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“What’s with the long faces?”
A handful of people were in the room. It was mainly empty, aside from a great computer set-up and a table big enough to fit twenty people.
“Sit down.” Dominik released a sigh. No one looked great, as if they hadn’t slept in a few days. One of Dominik’s people, that annoying girl, Xenia, was smacking her head against the keyboard that was in front of her.
“What happened?” I asked. I didn’t have enough time to beat around the bush, but their faces told me that it wasn’t anything good. Aleksei looked ready to kill all of us.
Aleksei was the first one to break the uncomfortable silence. However, he was talking more to himself than to us.
“Viktor was following Bogdan’s orders because he was a weak bastard who was easily manipulated. Plus, he hated Ekaterina’s guts, so it’s not a surprise that he wanted to kill her to gain Bogdan’s favor for the first time in his life.”
Dominik chimed in. “But even Father must’ve known that a weakling like Viktor could never actually kill Kaya, right?”
Silence, yet again.
I connected the dots immediately. “That’s why your father sent Viktor. If he managed to kill Kaya, it was two birds with one stone. If not, then he at least got rid of one of the two kids he disliked the most.”
Though it was questionable if he truly disliked Viktor or Kaya more. Kaya’s upbringing was not only inhumane and brutal, but also animalistic. Out of the four of them, she’d had it the worst. Anyone would’ve thought she was the most hated child.
From what I could gather on the deceased Kalashnik sibling, he wasn’t beaten too severely. Bogdan used psychological torture to shape his mind into one of a warrior, but it failed miserably. That mindset was something a person was either born with or not.
Aleksei sighed. “Dominik tracked down one of the maids that worked in our childhood home. If her words are to be trusted, before Kaya left Russia, she found something on Bogdan.”
I snorted. “So?”
Dominik threw me a glance. “Think about it. Our father still had a lot of influence, yet he couldn’t bring his teenage daughter back home? His threats of dragging her home were empty. So, what could Kaya have on him that’s so bad that even he is afraid?”
“What could he possibly have to fear? What could she have found to be so bad that a criminal would be terrified?”
Aleksei chipped in his two cents. “Kaya let us believe that we were the reason she was semi-free of Bogdan’s grasp. Dominik and I managed to get some information back then on her ex-fiancé and prove to Father that he was a terrible match for Kaya, even if we ignored the twenty-five-year age gap. Even back then, it was strange how he accepted it so easily, which means she has something on him, and it’s not something to be taken lightly.”
Up until now, Xenia was quiet. “Criminal organizations hate one thing the most. There’s one unwritten rule that everyone is following.”
In an instant, a thought came to mind. Bogdan was a filthy animal, but to go that far? For what purpose? Not only would that bring wars, but he would be killed before he could blink. Unless he was working with someone who was unreachable.
“Don’t tell me…” I paused, their eyes on me. “You think that he wanted to break the code of silence?”
Aleksei slowly nodded his head. “And my guess is that the person he worked with was The Rapscallion.”
“But The Rapscallion wouldn’t have anything to gain from that. He’s already unreachable, too high for us even to catch a glimpse of his face.”
Xenia spoke through gritted teeth. “Bogdan isn’t someone to be trusted. He probably thought that if he got rid of all major people, The Rapscallion would be next. He might be a son of a bitch, but he was a master manipulator when he needed to be. Let’s not forget, he had the entire Bratva underneath his fingertips for decades.”
For someone whose job was only to sit behind a computer, she was getting too angry. Then again, she did care for all of them like family. I’d spoken maybe four times to her in total, but her concern for Kaya’s wellbeing was genuine. That was the reason I tolerated her annoyingly high-pitched voice.
“So, if we find The Rapscallion, we find Bogdan?”
“Bingo.” The tone in Aleksei’s voice was anything but happy. “I’ve met him once, and it was years ago. All I remember is the two different-colored eyes that Ekaterina also mentioned. I tried to get in touch with him, but last time it took me six fucking months.”
Aleksei meeting with The Rapscallion wasn’t a shock. Given that his fiancé was killed in front of him by a man she’d invited to the party, it was no surprise that he wanted to fact-check everything, and the person with the most knowledge was the Rapscallion.
But then I paused. Not once had I come across information that Ekaterina had met up with The Rapscallion. This wasn’t the time nor place to get pissed, but that information would’ve been helpful a long time ago.
Yet a flame of vexation burst in my chest. What the fuck was she doing, intertwining herself with someone like The Rapscallion? Having him as an acquaintance was great. However, it always came with a price, and, given her status in this world, the price was too high.
“I’ll try finding him,” I announced.
Aleksei’s influence in this world was far beyond mine. However, as a contract killer, I had a higher chance of finding the contractor. Though it wasn’t easy, with the right access and a good pair of ears, it wasn’t impossible.
