Chapter 16: Mikhail

“Everything is in order in Mexico,” José says.

I temple my fingers and acknowledge him with a nod.

We’re sitting in my office at Dmitriyev Ltd. He arrived in New York with Sebastian an hour ago and came straight here to see me.

“That’s good to hear, amigo.”

“The men have also informed their workers of the new leadership change and who they’re to report to from now on.”

“Were there any problems I should be aware of?”

“No.”

I didn’t think so.

I ordered my men to burn Raul’s house to the ground once they’d removed all the important things. The same way leaders of the past sent a message to the people by burning what they revered, I wanted that house torched as a reminder to all in the alliance of Raul’s downfall, and a threat not to cross me. Ever.

Everything should be ashes in the wind now.

“That’s good. Everyone seems on board.”

“They are.”

I give him a crude smile, and he shuffles nervously in his seat.

The man is right to be nervous because he’s not sure yet if I’m going to allow him to live past the next hour. I haven’t given him a guarantee either.

He knows I don’t trust him. He hasn’t done anything yet to even begin to earn anything like that from me, and he knows he walks the thin line between life and death.

Now that we’re on to phase two—managing the cartel—I need to decide what more I’ll need him for. Since nothing has been resolved in relation to who was working with Raul, and I won’t be able to focus completely on the cartel until it has, I might still need him for something, so he’s safe for now.

He wouldn’t like to know that vague possibility of needing his ass is the only thing keeping him alive. And the only thing that’s kept him alive up until this point.

Seeing him face to face now makes me want to kill him because I’m not exactly sure I believe he knew nothing of the assassination plot. It doesn’t make sense that he wouldn’t know.

His two black eyes and broken nose, however, are reminders of how I tortured him, yet he couldn’t tell me anything. He already knows Adriana is safe with me, so he has nobody to save but himself.

But I also want to kill him because I’m jealous over whatever feelings Adriana might have for him—no matter what they are. I know it’s absurd because she clearly sees him as a father figure, but I don’t want her having any heartfelt emotions toward anybody who worked for Raul.

It’s harder for me because obsession is taking over my mind. I can feel it working its way into every cell in my body. Like poison.

That kiss earlier was supposed to be a taste.

I wanted to taste her purity. The thing that was out of reach to a devil like me.

I got my taste, and she was the most delicious thing I ever tasted.

Then I saw that look in her eyes. The look of the same desire I felt begging me to take more. So, I took more than my fair share, and she left me starving for more.

She left me starving and wanting.

I know it’s because I haven’t fucked her yet. All I’ve achieved is fanning the flames of fantasy.

“Raul’s files are also in order for you to further investigate,” he states, cutting into my thoughts.

“And you got everything, right?” I’m double checking. I had my men keep a close eye on him, but there’s every chance he could have concealed stuff. I felt if there were ever going to be any clues, they would be in the house.

“I did. I also downloaded all of Raul’s files from his computers at work and at home. When I checked, there was nothing in there in relation to what happened to you and your family. I presume you’ve already looked at them, but I still got them in case anything was missed.”

“That’s fine. It has been looked at, but we can keep them for reference.” The investigation team hacked the system before I went to Mexico and found nothing. I’m sure Eric will want to take another look at them because he’s thorough.

“Everything else we brought over was physical, like the contracts he’d signed with the allies. It’s all in the storage unit downstairs.”

Sounds like he did a good job and I do have everything. I’ll personally go through the files, then contact Eric if I find anything. Sebastian will be on the street if I need him to check anything out. I just hope all of this won’t take too long. It’s never good to be left in the dark when your enemies have a head start.

“All right. That’s sufficient for now.”

“Is there anything else you’d like me to do?” he asks, eyeing me with that caution again.

Clever, clever. The conversation has now come to an end, and that’s a subtle way of asking me if I’m going to kill him.

“I want you to continue to do what you did for Raul with his contracts. But you’ll be managing it from here in New York.”

He furrows his brows. “Wouldn’t it have been better for me to be based in Mexico?”

“Of course, but I want you where I can see you. I can watch you better this way.” I give him that ruthless smile again, and he looks like he’s ready to shit himself. This guy is no weakling. Raul did not have weak people working for him. What he had were strong, intelligent men. So, the good thing about José is he knows when his knees should bend to someone who has more power and authority than him. That’s his survival mechanism. Nothing more.

“I can assure you, Señor Dmitriyev, I have nothing to hide.”

“I’m not some idiot, José. You have all the access to the workings behind the biggest cartel in this world. That’s some type of power.” This motherfucker knows things I don’t even know. He’s just as good as Felipe was and a good replacement. That’s one reason I killed Felipe right off the bat. “I’m not about to allow you to give the others the same access so they can try to screw with me.”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“I don’t know you well enough to believe that, José.” I shake my head, keeping a sharp gaze on him. “And I’m not a man who takes risks with his fortunes. So, I want you to stay in New York and help me manage everything from here. Understand?”

“Si, Señor.” He dips his head reverently, and the snake tattooed on his neck bows, too.

“Good.”

A flash of apprehension flickers in his eyes, and I know from that he’s about to ask me about Adriana.

“Is Señorita Alvarez okay?” he asks. I give him credit for the balls it took to do it.

“She’s fine. I’m taking good care of her needs.”

It’s clear from the indignation swallowing up the nerves I previously witnessed in his eyes that he doesn’t miss the innuendo.

He presses his lips together in a thin line of displeasure, but we both know that as mad as he might be about what I’m doing to the princess, he’s not going to say anything to me about it.

I wonder how he’d feel if I told him she was enjoying how I take care of her just fine.

“Okay.”

“You can leave now.”

“Is it possible to see her?”

“I said you can leave now.”

“I just—”

I pull out my gun. That silences him. “Last chance, José Diaz. You can leave now. I told you everything you need to know about my wife-to-be.”

“I apologize, Señor.” With another dip of his head, he rises to his feet and leaves.

I return my gun to my pocket and release a heavy sigh.

I need to calm the fuck down.

It’s just that my patience is wearing thin. My patience for everything is dwindling into the ether, and I’m not known to persevere for anything.

I hate anything beyond my control, and this situation is exactly that. As the days go by and I’m nowhere close to getting things resolved, I’m pushed to that place where I feel like I’m going fucking crazy.

It all started when I realized how sick my father was and culminated in this.

Deciding I need to take a walk, I leave my office and head out to the garden in the atrium.

The garden was one of Sophia’s stress relief ideas because of the long working hours we clock in here. It runs all the way from the fifteenth floor to the ground, and because you can see it from the outside, it sets our building apart from the other multi-story buildings in the city.

I head to the water fountain and grab some water.

The moment I down the cold liquid, I feel slightly better, but my brain is still unhinged. The doctors said that would happen sometimes, especially if I didn’t rest, and I haven’t.

I’ve been all over the place, and I don’t even know where I’ve found the strength. What caused me to slip into a coma was knocking my head when I fell after the bomb blast. I remember being launched into the air from the impact. That must have been the thing to knock me out, because I don’t remember anything after that.

When I found out what happened to Talia, it pushed me over the edge. Days before I set out to Mexico, we held a memorial for her. It was hard to accept my mother and sister were both dead.

Dead and gone forever.

Nothing, not even me, could ever bring them back.

I have family, but I couldn’t feel more alone with their passing. Father will go next, and as much as I love Sophia and she takes care of me, she’s always tried to keep the balance between me and Ivan. Doing so often means she tends to be with him more.

It’s understandable given the way we came into his life.

Father married my mother months after Ivan’s mother’s death. They were having problems and weren’t even together in the end. Ivan was a child who saw that, and his resentment stems from my mother, sister, and me being the new family our father fell in love with.

At the family home, there were hardly any pictures of his mother around when I was growing up, and now that he has his own home, he probably has the ones that exist. It was like she was erased from existence and our lives.

Sophia is sensitive to that, and I guess I am, too, but only to some extent and only for business. Even my pursuit to get down to the bottom of this assassination plot is about business, and protecting Father and Sophia, of course.

In regard to Ivan, though, it was clear to me long ago that the only emotion I would ever feel for my brother is hatred.

Hatred that started after he tried to drown me in the river when I was only eight, and many other accidents like that one.

Bastard.

The door to my left opens, and in walks the devil.

Think of him, and he appears.

Ivan sees me straightaway, and he comes closer, walking with that authority every leader exudes. It’s obvious he already thinks he’s Pakhan and I’m going to be his eternal subordinate.

I straighten and get ready to hear whatever shit he has to say to me.

He gives me a fake-as-fuck smile and stops paces away to look at me like I’m shit he’s trying to avoid stepping in.

He’s lucky the same blood runs through our veins. Any other man who dared look at me like that would be dead before they could think to do it.

He knows that, though. That’s why he’s pissing on me.

“You look happy, brother,” he states. “Seems like all is well in the nest.”

“It is.” I’m always either vague on purpose with him or blatant. There are never any in-betweens with him and me.

“Have you fucked her yet?”

“Why? Why’s that important to you?”

“Just curious. I didn’t think you’d be waiting for the wedding night. I also figured you’d use her as a fuck toy and throw her away when you’re finished.”

“So you can have her?” I’m not stupid. This interest from the other day is continuing.

He’s probably also pissed as fuck he didn’t come up with the idea to take Adriana and control the cartel.

That vengeance was mine, though. Mine alone.

“What if I did want her?”

Normally when he pushes me on women, I don’t really care. I shouldn’t care this time, either, but something inside me snaps at the confirmation that he might want her.

“We’re not having this conversation. So, you can go back to fucking whichever whore it is you’re fucking this week and leave me and mine alone.”

He laughs. “Touchy, touchy, brother. You can’t blame a man for being curious about a beautiful woman who’s been forbidden to every man for years. None of us have seen her besides you, so my curiosity is understandable.”

“I guess so, but you can take it elsewhere. She belongs to me, so she’s still forbidden to every man.”

The edge to his laugh now suggests I’ve pissed him off.

“When I become Pakhan, you do know I can demand your wife if I want to.”

I move forward so fast he barely has time to register I’ve moved. I’m up in his face now, ready to knock his teeth down his throat.

“I’d like to see you fucking try,” I seethe.

Ivan doesn’t move, doesn’t blink, doesn’t even flinch, even though we’re not equally matched in stature. I’m all muscle and height, while he’s got the height but lacks in muscle. So, basically, he’s a fucking dead man if I get my hands on him.

“You think you could stop me?”

“You are not Pakhan yet, brother,” I spit. “If I get the job, there’ll be one hell of a shake-up.”

The one thing Father stated when he dropped the bomb on us about his plans was that we get to restructure the leadership the way we want. Ivan knows if I get the job, he’s not going to be anywhere near the elite.

I even plan to break tradition in every sense and appoint Sophia as the Sovietnik, not Ivan. In the Bratva, women don’t usually hold leadership roles, but she would have earned it. I think Father would want her to have it, too. Sebastian will be my Obshchak, so there would be no place for my brother except in one of the brigades. He won’t like that, so he’d most likely leave the fold.

“Stupid cunt. I’d bet you think that’s what’s going to happen.”

“Boys,” says a dainty voice from behind me before I can answer him.

It’s Sophia.

We both turn to meet the disapproving glare she’s casting our way. Her arms are folded over her chest, and her pale blue eyes narrow with displeasure.

“That’s enough,” she adds. Her Russian accent is always thicker when she’s furious. “It is inappropriate to behave like that right in the open where your employees can see you.”

“Mne zhal', Sophia,” Ivan says sorry in Russian and walks back the way he came without any further conversation.

Her face softens the moment he leaves, and she fixes her attention on me.

“Mne zhal', Sophia,” I say as well.

“Mikhail, I truly wish things were different between you and your brother. It’s not good to have family pitted against each other the way you are.”

I won’t bother to tell her the tension stems from him, not me. It was always him. It has been since we were children. Years from now, we’ll be old men fighting with our walking sticks and the fucking tension will still be there.

She’s a peacemaker looking to heal broken bonds, so I get it. This is just one bond she can’t heal.

“You know what he’s like, Sophia.”

“I do. But I try with the both of you.” She sighs. “All things aside, your father has now set up your individual meetings for the week after the wedding. You’re first.”

That meeting is about the company, not the brotherhood.

Right now, our father is the owner and Ivan and I have roughly the same responsibilities as joint C.E.O.s. That’s going to change, too, regardless of who gets to be Pakhan.

“Mine’s first?”

“Yes. He wants to speak to you first. Your brother last. Your meeting will be at the lake house. He didn’t give me a reason for that.”

I give her a narrowed look. The lake house was the place he and my mother used as their getaway. I’ve only been there a handful of times. It’s odd he wants to meet me there.

Very odd.

“I guess I’ll find out.”

“Yes, I suppose. Your father is quite an unusual man. Remarkable in every way, but unusual. I guess he has his ways of doing things for a reason.”

“He does.” Nothing is truer than that.

“How are you holding up?”

I nod. “I’m okay.”

“My dear boy, there’s no way you’re okay. How can you be? You’ve been in a coma for the last three months, and you’ve woken up to a world where your mother and sister are dead. I’m not going to believe you’re ‘okay.’”

I pull in a deep breath. “I have to be okay.” Because I can’t fall apart. That’s not me, although my insides have already collapsed.

“Please try to take it easy.” She rests her hands on my shoulders and gives me a reassuring squeeze. “You won’t help yourself if you burn out.”

“No.”

She releases me and gives me a smile. “I’m heading out to your place now, so I guess I’ll be the first to meet your bride-to-be.”

She sorted out the seamstress. I didn’t think she’d go to the fitting, though.

“You’re actually going to the house?” I raise my brows.

“Yeah. I thought I might get there a little early and meet Adriana properly. Is that okay with you?”

I’m not sure if it’s a good thing for Adriana to meet Sophia. Sophia has a gentle way about her that eases the tension, and I don’t exactly want that yet in my home. But, Sophia knows I won’t say no to her.

I never could.

“That’s fine.”

“Great. Well, I’ll see you later.”

“Sure.”

When she’s finished with my wife-to-be, I’ll take over. I need the distraction of Adriana’s body.

Right now, she’s the only thing keeping me sane.