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Long moments of silence stretched out, and my patience wore thin, my annoyance growing. I wanted to go back to Lina. I wanted to feel the softness of her cheeks again. I wanted to feel her lean into my touch. And these little fuckers were taking my time away from her.
“You need to get the fuck on with it and quit wasting my time.” My voice hardened, my jaw tightening. My fingers twitched to grab my gun and aim it at Dmitry’s head, to pull the trigger and put a bullet through his skull just to send a message to Leonid. I always was a trigger-happy bastard.
“I’d like to offer you a job.”
I didn't hesitate to respond right away. “I already have a job with the Ruin.” I could see the snarl on Dmitry’s lips, but I didn’t care if the fucker didn’t like my response. “And even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t take a job from someone who barely has hair on his balls.'' It was a low blow, but I was agitated over the Lina situation and these assholes keeping me from her.
Dmitry laughed, deep and low. “Man, Arlo, if you were anyone else, I would have already put a bullet between your eyes for your insults.”
I curled my lip. “You couldtry.” Dmitry may have only been a decade or so younger than I was, and far from a child, but I’d seen more in my years in this fucking underworld than he’d probably ever experienced in his life, even being the son of the Pakhan.
“I’m going to give you a pass on the disrespect.” He held up one finger. “But just this once, Arlo.”
I curled my fingers tightly into my palm and bared my teeth. “Is that so?” I took a step forward and saw Nikolai tense. But Dmitry held his hand up, stalling whatever his brother was about to do.
“I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot here.” Dmitry tipped his head to the side as if trying to examine me, trying to figure me out.Good fucking luck.“I think this is something you’ll like, Arlo, something that will satiate that evil, tar-stained, fucked-up soul of yours.”
Nikolai gave a little chuckle in response.
And then the air shifted, changed as it charged with something sickly and vicious. The atmosphere wasn’t lighthearted anymore, wasn’t the soft laughter of a demented man with fake smiles and a twisted mind. It was a sudden seriousness that was cloaking, a sturdy presence like a fourth body in the room.
“We want you to kill our father.” Dmitry said it so matter-of-factly that I was actually taken aback, his words so final there was no doubt in my mind he meant every single one. “I know, before you say it or even think about it, that you're wondering if this is a setup.” He held his hands out, palms up. “This is my brother and me offering you an olive branch. We’re giving you a chance to take out the threat that is directed at your woman, no strings attached, no repercussions with the Bratva. No retaliation.”
I eyed them both, gauging their body language, sifting through it all to see if they gave away any signs. Sweating, shifting of eyes, twitching of bodies. But they were both cool and collected, their breathing easy, their focus on me.
Well, fuck me. They were dead serious.
I knew they had no real love for the man who’d fathered them, had heard plenty of stories of their upbringing and all the vicious shit Leonid did to “toughen” up his sons. Where he treated his daughter like a princess, a little bird in a gilded cage, his sons got the blunt force of his brutality.
I chuckled, but it held no humor. “You little shits think you can take down Leonid on your own?” I lifted an eyebrow as I eyed them both. “I’ll give you both credit; you have some balls of steel, conspiring to take down one of the strongest Pakhans in the Bratva.”
“He’s become unorganized, his vengeance with the Cosa Nostra becoming volatile. He’s making too many mistakes and fucking things up. He’s going to end up bringing a lot of fire and death down on this organization and ruin a lot of connections we have in place.” Nikolai was the one to speak, and I was surprised by the thought-out response. He actually sounded clearheaded and not like a raving lunatic.
I’d always heard Nikolai was more of the partygoer in Petrov’s trio, the one less likely to give a shit about following in his father’s footsteps. The responsibilities fell more on Dmitry for obvious “oldest son” reasons.
“I’m not sure how this is my problem,” I responded, feeling the need to go to Lina even stronger than before.
Dmitry gave me a hard smile. “This isyourproblem, because my father has plans for your woman.”
My entire body tightened, even though I already knew Leonid wouldn’t leave this alone. I’d seen the excited glint in his eye as I took Lina out of his bar.
“I don’t need you or your brother interfering.”
Nikolai snorted and leaned back on the wall, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring.
“He’s like a dog with a fucking bone over having you join the ranks.” He shook his head. “I don’t get his obsession with you,but he holds you in high regard and will use whatever means necessary to bring you in.”
“And he plans on trying to use her as collateral to force my hand.” I didn't phrase it like a question, because I knew that was the outcome Leonid saw. I knew the way the fucker’s mind worked. Dmitry was quiet for so long it started to feel like this itch under my skin.
“I don’t think you understand the obsession my father has with that woman. Because he knows you want her, because you couldn’t control yourself, he won’t stop until he makes you see his way of thinking.” I saw a muscle in Dmitry’s jaw tick, as if just speaking about how fucked up his father was almost sent him into a rage. “He wants to make herhis, Arlo. That’s the fucking truth of the matter.”Dmitry took another step forward, and my entire body tightened. With readiness. I was already walking on a razor’s edge and trying to control myself after hearing the news—the fucking threat—of what Leonid wanted with Lina.
I moved my hand suddenly to my back to get better access to my gun.
“Do you understand what I mean, Arlo? Do you understand what my father does to women?”
I gritted my teeth. I knew.
“He’s a savage toward the fairer sex. Fucking deplorable.”
