Page 56 of The Pakhan’s Heir

“He tried to hurt our pockets. Let’s succeed in hurting his. As for the rest of them, I don’t want anyone seeking a problem if you happen to see them on the street… however, if any of them start anything, take their fucking heads. Let’s see how expensive he wants to make this war.”

A rousing sound of agreement goes around the table and with that, the meeting is concluded. As everyone files out, Kostya and Rikki stay behind and I know something is up. The last person leaves and Kostya gets up and closes the door.

“What’s going on?”

Kostya and Rikki exchange a glance. Then Kostya says, “The thing I needed to speak with you about earlier, we need to talk about it now.”

I frown a little. When Kostya showed up earlier, he stepped aside to allow me to handle Rikki’s attack and take care of everything right in front of me. Now that it’s all been handled, he speaks up.

I look over at Rikki, sitting in his chair and leaning slightly where he’s guarding his ribs. “You know about this?”

“It’s better if Kostya tells you.”

“All right.” I turn back to Kostya. “What’s happened?”

“You know Sarah? Works in the lingerie store over at Hudson Yards? The one next to the candy store?”

I nod. The image of the teenage girl with mousy brown hair comes to mind. Her mother owns the candy store and was widowed about three years ago. Sarah’s been trying to hook the two of them up ever since.

“I stopped through there earlier today,” he says, pulling out his phone. “And she showed me something that you ought to see.”

He opens his phone, takes a moment to find a file, then sets it on the table for us to view. A video plays showing Gedeon leaning against a wall, glancing around and looking at his watch. Judging from the smooth floors and the low lighting, I can tell that he’s indoors. Probably in Hudson Yards.

“What’s this about?” I ask Kostya.

“Just watch,” he says.

I watch and before long, Gedeon turns his head and smiles slightly. He stands up and turns as another man approaches. They shake hands and talk for a moment. Clearly, he was waiting for him.

I’m about to ask Kostya again what the big deal is when the man Gedeon’s talking to suddenly turns and looks over his shoulder, giving the camera a full view of his face. He’s tall and lean with short, spiked salt and pepper gray hair and a graying goatee.

Kostya pauses the screen. I know the man he’s talking to. He’s one of Slavik’s top brigadiers. “Stefan… something or another,” I say aloud. “He’s Irkutsk.”

“Kiselev,” Kostya says. “Stefan Kiselev. He’s Slavik’s main man… and word around town is that he’s poised to take over if something should happen to Slavik.”

I frown and sit back in my chair. I know where he’s going with this and I don’t like it. “No, Kostya. What you’re getting at? Gedeon was loyal to my father since we were boys.”

“He was also in quite a bit of gambling debt,” Rikki says. I look over at him incredulously and he adds, “Apparently, that’s been a rumor for years about him. It died off some when he married Liz, but after Dad died…” He shrugs. “Geddy’s always been bad with money.”

I look back at the still image, trying to wrap my mind around it. Gedeon was part of our inner circle. How could it be him all along?

“Sarah took this?” I ask Kostya, and he nods. “How did she even know to do that? Does she know all about us now?”

“Of course not,” says Kostya. “But I’ve asked her to look out for anything that looks out of place while she’s working her shift. She saw this and recorded it.” Before I can question that, he says, “They go into the hallway next to him a few seconds later and then disappear from sight. Two days later, Stefan’s on a plane back to Mother Russia. He gets in contact with an enforcer by the name of Dmitri Petrov. A day or so later, we get attacked and your father is killed.”

My mouth suddenly gets dry. “So, this video was taken right before Slavik’s top guy goes to get more firepower.”

Kostya nods. “It was taken maybe a day or so before we got the call to meet up with the Devils. I’ll be honest with you. Even this leaves some room for doubt. I mean, I don’t know for sure if Geddy was in on the ambush, but I did have his bank accounts looked into. After this meeting, he received a large amount of money. More than enough to cover his gambling debts.”

I wince. It’s like I’ve been slapped in the face. “It was him all along?” I say it more for myself than for them. Hearing my own voice speak those words… it sounds ridiculous. Like someone else saying them. I suddenly find myself laughing. “Dad always warned us about trusting our brothers completely. I guess he was right.”

“He fooled us all, Alex,” Rikki says, a somber tone to his voice. “But he’s gotten his reward for his treachery.”

He has. Gedeon was the last person I ever would have imagined would try to hurt the Bratva… and yet here he was, in full color, consorting with our enemy.

I push the phone back to Kostya and say, “Let’s clean up the mess he caused, then. I want Slavik’s head.”

Neither of them speaks, but the apprehension on their faces is immediate. I turn to Kostya. “You said there was more than one way to destroy a Bratva. All right. Then let’s cut off the head and watch the rest wither away and die.”