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“So that information was good?” I looked over at Nikolai as he leaned against the fireplace mantle with a glass of whiskey in hand. The only response I got from him was a firm nod.
“Damn, I was hoping those fuckers were lying.” I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose. The men I had captured on my raid a while back said Lady Qing was in cahoots with some old white man, and further prodding revealed it to be Ivan. Although, I haven’t been able to dig up much on my end regarding what they were involved in together, so whatever those two were planning was either off the books or being disguised really well.
“Ivan’s been letting your stepmother use his ports to get her shipments, probably because you’ve cut off most of her routes with your little plan of tearing down her reign. In turn, it looks like your stepmother has been letting him sell on triad territory along with supplying him.” Nikolai informed us as he swirled the golden liquid in his glass, letting the soft clinking of the ice cube ring through the room.
Something wasn’t right. The part about the ports sounded highly plausible, but letting another sell on triad territory was fishy. Why would she let someone do that and lose out in profit after monopolizing the drug game in the territory? It wasn’t as if Ivan was some hotshot with a miracle drug no one else had on hand, nor was he a huge player.
She could easily pay him for the ports. Hell, she could more than easily take them from him considering the triad’s forces were triple that of Ivan’s. It would have made more sense for her to take his turf in a small war and take over all he owned. So, why work with him? She wasn’t exactly a team player kind of person.
“Lisichka?” I knew that prodding tone of his by now. He wanted me to spill my mind.
“Just... My gut is telling me that there’s a lot more going on than that. I know my stepmother enough to know that she wouldn’t just work with Ivan like that. I’ll see if my men have any updates and tell Bao to dig into things more with his sister, but something isn’t right.” What was she planning? What does Ivan have to do with anything?
Letting out a heavy sigh, I ran a hand through my hair. “Anything about the shipments that Bao flagged?” Maybe it had to do something with the unknowns of our whole equation.
Letting out a deep breath, Nikolai pushed off the mantle and went over to the armchair, settling down before speaking, “Your stepmother’s shipments, but looks like they were also some other goods like weapons and art.”
Running a hand down his face, he breathed deeply for a moment before continuing. “But that’s only from our end, still working with my cousin on Ivan’s shipments coming out of Russia. So far he hasn’t found anything strange with the shipments, but that’s what’s strange is the fact that Ivan seems too clean.” If he were anyone else then being clean would be a good thing, but a clean mobster was always suspicious because it meant they were good at hiding.
Chewing my bottom lip, I zoned out the rest of the meeting, too engrossed in my own thoughts to hear about the brothers playing catch up. If my stepmother worked with Ivan then things were going to get dicey. It was one thing to attack within my own domain, but I can’t freely touch Ivan’s shit without major blowback. But also, why Ivan? There were other gangs that would make more sense if she wanted ports for her shipments.
A small nudge to my side snapped me out of my head. “Lisichka, let’s go?” Nikolai’s voice sounded a little distant when I zoned back in.
“Go where?” Did I miss something important? Did we have something planned? Was it a surprise date? No, I don’t think that’s possible since he wasn’t urging me upstairs to change out of his shirt.
“I picked up the good doctor for you like you wanted, little rat was trying to dip when we caught him.” Now this brought my mood up, almost enough to make me forget my hangover. “Go change and we’ll go question him.”
CHAPTER 28
Angel
Aquick change anda car ride later, we arrived at some run down area at the very edge of town. I’ve never been to the area, only heard about it from Nikolai. His family paid the authorities and city a pretty penny to overlook activities in the abandoned area filled with worn warehouses. Nikolai told me that his family converted the place into a storage unit and a place to hold people. Everything took place underground in the basement bunker built by his father.
“Please, I don’t know why you are holding me here, I am innocent!” The faint voice of our victim could be clearly heard through the viewing area of the interrogation room. Dr. Hosti was an older man in his sixty’s and has been my family’s doctor for as long as I could remember. He was one of my father’s friends as well, which is why I found the fact about him working for my stepmother to be a hard pill to swallow.
“That’s what all the guilty criminals say.” My voice was flat with anger when I entered the room with Nikolai.
