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Money is very much like water. It comes and it goes. You can hold onto it tight, but it will still find a way to slip through your fingers.
My goal isn't to hoard every kopeck. It's to spread it out and make it blend in with the hundreds upon thousands of transactions that happen every day. Money laundering is no small feat. It takes a great deal of planning, diversifying our investments and spreading such a large net even if the police are competent enough to follow the trail—which they aren't—it'll take them forever to put together a case against us.
Buying out small businesses, investing in stocks, and occasionally making donations to help keep the Nicolaevich Brothers Taxi Company's public image squeaky clean. It's all a part of a grander plan, one that demands my utmost concentration.
Charlotte barges into my office without so much as ahow do you do, her red hair swaying from side to side behind her as she walks. “I'm taking the family to seeThe Nutcracker!” she announces, waving a set of tickets in front of her face like a fan. “Box seats, too.Veryfancy shindig.”
I don't bother looking up from my computer screen. I'm mid-way through a calculation and refuse to break focus. “Don't you know how to knock?”
The only reason I put up with Charlotte is because she's the twin sister of my sister-in-law, Sandra. Charlotte was born the second eldest Antonov by mere minutes, and when our two Bratvas merged, her position of authority transferred along with her. She isn't very hands-on and doesn't play the biggest role in day-to-day operations, but as a ranking lieutenant, she helps out on occasion by checking in on our businesses in the northern districts. I'm only ever forced to tolerate her existence at the rare family function—
And when she shows up unannounced.
“Lighten up, you grouch,” she says with a light laugh. She sounds exactly like Sandra, which makes sense since they're identical twins. They're nothing alike personality-wise, though, which is how I'm so easily able to tell them apart.
“I'm not going to watch the stupid ballet.”
“Not with that attitude, you're not.”
“I have too much work to do.”
Charlotte arches a brow. “You're telling me you never take a day off?”
“No.”
“Well, this time you're going to make an exception.”
“Don't want to.”
Charlotte slaps my ticket down on the desk before me. “You're coming.”
“Or what?”
“I'll kill you.”
I glare up at her. “I'd like to see you try, Cee.”
“Will you at least think about it? Even Samuil's going, and you know how much he hates this kind of thing.”
I'll admit I'm impressed by this. My brutish enforcer of a brother at the ballet watching pretty women in pink tutus and tights? It's too difficult for me to imagine. She must have forced his hand somehow. What sort of blackmail did Charlotte use to convince him to go? It's terrifying to think about.
“Get out,” I grumble. “I have work to do.”
Charlotte bats her eyelashes and pouts her lips. “You're not coming to lunch with us? Your brothers and I are going to try that new restaurant,La Croix, downtown.”
My ears perk up. “Tell Roman to speak with the owner. I want to get the ball rolling and see if we can't get a cut going forward. If that doesn't work, we'll send Samuil and Damien in to convince them.”
Charlotte squints at me. “You're an even bigger workaholic than Andrei, you know that?”
“That'll be all, Cee.”
“Love you too, jerkface. Don't come whining to me when you get hungry.”
“I'm a big boy. I'm sure I can take care of myself.”
With a huff, Charlotte slides the ticket forward across my desk before turning on her heel to saunter out. I'm glad to know she likes me as much as I like her—which is barely at all and only because we're technically family.
I'm about to shove the ticket aside and get back to my work, but a sudden idea pops into my head as I study the Bolshoi Theatre's logo printed on the far right. I'm always on the lookout for ways we can filter our illicit funds back into the system. If I ran a significant portion of the Bratva's profits through the taxi company, then through the theater as a sponsor, it would certainly take a massive weight off my shoulders and make it twice as hard for the cops to trace.
