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"Uncle Orion has a certain ring to it."
"Like a doorbell," I snark back.
"When are you going to introduce Lucia to your crew?" Zeus asks.
"They're waiting for us at the club."
That's news to me and butterflies start step-dancing in combat boots in my tummy. "I met three of them last night."
It's not a memory I want to hold onto.
"That was different."
"How many men are on your crew?" I ask.
"Three full-fledged members ofÁdis Adelfótitaand we are testing four more for potential initiation. They won't be at the club."
"You're recruiting for your crew? Why? Is the bratva fighting over territory?"
"Not now," Atlas replies.
Which is not reassuring because it implies they could be in the future.
"We have a truce with thepakhanin Russia. He has ordered his men out of Portland."
"Back to Russia? Or somewhere else nearby?" I ask.
"Good question," Orion says with grudging approval.
"Two of the men flew to Seattle, but thepakhanthinks we believe they all went back to Russia, or California." Atlas maneuvers around a slow car in the center lane on the freeway.
"California?"
"The Golubev Bratva have just over two months to sell or close their business and other assets before leaving the state," Orion adds. "They agreed to stay out ofÁdis Adelfótitaterritory."
"And the Hades Brotherhood doesn't claim Washington as part of their territory."
"No, but British Columbia and Oregon are. There's only so much the bratva can do hemmed in from the north and south." Zeus's words imply the problem is taken care of, but his pensive tone indicates something else.
"We won't let them get to you," Atlas promises.
"Should I be worried?"
"No."
But I remember what Atlas said about the bratva coming to my club to shake me down. A frisson of fear makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
As angry as I am at him and his brothers for doing the same thing, I don't fear them.
The bratva is something else all together. They showed no conscience, much less pity, when taking over Cosa Nostra territory in Detroit. They blew up my house, believing I was in it.
It was a different bratva family, but if the Golubevs approach bratva business the same way, I really do owe Atlas my gratitude for keeping them out of Nuovi Inizi.
I have no plans to tell him that though.
Chapter 41
LUCIA
