AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Aleksander
Ever the strategist, Milos waits until I’ve taken a sip of my vodka before he speaks. “Grigori has contacted me. He is offering his granddaughter as a wife for you. A way of strengthening the Levin name. It got me thinking, he’s right. Marriage, the gold band marks a man as innocuous, civilized, what we need to portray. I think it’s time for not just me, for all of us to get married.”
I down the rest of the glass in one swallow. “Marriage?”
The asshole smiles. “I’ll let you pick your bride, but yes. I want all of us engaged and married by the end of the year.”
Christ.
He claps me on the back before squeezing my shoulder. “Don’t look so miserable. This is for the good of the family. Besides you’re getting old, better for you to find a woman before your looks fade.”
“Fuck off,” I mutter as I run a hand over my face. His reminder that it isn’t about me, it’s about protecting the image of the Levin family, hits exactly the way he intended. Father warned us this could happen. While he hoped we would find our own brides, we might be forced to marry who the family needed in order to form ties or settle debts.
“Something is going on with Grigori.”
His tone of voice brings my eyes to his. “What?”
“His kingdom is crumbling around him.” He shakes his head. “Feds are circling him. It’s not looking good. Him offering the granddaughter—it requires you to go to New York. He hinted he’s not impressed with either of his sons taking over when he’s gone.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. My place is here with you.”
As a second son, I shouldn’t have been raised to bepakhan. I was because my father always believed I would run Philadelphia. We were raised aware we were Bratva and would always be. At eleven I witnessed my grandfather kill a man. At twelve, the same age as Milos, my father included me in business meetings.
However, at eighteen I told my father I didn’t want to leave Milos. Neither Milos nor I understood our close link, and in particular Russian fashion we didn’t question it, we simply accepted it. My father did as well. After careful consideration he told us we would decide who would bepakhanof Philadelphia. That day we took a vote and decided on Vasily.
“Exactly. For him to think you’d want New York means he’d give it up. Why would he give up New York? He’s guarded it closely all these years to the point neither of his sons could run it without him.” Milos sips on his whiskey.
Grigori is fucking insane. “He can’t think he can take over Chicago. Has he lost his mind?”
“Very likely. Looking at the mistakes he’s made, I believe his faculties are declining. He’s turning ninety-one this year.”
“Shit.” I’m up pouring another drink. I thought the marriage thing was going to be the worst part of tonight. Now we’re looking at a threat from our uncle. “Grigori in his right mind is a craven, evil, vicious human being. Out of his mind poses a problem. Are you sure you don’t want me to go?”
“I think it’s best Nikita go instead. Grigori won’t say no to the switch, because he’d have to explain himself. He’ll underestimate Nikita, which will allow Nikita to get inside and find out if I’m right or if I’m being paranoid.”
Milos doesn’t have a paranoid bone in his body.
CHAPTER5
Phoenix
When I enter the FBI building, which has embraced its status as a government building filled with men carrying guns, I’m stopped before I get two feet inside. I’m guided through a metal detector as one of the men takes my identification that’s in the wallet on the back of the phone case. My identification is a general ID, not a driver’s license, since driving wasn’t something I thought I would do or need to do in the city, and it’s from two days after I turned eighteen. I understand why he doesn’t think it’s me. Not even the points on the face-mapping shot glaring back at me from his computer screen thinks it’s me.
I give him my name and John’s. He straightens when I give him John’s name, then frowns down at me and the ID again before giving in and making a call. After he listens for a few seconds he puts the phone back down. “Someone will come to get you. Sit down right there.” He points at a seating area of uncomfortable-looking chairs a few feet away. “Don’t move.”
The chairs are as uncomfortable as they look.
An Asian woman about my height with black hair and eyes is coming toward me with a curious half-smile. She’s thin yet strong, her hair is in a sleek ponytail. I’m relieved she’s wearing the exact same thing I am—a white button-down blouse with black pants and a black blazer, down to the ugly black dress shoes. At least I got this part right.
She nods at me in greeting. “Hi, Special Agent Presley Bui. I’m good with either Presley or Bui.”
I stand without offering my hand to shake. “Phoenix Raymond, Phoenix is fine.”
“I’ve heard of you. Phoenix, the hacker who breaks down rings whether the police will do it or not by splashing the bad things they do all over the press to make them pay. Good job.” She shakes her head. “I’m sick of them getting away with shit if they’re rich or local governments want to protect them. We get our own Garcia, down to the blonde hair. Cool.”
Following her into the elevator, I’m confused. “Who is Garcia?”
Her eyes go big. “You’ve never heard of keyboard queen Garcia? The show that gets us almost half of our recruits, you’ve never heard of it?”
