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Erik sat back in the chair and shook his head. “That’s disappointingly shortsighted. If nothing else, we can work together to deal with this new threat. Our little family squabble will be there once the Russians have gone home with their tails between their legs.”
Roman stifled a sigh. Erik had no idea what he was talking about. The first line of Russians, unleashed at the funeral, was the first of many, a matroyshka doll of blood and violence. Roman and Igor could kill them, but they would just be replaced by another army.
And another. And another.
Russia had lost confidence in the Kalashniks’ ability to lead, and frankly, Roman didn’t blame them.
His father had run the organization into the ground, and with more of the bratva’s resources funneled into the war with Roman, the motherland had almost certainly seen a drastic decrease in the already-dwindling revenue from the New York cell.
And since eliminating them all wasn’t an option, Roman would have to find another way around the problem.
But that — all of that — wasn’t the most important reason Roman would never work with his father, wasn’t the reason Igor was dead to Roman forever.
“You’re forgetting something,” Roman said to Erik. “Something important.”
Erik rolled his eyes, like they were still boys. “Please enlighten me.”
“Our father held an innocent woman — a woman who matters to me — prisoner,” Roman said. “He separated her from her daughter, destroyed her life.”
“Collateral damage,” Erik said. “Part of every battle. You know that.”
You wouldn’t say that if you knew her. If you heard her laugh or saw the way she lights up a room.
“It’s not collateral damage I can live with.”
Erik shrugged and got to his feet. “That’s too bad.”
“Not really,” Roman said. “Father is poison. To ourfamily, to the bratva, and to the rest of the world, all of which will be better off when he’s gone.”
Roman had long since lost the deep affection he had for his mother. It was impossible to hold her in high esteem while she’d drunk herself into a stupor and looked the other way during Igor’s abuse of Roman.
But she was a prisoner too. She would be freed by Igor’s death too.
A crooked smile lifted one corner of Erik’s mouth. “You’re always sure you’re going to win, aren’t you?”
“Not always, but this time…” Roman nodded. “Yes.”
“I guess we’ll see,” Erik said. He was almost to the door when he turned around. “It wasn’t a compliment, you know.”
“What wasn’t a compliment?” Roman asked.
“That Father favored me, that he gave you the worst of it.” He hesitated, and for a split second, Roman saw the addict’s shine in his eyes even though Roman was almost positive Erik was telling the truth about being clean. “He spared me because he knew I was weak, knew I couldn’t take it.”
Roman didn’t have time to respond and a second later, Erik was gone.
He didn’t know if what Erik had said was true, but it hardly mattered. The past was gone. The future was what mattered — keeping Ruby safe, returning her to her cozy life with Olivia.
And destroying his father along the way.
But now he couldn’t get Erik out of his mind, the fever in his eyes that said he had something to prove.
And nothing to lose.
5
RUBY
She’d come to look forward to the nights in the hospital. There was something about the dimmed lights, the reassuring beep of equipment, the sound of the nurses and orderlies making their way down the hall, that made Ruby feel safe.
