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Apparently, someone had just made an attempt, and I swore at what I was seeing.
“Was anyone hurt?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Thankfully, they broke in after hours. Stole what was in the register, broke up a lot of stuff and then set the fire. But the building was empty; the apartment upstairs was vacant.”
“What does that tell you?” I asked, fury coursing through me. All of it aimed at myself for not staying on top of things.
“It tells me they’re either chickenshits or don’t know who they’re dealing with,” Max answered with a shrug.
I nodded. If you came for the Fokins, you’d better strike hard, and mean it. Because we’d always hit back ten times worse.
“It has to be someone new,” I said. “Someone that’s managed to stay under my radar until now.”
I made a few calls and told my men this was top priority, and by the time we arrived to inspect the scene, we had a solid lead on who might have been the culprit. The bar was pretty much nothing but an insurance claim at that point, but when we spoke to the manager, I changed my mind. He’d been running that neighborhood establishment since he was just out of high school, when his father had to retire due to health issues. He had four sons who he proudly proclaimed were in college and wanted nothing to do with the bar business.
“I had hoped I had some more time before I had to retire, though,” he said sadly. “Thought I had a good twenty more years. I guess I have to hope some other bar will hire me as a bartender.”
Max began to assure him he’d get a generous payout from the insurance, but I jumped in and said we’d rebuild. Max kepthis mouth shut, recognizing my tone. We’d lose money on this, but I could see in his eyes he was also remembering how much my father had loved his small neighborhood establishments when he was in charge. He still kept tabs on some of them from Moscow, staying friends with some of the older proprietors.
After that, we headed out to settle the score. It turned out to be nothing more than a piddling, disorganized gang of petty thieves who quickly confessed and begged for mercy. The fire had been a clumsy attempt to hide the robbery, not any message to us. I wasn’t convinced they knew who we were before they targeted our business, but Max dated a lot of actresses and was certain they were putting on a show for leniency.
All in all, we scared them badly enough that I didn’t think they’d try anything so foolish again. The fight put us both in a better mood, and Max suggested one of his favorite restaurants for lunch. I felt bad for not letting him in the apartment earlier when it had been a while since I’d seen him, and since I was sure Jenna would be in class by now, I told him we could eat there. I needed Max on my good side, and I did still feel bad for shirking my duties.
We barreled in, laughing about something our younger brother Dimitry had done, only to find that Jenna was not in her class. She sat at the dining room table, all my work pushed to the side so she could spread out her own papers and books. I stopped dead, trying to block Max’s view of her, but it was too late. And by the look on his face, it was easy to see he recognized her.
She glanced up from her book, her smile melting off her face when she saw who was behind me. She looked absolutely adorable in shorts and a tank top, her hair in a messy bun as if she’d barely scraped a brush through it when she got out of bed.
“I thought you had an afternoon class today,” I yelped.
It was too late to get Max out and my mind was reeling, grasping for some sort of excuse for why she would be there. They both looked comically shocked, but this was no laughing matter.
“Jenna?” he asked. He definitely remembered her from the Christmas party. Who could forget her? He turned to me, eyes full of horror. As much as he loved a good time and had a love life filled with messy drama, he didn’t like problems within our family and was an ultimate peacekeeper when it came to us siblings. “What are you doing with Katie’s sister?”
So this was how it ended. After only a week. Jenna was already so uncomfortable with the secrecy that there was no way she would agree to lying outright to my brother.
“You can’t tell anyone,” she begged, shocking the hell out of me.
“Why not?” Max asked, still completely confused. “What am I not telling anyone about?”
“Nothing,” she said, so fast my head whipped around to stare at her. Nothing? “This isn’t what you think it is, so please just don’t say anything to Katie or Aleks. Please, Max.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure I know exactly what this is. How long do you think you can keep it a secret?”
Jenna fell silent and I had no answer for that, either. I was still reeling over how easily that little word,nothing, had spilled out.
“I just don’t want to hassle Aleks with this right now, or to have to weather his rage storm,” I said.
“Yeah, and we’re just figuring things out, anyway,” Jenna added before I was even done speaking.
What in the hell did that mean? My already tenuous mood turned sour. I was no longer in any frame of mind to even put some meat between two slices of bread for my brother, and as soon as we wrung a promise to keep his mouth shut out of him, I shoved him out the door once more. He looked both hurt and pissed, but I knew he’d stick to his word, at least for now.
I had bigger fish to fry. Jenna was pacing the length of the dining area when I returned.
“What are we going to do if he slips up?” she wailed. “I don’t want Katie to know about us.”
Her desperation matched mine in that regard, but I was beginning to think her motives were different. “What did you mean when you said we’re just figuring things out?” I asked, ice in my voice.
As far as I was concerned, there was nothing to figure out. Everything was settled with us. We were forever. She got flustered and flopped back down in her chair.
