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“Vladimir, this isn’t a joke,” I heard Damien say on the phone. “Why? Whatever you want to say to him, you can say to me…fine, then we’ll put you on speakerphone.”
Damien sat down next to me, placing the phone on the wooden coffee table in front of us. He put his arm around me and kissed my cheek, his way of comforting me—of telling me that I was still safe.
“Nikolai, it’s such a pleasure to be in touch with you,” I heard a man’s voice say. There was some static, as if the connection wasn’t great. “My long lost second cousin. Always nice to connect with family.”
Mr. Ivanov nodded at us, implying that his computer was picking up on Vladimir’s signal. Perhaps he’d found his location through the call.
“You’re not my family,” I replied coldly. Damien squeezed his arm around me a bit tighter. I turned to face him, and he nodded back at me, encouraging me, giving me strength. “Oh, it’s such a shame to hear that you feel that way. But of course we’re family, little Nikolai. My grandfather was your great grandfather. We have some of the same blood running through our veins. Can’t you feel it? Don’t you ever feel thatfirewithin yourself, Nikolai? That’s the Obelensky in you. That comes straight from your mother. Even if she never quite understood how to use it.”
“What do you want, Vladimir? Why are you calling now?”
“Oh, Nikolai. Well I never got the chance to wish you a happy birthday…that faggy little mobster friend of yours Damien yanked you right off the street before I could bring you your present.”
“I was never one for birthday presents, Vladimir. Perhaps you would know that if you’d tried to be a part of my real family instead of…” I began to tremble, swallowing back some tears so he would’t hear the pain in my voice, “instead of killing the only family I’d ever had, you evil fucking prick.”
“You see, I had a feeling you might be upset about that,” he replied, his voice annoyingly playful. I was beginning to see red, I was so furious. But Damien ran his fingers up and down my back, keeping me somewhat calm. “But Nikolai, I think I did you a massive favor there. I know they were your parents and all, but they were weak. They were ruining everything my grandfather had built—the Russian mafia, thebratva. Your father, an outsider without a single drop of mafia blood in him, he brainwashed your mother into becoming some sort of caretaker. For all of New York City! Even our enemies! Your father wanted to help feed our enemies, and your mother, so desperately in love with him for reasons I simply cannot understand—I am not a faggot, after all—she went along with his vision. His idea of chaaaanging New York.
“I didn’t want you to have to grow up with them as an example, little Nikolai. Your parents were an embarrassment. I set you free from a disgraceful lineage.”
Damien grabbed the back of my scalp, running his fingers through my hair. Gritting my teeth, I looked at him, peered deep into those caring black eyes, trying to use my love for him to balance out the hatred swirling through my body for Vladimir, nearly erupting out of me like lava. I needed to keep my cool. We needed Mr. Ivanov to track Vladimir down. He needed a few more minutes.
“You robbed me of my life, Vladimir. Don’t pretend you were doing me any favors. You wanted power, and now you have it. Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
“It makes me so sad to hear you don’t want anything to do with me, little Nikolai. I thought it might be nice to be in touch with a long lost relative, that’s all…”
“Cut the bullshit, Vladimir. Just leave me alone. I have no interest in the mafia. It’s yours. It’s all yours.”
“That’s so sweet, little one. And I wish I could believe you. Do you know much about lions, my cousin?”
“No, tell me.”
“When a new male lion takes over a pack, he kills all of the lion cubs from any previous males. You see, one day these lions will grow up and become competition. They will want to take their own father’s throne. And so the grown male lion just can’t risk this. Nature is such a beautiful thing, isn’t it?”
“Vladimir, I’m telling you, I don’t want it. It’s yours. Just leave me the fuck alone.”
“Oh, little one, you are hurting my feelings. Well, I’ll tell you what. I’m not going to give up that easily. We’re going to have a little family gathering here at my place. Mr. Ivanov is tracing this call, is he not?” I looked up at Mr. Ivanov, and then at Damien. Both seemed panicked; we were busted. “That’s alright, cousin. Then I won’t need to send you an invite with my address. That will save me some money on postage. Every penny counts, right? Well listen, like I was saying, I thought we could have a little family gathering here. Look, your grandfather came early.”
I surge of panic coarse through my entire body. What was he talking about?
Suddenly, I heard Grandpa’s voice on the phone.
“Nikolai, don’t you listen to him, my boy. You just let this be. Don’t you worry about me.” I jumped up off of the couch, enraged.
“Let him the FUCK go, you fucking sicko! What have you done! I’ll fucking kill you!” Damien stood up and tried to hold me, but I shook him off of me. How could he let this happen? How could I?
“Oh but Nikolai, he doesn’twantto go anywhere. You see? He loves family. Well, I guess he’s not technically my blood. In fact, come to think of it…he gave birth to your father, who
ruined my sister completely…well, we all have to forgive family, right?”
I looked at Damien with fury in my eyes. What were we going to do?
“So, Nikolai. I guess you have a choice then, right? You can either come and join us for the celebration—again, I know you know my address after tracking this call—or you can leave your grandfather here with me. He’s such a sweet and quiet house guest. We’re not feeding him much, but he’s not complaining at all.” Blah blah blah.
“And if you’re not here on Friday, your grandfather will be…well, what’s that old mafia saying?Swimming with the fishes. I really hope you can make it. We’re going to have a big feast waiting for you.”
“I’ll be there,” I hissed back. “You better not fucking hurt him. This has nothing to do with him, Vladimir. Do not touch a god damn hair on his head.”
“Oh Nikolai, of course not! He hardly has any hair left on his head anyway. So lovely we’ll all finally get together tomorrow!”
