Page 199 of Dark King Daddy

“Before?”

“He’s offering them money and weapons. Work under his name, get his protection. One of them turned him down and called someone who called me.”

I studied the photograph.

“How many has he approached?”

“We know about two. Nikita’s checking for more.”

The Voronins had lost their access to our businesses. They were buying men who had never worked for us instead.

Kostya had cost them more than the failed kidnapping.

He had talked within days of his capture. At first he had tried to bargain: information in exchange for protection, names in exchange for money, the suggestion that a man with his experience could still be useful.

Eventually he had understood that usefulness was the only reason he was still breathing.

He had obtained the Volna code and passed it to the men organising the assassination. He had supplied our schedules, identified people who could be bought, helped the Voronins put men where we would trust them. Viktor had promised him control of the Orlov organisation once Mikhail was gone and Anton had proved incapable of replacing him.

Kostya had meant to help Anton prove it.

His phone backed up enough of his confession to start us moving. His information led us to Leonid Gusev, the waiter who had shot our fathers. We found him before Viktor could move him again.

Gusev was dead now. So was Kostya.

Anton had shot Kostya. I had stood beside him.

Kostya’s last attempt to save himself had been to ask for Ksenia.

I had given her the choice. She had been sitting at the kitchen table with her bandaged hand in her lap when I told her.

“Does he want to apologize?” she had asked.

“He says he does.”

She had looked at me for a long time.

“He had time to apologize in the garage. He offered me water.”

She was a hard woman. Ours was a hard life.

Ksenia hadn’t seen him again. She had asked me to tell her when it was over, and I had kept that promise.

Now Anton ran his waterfront without his uncle whispering behind him. The men Kostya had bought were gone. Our captains knew what had happened at Volna, and which family had ordered it. Viktor had paid for two murders and received a stronger alliance than the one he had tried to destroy.

He had not forgiven us for that.

“They’ve been quiet because they’re rebuilding,” I said.

Arkady nodded. “They can’t use Kostya’s people. So they’re finding their own.”

“And Oleg is doing the recruiting.”

“Apparently he has a gift for making people feel comfortable.”

I looked at him.

“I’m told he’s very polite.”