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“That’s no way to talk to someone who did you a favor, is it?” he asks, his voice deceptively sweet.
But he’s right. I should be groveling. It’s hard to debase myself like that though.
“No, it isn’t. I’m sorry. How are you, Viktor?” I change up my delivery, hoping to get out of this talk unscathed.
“How nice of you to ask. I’m doing wonderful now that I’m talking to you.”
I sigh, wanting him to get on with what I know is coming. A favor for a favor. He scratched my back, and now, I have to scratch his.
Gross.
“What can I do for you?” I say, keeping my voice down in case Connor comes back.
Now that I know someone snuck a burner phone into this room, I don’t feel quite as secure.
“I’m glad you asked. I do have one small request.”
I wait, not saying a word. I know he will continue as if I did ask.
“I want you to get me all your dear husband’s records. Everything that his father passed down to him.”
“That’s what you want?” I ask.
Viktor chuckles. My blood runs cold. I thought he might want me to kill Connor or something, but I don’t dare voice it. No reason to give him any ideas. It would be a betrayal for me to turn over business records to Viktor, but I guess it’s better than some of the ideas my brain concocted while I was waiting to hear from him.
“What are you going to do with them?”
“Bertrand took something from me, and I want it back.”
“What did he take?” I whisper.
There’s silence on the other end, and when I think he’s not going to tell me, he talks.
“Bertrand took a lot from me. Business, my daughter, men. Along with his partners, those men who fancy themselvesdangerous mob men.” Viktor stops to chuckle. “They decided to start trading in a lucrative business venture, one that is mine.”
“But you are in Chicago, and we are here. Why do you care what he did here?”
“Oh, you are innocent, aren’t you?” He chuckles again.
Not really.
“When Bertrand left, he formed a business with his four partners. It wasn’t an equal split, but I doubt they know that. He named it Herald.”
“Herald?” I scrunch my brows together in confusion. I’ve never heard Connor mention it.
“Odd name until you think about the meaning behind it,” Viktor says with a small chuckle. “It was very egotistical, just like Bertrand. Just like those other four idiots. It might have started off as an inside joke, but they used to sayit would herald the second coming and they would rise above.”
“Sounds sacrilegious,” I reply drily. “I’m guessing they thought they would become the next big thing?”
“In a way. I think they wanted to take over the market, but everyone knows legacies steeped in generations of power don’t fall easily. So, they stooped to stealing. They promised better lives to my men, other men, and families. They wooed with promises of making something of themselves and managed to build an empire of legitimate businesses, which they mostly run their illegal money through.”
“Money laundering?”
“Don’t act surprised, Wryn. We all do it.”
“No, I know. I’m trying to figure all of this out. So, they’ve stolen people and money from you, and you want them back?”
“Very astute. Though I don’t think you understand what I’m talking about. I first took over the Leoni crime family when my father passed away. I was young, foolish. I had stars in my eyes. That’s the blessing and curse of youth, I think. I was soon tried and found lacking, and I had to get myself together and think like a businessman. So, I expanded my business.”
