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Dmitry grinned, a frightening visage with his lips peeled off his teeth, all straight, white, and flashing in the darkness. Dmitry started talking about the bullshit that happened at one of my father’s establishments, an encounter where Arlo had taken it upon himself to obliterate the hands of one of Leonid’s soldierssimply for touching a female Arlo had taken some hardcore interest in.
“I swear he’s got a constant fucking hard-on because of it,” Dmitry said. “It's been a long time since I’ve seen him so excited about something.”
I moved forward then, coming up to Arlo from behind, the shadows slipping away from me.
I knew Arlo was well aware of my presence, but the fucker didn’t even tense as I approached and I felt my grin widen even more. “I don’t know whether to be offended or to up my game over the fact that you didn’t even flinch in my presence,” I said.
“Probably safe to assume both.”
Arlo’s words irritated me and I sneered at him as I came to stand beside my brother.
“Your father needs to find a hobby if my life is so consuming to him.” Arlo addressed Dmitry in reference to what had been said about our father.
Dmitry gave Arlo a sharklike grin.
Long moments of silence stretched out before Arlo broke it up by saying, “you need to get the fuck on with it and quit wasting my time.”
I noticed Arlo’s fingers twitching, and knew the sociopath wanted to go for his gun.
I didn’t want to have to kill Arlo, not when we needed him.
“I’d like to offer you a job.” Dmitry was the one to break up the silence.
“I already have a job with the Ruin,” Arlo said right away. “And even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t take a job from someone who barely has hair on his balls.”
My pulse jack-knifed at the low blow comment Arlo directed toward my brother.
But my brother didn’t take the bait. He laughed, deep and low. “Man, Arlo, if you were anyone else, I would have already put a bullet between your eyes for your insults.”
Arlo curled his lip. “You couldtry.” We may have only been a decade or so younger than Arlo, and far from children as Arlo so crudely implied, but we’d seen some heinous shit… done terrible things that we were right up there in the sociopathic killer tier as Arlo.
“I’m going to give you a pass on the disrespect.” Dmitry held up a finger. “But just this once, Arlo.”
“Is that so?” Arlo took a step forward and I tensed even more, about to move closer. But Dmitry held his hand up, stopping me from coming closer.
“I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot here.” Dmitry tipped his head to the side as if trying to examine Arlo, trying to figure him out. “I think this is something you’ll like, Arlo, something that will satiate that evil, tar-stained, fucked-up soul of yours.”
I chuckled in response.
And then the air shifted, changed as it charged with something sickly and vicious. The atmosphere changed, wasn’t filled with the laughter of demented men with fake smiles and twisted minds. 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 pleased to see Arlo was actually taken aback. “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.”
Arlo eyed us both. He wouldn’t see shit. We knew how to keep our cool, how to act like shit was dark and deadly. He chuckled, but it held no humor. “You little shits think you can take down Leonid on your own?” He lifted an eyebrow as he eyed them both. “I’ll give you both credit; you have some balls of steel, conspiring to take down one of the strongest Pakhan in the Bratva.”
I stepped forward and spoke. “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.”
“I’m not sure how this is my problem,” Arlo said, his jaw tightening further.
Dmitry gave me a hard smile. “This isyourproblem, because my father has plans for your woman.”
I instantly saw Arlo’s entire body tighten. The woman Arlo had become obsessed with was clearly someone special. A weakness. And it’s what we’d use against him to get him to do exactly what we wanted.
Kill our father.
“I don’t need you or your brother interfering,” Arlo gritted out.
I made a deep sound in my throat and leaned back against the wall, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at the bastard. “He’s like a dog with a fucking bone over having you join the ranks,” I said in reference to Leonid. I cocked my head to the side. “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.” It was no secret our father wanted Arlo as a full-time Bratva soldier, but the coldhearted asshole in front of us preferred to stay a free agent.
