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The other men backed away from Yakov’s intended victim, a pack of wolves realizing it was too late to save their weakest link.
Yakov was still in motion, still moving toward the man, when he raised the pool cue. It came crashing down on the man’s head, and he stumbled backward, running into some of the chairs around the table.
The man who had been sitting there jumped up, scrambling away from the chaos.
“Did… I… ask… for… your… opinion?” Yakov asked, striking the man between each word.
The pool cue shattered halfway through the diatribe, but Yakov kept going, striking the man’s face with the splintered end as he backed up against the wall, trying to cover his face with his hands.
It didn’t help much. Yakov was on a tear, the man’s face cut and bloody from the splintered wood.
“I’m sorry, boss! I’m sorry!” the man said.
Yakov finally stopped, dropping the pool cue and stalking to the bar near his desk. He poured himself a quadruple shot of vodka and downed it, then walked to his desk.
He opened the top drawer, removed a small glassine envelope, and tapped some cocaine onto the desk, which he quickly snorted with a small straw he kept handy for that purpose.
The room was silent as he straightened, tipping his head back as the cocaine hit his bloodstream. He inhaled deeply a few times, then turned to look at them with glassy eyes.
“Krupin, Antonov.” Lyon got to his feet as Boris stepped away from the group that had been playing pool. New Guy was wiping blood from his face and avoiding Yakov’s eyes.
“Yes, boss,” Boris said.
“Call Foma,” Yakov said. Foma was the man who’d been assigned to tail the lawyer, Perez. “Tell him to follow the boy instead of the woman. And use a different car this time.”
“The boy?” Boris asked.
Lyon didn’t blame him for wanting to be sure, but he still wondered if Yakov would lose it again.
Luckily for Boris, the vodka was taking effect. When Yakov replied, there was only mild annoyance in his voice.
“Are you deaf? Yes, the boy. That’s what I said. And before you decide to open your big, dumb mouth about it, I already know he has a bodyguard.” Yakov smiled. “But they can’t watch him every second.”
23
“I want you to come, Mommy.”
Gabriella stopped rushing around the kitchen long enough to bend down so she was eye level with her son. “I can’t go this time,mijo. I went to the museum remember? Before Thanksgiving? We have to give the other parents a chance to be chaperones, right?”
She cursed her decision to go with Leo’s class to the Children’s Museum in November. She had no way of knowing then that she and Leo would be under threat from the bratva all these months later.
“I guess,” Leo said grudgingly. He looked up at Logan, standing in the kitchen with a cup of coffee. “Will you still drive me to school with Jag?”
“I guess I'm chopped liver now,” Bea said good-naturedly from the island where she was packing Leo’s lunch box.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” Logan said, ruffling Leo’s hair. “And you want to know the best part about going someplace new?”
“What?” Leo asked.
“Telling everybody about it when you get home,” Logan said.
Gabriella smiled. “Logan’s right. I can’t wait to hear all about it.”
“Only after he tells me,” Logan said. “I’m first.”
Gabriella faked an expression of annoyance. “No, me!”
Leo giggled. “I’ll tell both of you at the same time!”
