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I can count the number of times I’ve seen my father speechless on one finger. He meets my eyes for a long moment. When he sees that I mean every last word, he turns on his heel and leaves.
I stand there for a while after he’s gone. The entryway smells like his old man cologne and, beneath it, the tang of his sweat. I used to work to make my father happy. I was raised my entire life to be the kind of leader he was, the kind of man he was. Now, he’s gone, and I’m the one calling the shots.
I have everything my father never knew he wanted.
Soon enough, I’ll have it all.
My dad has only been gone for five minutes when another text from Yasha pings.The Sokolovs want a meeting with you.
Very funny,I text back.I haven’t even been awake an hour and he’s already giving me shit.
I’m heading into the kitchen to get coffee when he answers.I’m serious, Ivan. They want to meet. What should I tell them?
Fuck. He’s not kidding.
I forget the coffee and turn towards my office.
53
IVAN
I tap the screen in front of me and watch a tiny hourglass flip and turn three times before it connects. Then three video windows appear.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” I growl.
Francia is sitting in front of the camera with one leg tucked up into her chair and a steaming cup of coffee in her hands. She looks way too casual and way too alive for my liking.
“I’m not happy about this, either,” she snaps.
She’s obviously not talking to me. So I shift my attention to the third screen: Mikhail and Konstantin Sokolov.
They look like ghouls lurking in the dark. The two men are so pale the camera doesn’t quite know what to do with them. The brightness shifts and flares, trying to find something to focus on until Mikhail flips on a light behind the camera.
The light highlights the bruise I left under his right eye. I can practically see the outline of my knuckles along his eye socket. There’s a long scrape on his nose and chin from where he skidded across the concrete.
Serves the motherfucker right.
“Things have changed,” Konstantin says. “I thought it would be a good idea to touch base and make sure everyone understands what is at stake.”
“Nothing has changed. I’m going to kill you all.”
Allowing Cora to make the call to let Francia live was the right choice. I stand by it. But I’ll still fantasize about choking the life out of her until the day she is dead.
“And there is why we can’t meet in person,” Francia sighs. “All this violence is bad for negotiations, Ivan.”
“I have no intention of negotiating.”
“We don’t want to negotiate, either,” Konstantin agrees. “The time for that has passed.”
Francia frowns at the screen. “Then what is this? The last time we talked, we were going to—”
“The last time we talked, Francia, you brought some information to our attention. Some crucial information.”
“And you returned the favor by not prepping me for this meeting,” she snaps. “I’m not feeling real ‘crucial’ over here.”
They can bicker all they want, but I’m not interested in sitting in on their group therapy session. “Get to the point, Sokolov. What the fuck does any of this have to do with me?”
“This has everything to do with you.” Konstantin nudges Mikhail, who shifts out of frame. “This all started, for me, when my Katerina was promised to you. That deal was never finalized and I lost what would have been a solid investment.”
