AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Then there were Avgust’s brothers, Bogdan and Melor Kotov. Bogdan was Avgust’s obshchak, which just meant that he was the bookmaker of the group, and Melor was Avgust’s avtoriyet, which meant that he had authority over most things if Avgust or I weren’t available.
Apart from Avgust, I was also the only Vor within the higher ranks. Damir had also been honored with the title, and he was one of a handful that wore the markings of a Vor proudly. Where the Italians had Made-Men, the Russian Bratva had Vors, and it wasn’t a title given to many. You had to prove your worth with a considerable amount of personal ability, intellect, leadership skills, and charisma. You also had to be fearless and relentless in a way that others could not be. You had to be able to walk down the dark streets with the devil and keep up, which I’d been excelling in since I’d been fifteen.
Now, while some people would believe that I’d been the one to bring Akim into the bratva’s folds, that was untrue. I’d always done my best to take care of my brother and steer him towards a healthier path in life, but we’d been close enough that Akim had wanted to follow me wherever I’d gone, and while his rise to the top hadn’t happened as quickly as mine, Mikhail had seen the intelligence in Akim and had used him accordingly.
That was another thing that felt like a bit of a kick in the teeth. Though Akim had always been a smart man, my IQ hit genius level, but instead of changing the world, I’d chosen to bathe it in blood because it was a lot more financially beneficial to be bad than it was to be good.
Now, twenty years later, I had more millions than I would ever need, and I had a job that I enjoyed to the detriment of my faith and any chance of making it into Heaven. Still, I wouldn’t change a thing about my life. All the choices that I’d made had led to Akim being safe and well taken care of, and that’s all that mattered to me. So, having a crazed half-brother seeking revenge on us was something that was bothering me down to my soul, and I wasn’t handling it well.
“Daddy, I’m hungry,” came a small voice from behind me. “Do you think I can get one of those muffins over there?”
“No,” the father snapped. “I don’t have enough money to buy myself a coffee and you a muffin, Mindy.”
“Oh,” she replied quickly. “Then…can you make me something to eat when we get home?”
“If your mom’s home, she can make you something,” the father told her. “If not, make some cereal.”
“Okay,” came her quiet reply.
Though a psychologist would have a field day with me as a patient, it didn’t take my genius IQ to figure out why anger was licking down my spine at how this man was treating his child. Remembering exactly what it’d felt like to go to bed hungry, this man was lucky that I wasn’t pulling out my gun and making his daughter an orphan.
When it was finally my turn up at the counter, I ordered a large black coffee, nothing fancy, then added two muffins, one of each flavor. This little girl was going to get fed if I had to buy the whole goddamn café to do it.
After I paid for my stuff, since my coffee was simple, the barista was able to hand me my drink and the muffins immediately. When I turned to get out of line, two customers back, I saw the non-descript asshole with his expensive iPhone in hand, the little girl looking down at the floor.
I felt murderous.
“Hey, what’s your name?” I asked, doing my best to make my voice sound soothing and not like I smoked a carton of cigarettes a day.
The little girl looked up at me, her big brown eyes shining brightly, almost as if she was eager to make a new friend. “Mindy.”
I held the bag towards her. “There are two muffins in here for you, Mindy. Enjoy them.”
At that, her father finally pulled his attention away from his phone. “Hey, what are you doing?” he snapped. “Stay away from my daughter.”
It wasn’t until I turned to face him fully that he finally noticed my size and my tattoos. Though a lot of people in Port Townsend like to believe that the Kotovs, Sartoris, and O’Briens didn’t exist, they knew damn well that we did.
His face paled a bit as his eyes widened, and knowing that he wasn’t going to say anything, I looked back down at his daughter, then said, “Hey, Mindy…why don’t you go right over there to the menu and pick yourself some dinner. Can you do that?”
She nodded eagerly, letting go of her father’s hand without even asking him. “Can I pick anything?” she asked as she took the bag of muffins from my hand.
“Yes, anything,” I assured her.
“Thank you!” she exclaimed before taking off towards the menu board.
The second that she was out of earshot, I grabbed her father by his arm, yanked him out of line, then pushed my gun up against his ribs as I walked us over towards the restrooms, though I made sure that I could still see Mindy from where we were.
Not giving him a chance to speak, I said, “I am Maksim Barychev. Have you heard of me?” He looked like he was going to piss his pants as he nodded. “Good. Now, here’s what’s going to happen,” I continued as I took his phone from him with my other hand. “I am going to go through your phone and learn everything that I can about you. Then I’m going to assign someone from the bratva to become guardian to your daughter, and if I hear of you choosing to buy yourself a coffee over feeding her ever again, your child will become fatherless after I spend days making sure that you know what it feels like to be starved, abused, and mistreated.” I pushed my gun deeper into his ribs. “Have I made myself clear?”
“Ye…yes…yes…” he stammered. “Yes…”
Letting go of him, I said, “Whenever you look at that little girl, you better give thanks to her. After all, she’s the only reason that you’re still breathing.”
With that, I left the asshole to go pay for whatever the little girl wanted to order.
Chapter 2
Katja~
