyon said. “And yet, I feel as if I’m missing a piece of the puzzle.”
Ivan glanced at him in surprise. “The Lion, missing a piece of the puzzle?” He scoffed. “I doubt that.”
“Arrogance is any player’s worst enemy,” Lyon said.
Ivan’s bushy eyebrows came together on the bridge of his nose. “Who said that?”
“I did,” Lyon said.
Ivan smiled. “Ah. And what is this piece you think you’re missing?”
You should look to Moscow…
“I’m beginning to feel as if there are other players on the board,” Lyon said.
“The only players left on the board are yours,” Ivan said, rising to his feet with a sigh. He looked down at Lyon. “Sometimes peace is an uneasy ally when one has had war for so long.”
“Who said that?” Lyon asked.
Ivan smiled. “I did.” He dropped a hand on Lyon’s shoulders. “You’ve won. Enjoy the spoils.”
Lyon watched him walk away. A moment later, he disappeared into the crowd.
* * *
The Rover was idling at the curb, Alek behind the driver’s seat. It was a no parking zone, but in spite of the traffic police that cruised the street eager to hand out tickets, Lyon wasn’t surprised to find it right where he’d left it when he’d exited the car to meet Ivan.
