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He opens the door and I’m immediately swallowed up by the lights and music pulsating through the four-thousand-square-foot venue. Neon lights hit the walls at steep angles and ricochet onto the high ceilings. The dance floor is the centerpiece of the space, but it’s the VIP boxes up on the balcony that I have my eyes on.
Kirill comes sauntering up. He’s got a lager in hand, though his eyes stay fixed on the corner-most VIP box on the second mezzanine. I follow his gaze.
“Is that Vadim?” I growl.
Kirill’s purses his lips. “He came in ten minutes before you. Made a beeline straight for Adrik. I thought the old bear was gonna scare him off, but—”
“They lookwaytoo fucking friendly for that to be the case.”
Kirill nods curtly. My suspicions are on full alert. Uncle Vadim is not the kind of man who would ever go against the family. Still, I prefer to operate under the belief that people are unpredictable. And Vadim certainly has enough resentment against me to justify doing something as desperate as fraternizing with the enemy.
Althoughenemystrikes me as the wrong word. It implies a legitimate threat and there’s nothing about Adrik that I find remotely threatening. But since we’ve been pitted against each other from the very beginning, there’s no chance that ingrained sense of competition is going to let up any time soon.
“Should I go up there or do you wanna handle it?” Kirill asks.
I thump him on the back. “I got this.”
Both men are so absorbed in conversation that they don’t see me coming until I’m right on top of them.
“Ah, Ruslan!” Adrik greets as though we’re fucking camp buddies.
I glance at my uncle, whose smile seems stiffer than usual. “Uncle.” Then I turn to Adrik. “Pretty sure you’re in the wrong club, Makarov.”
He smirks and shrugs. “Must have mistaken it for mine.”
“The day your club is half this full would be the best day of your fucking life.”
He runs a hand through his short-cropped blond hair and scowls. “Mine’s just a bigger spot. Makes it look emptier.”
“It figures you would be one of those men obsessed with size. Explains a lot.”
Vadim clears his throat. “Perhaps Adrik is just here to learn from the best.”
Adrik’s eyes narrow as he glances between the two of us. “I didn’t come here to be ganged up on, that’s for damn sure..”
“Whydidyou come, Adrik?”
He shrugs again, but his eyes keep flitting around too much for the gesture to come off as nonchalant. “Why not? I mean, we’re practically family.”
“Family?” I balk. “Now, you’re overreaching.”
“Overreaching is how I earned my reputation.Andmy empire.”
I crook an eyebrow. “‘Empire’? Are you referring to the two failing businesses you own? Or the ghost town you call a nightclub?”
Adrik gnashes his teeth together. “You have no fucking clue—”
“Careful, Adrik.” Vadim speaks up finally. “It’s a wise man who knows when to defer to his betters.”
I spare Vadim a dismissive glance, still annoyed with the buddy-buddy exchange I’d interrupted between them. “Why don’t you lead by example and go see to my other VIPs, Uncle?”
Vadim’s jaw clenches, but he nods all the same. “Of course. Whatever you need, nephew.”
Adrik’s nostrils flare as his gaze veers from Vadim to me. “You may have the lion’s share of powernow, but I’ve beaten you in the past and I can do it again.”
I smirk. Now, I’m really amused. “Are you referring to the arms deal you stole off me four years ago? Remind me again. Wasn’t that the same company I obliterated by coaxing all your buyers to sell to me?”
His jaw relaxes, then clenches as he breaks eye contact. “I’ll keep that in mind while I’m drinking your booze and enjoying your women.”
