AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Keep his name out of your fucking mouth!” I hiss.
“Ah, that well?”
It’s rare for my temper to boil over but leave it to Konstantin to find a way to push my buttons. I almost lurch forward, my hands clenched into fists. Luckily, Mikhail stops me with a firm hand on my shoulder.
“What you did to him…” I seethe, nostrils flaring. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“How is it any different from what you’re currently doing to me?” he asks, throwing the morality of his imprisonment in our face. “You’re being just as cruel.”
“Hardly,” I mutter. “You left our father to rot. You had him chained up like a damn animal. You’re living in the lap of luxury by comparison.”
Konstantin sneers. “Do you want more information about the Levitskys or not?”
I swallow hard. I really fucking hate this man. “Tell us what you want,” I grumble coldly. “Notyour release. Something else.”
Our uncle pauses, deliberately taking his time so we have no choice but to stew in our own silence. “I want a laptop,” he says finally.
I roll my eyes. He’s got to be fucking joking. Giving him a laptop is as dangerous as giving him the keys out of this place. In this day and age of technology, you can do unimaginable damage with just a few lines of code—not that I think Konstantin knows how to code, but still. He’s got all the time in the world to learn.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he says. “You think I’m joking.”
“You’d better be,” Mikhail replies, “because there’s no way in hell that’s happening.”
“Hear me out first. Strip it down to its base functions so I can’t access the internet. Do that, and I’ll have no way of contacting the outside world.”
“What do you need a laptop for?” I ask.
“I want to write my memoir now that I have all this time to think about my life. It’ll be a good mental exercise for me if I can write down my thoughts.”
“You have an ample supply of paper and pens,” Mikhail points out.
“Yes, but my arthritis has been kicking in, dear nephew. It’d be so much easier if I could type it.”
I bite my own tongue. This is ridiculous. “We’ll get you a typewriter, then,” I say. “Hell will freeze over before we give you any sort of technology.”
Konstantin glares at me for a long while, so cold and terrifying I swear he’s trying to incinerate me where I stand. Eventually, though, he gives in. “Fine. A typewriter will have to do.”
“Good. Now, tell us everything you know about Levitsky.”
Konstantin returns to his bed and takes a seat at the edge. “They were a power Bratva that wreaked havoc in Moscow for almost half a century. You thinkI'mbrutal? You should have seen what they did. Fucking animals, that lot.”
“But you said they were allies?”
“Yes, they were. I had business dealings with them back in the day. Believe me when I say they would much rather have shot me point blank and dumped my body in a ditch rather than negotiate, but I managed to persuade them.”
“What happened to them? Why aren’t they around anymore?”
Konstantin smiles. It sends a chill screaming down my spine. “Because of me, dear nephews. It took a while, but I eventually compiled enough evidence to have them thrown in the gulag for good. Between their own infighting, the police, and wars with other Bratva, they spread themselves too thin. All it took was me pointing the cops in the right direction to round up the remaining family heads.”
“And then you swooped in and took their power and territory,” Mikhail realizes aloud.
“You got it.”
I furrow my brows. “So this is all for vengeance,” I mutter under my breath. “They’re coming after me because of whatyoudid?”
Konstantin seems genuinely surprised at this, raising his bushy eyebrows as he absorbs my words. “They’re coming after you? I thought they were all dead. Although…”
“What?” I hiss.
