Chapter 23 Chapter Twenty Three
KING’S POV
“You know he’s meeting with Igor Romano today, Right?” I ask my father the moment he gets into my car after his meeting with Yasuki, my eyes not missing his wince at the topic.
According to my orders this morning, I’d picked him up from the hangar in the early hours of the morning and brought him in for his meeting immediately. It’s been a few hours since then and I take it Yasuki has mentioned the absurdities he did to me yesterday to him amidst that and I needed to know what he thought.
“Yes, I know.”
“You’re his consigliere and you’re not advising him against it? Is everyone forgetting who the fuck Igor Romanov is?”
“Igor is his personal business, I don’t get involved in that side of his life and neither should you. This time of the year? Yasuki is not the best person to deal with and he does the most insane things but he knows where to draw the line, he has in the past this should be no different..” My dad shrugs, relaxing into the comfy back seat of the sedan taking us right back to the hanger for another trip Yasuki just signed him up for, his eyes tired and closed.
Up close like this, I can see the new tired lines that’s appeared on his face since the last time I saw him, the new gray strands in the hair he refuses to dye, the exhaustion written all over him in indelible ink and I just want to yell at him to stop, to take a break, retire. But my father is a very stubborn man and asking that of him will be a waste of my time yet again.
“Stop watching me like a hawk.” He says, cracking his eyes open a slit to glare at me before breaking into a half smile. Watching him like this is like looking in a mirror and seeing myself thirty years into the future and I love it almost as much as I hate it because I see myself in him.
“Yes, I’m eating well, no, I haven’t missed any of my check ups and no, I’m not giving up my job.”
His response pulls a small smile from me even though it’s not the answer I’d have preferred. At least he’s taking care of himself, I guess that counts.
“Where is he sending you this time? You’ve only just got here.” I ask him in a half complain. I guess I’m partial because he’s my old man. I wouldn’t give a flying fuck if it were another person being tossed around like this, not even myself. It had taken being brought into the business for me to learn how demanding his job truly is and for me to start letting go of some of the resentment I’d harbored towards him most of my life for his absence in most of mine and my brother’s life.
“Chicago.”
His answer drags my attention immediately . Yasuki doesn’t have any business in Chicago that I know of, he hates the damn place and stays away, except……..his warning from last night instantly comes flying to the front of my mind, sending a bout of anger shooting through me. Is this a threat? Is sending my father to the one place he knows she is supposed to be a warning to me, because I haven’t done a goddamn thing to warrant one. Why is he playing these games with me when all I’ve been is loyal and obedient to him?
“Why?” I bite out, not bothering to hide my displeasure at the information.
My father opens his eyes to look at me questioningly, trying to decipher where my sudden agitation at the news had come from but I was in no mood to clear him since his boss didn’t, I just want answers. What does Yasuki want?
Noticing there’s no clarification coming from me, he just shakes his head before returning to his previous position.
“Some guy there has Yasuki’s money and he’s late on delivery. I’m just going there to see what the hold up is and if it’s what I suspect, to put Yasuki’s offer on his table.” He sighs.
“I’d hate to have to return.” He continues. “He’s a good partner, this man, but if he doesn’t have the money or take the offer, I’ll have to let him go. He’s lucky as it is to be getting an offer even.”
His explanation placates me a bit because this is a part of the business I’ve had to take care of since I joined the family, it’d practically been the first assignment to draw Yasuki’s attention to me. But I still have this sniggering feeling that this is just the scratch at the surface, at the end of the day I know this has something to do with that threat he’d made yesterday and is a warning to me.
I glare out the tinted window of the sedan the rest of the ride, ruminating on this until the car rolls into the hanger. I should have known she’d pop into Yasuki’s radar one way or the other. Viktor Petrov probably mentioned my altercation with his brother and the rest just kind of rolled out. And as a man that likes having something to hold over people to keep them in line, I’m assuming he believes this is mine.
Question is, is he right?
This is one of the reasons I didn’t want to drag her into this, it’s the reason I let her go and yet even that is not enough to totally keep her safe from it.
“Whatever it is that’s eating at you like this have to take a back seat for now, Nikandr. I need your head clear in Chicago.”
The statement surprises me more than the name he’d used, my mom is the only one that calls me that. She makes it beautiful with all her love shinning out of her eyes and the hint of accent she gets only when saying it. I guess that’s why I’d given her that name, I wanted her to have a small of piece of something I love.
I get so tired of everyone calling me King it gets so refreshing to be called something diff…….
“What?” I ask, shutting my derailing mind up.
“He didn’t tell you? He made it clear you were coming on the trip too.”
“He didn’t say anything to me.” I say even as I climb out of the car with him, acknowledging the pilot for the trip and my dad’s bodyguard who are already present.
“I don’t know what is up between the both of you today but get your shit together and board the damn plane. Like I mentioned earlier, his head is fucked right now and he’s looking for blood anywhere he can draw it. I don’t want to lose a son to this madness.”
I raise my brow in question and my old man just sighs in response.
“It’s his daughter’s death anniversary and he has it bad this year. It’s why he’s meeting Igor. You can’t deny the fact that the man offers the best places to cure bloodlust.’