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We step out into the cover of night, Leo next to me, gun at the ready for any surprises. I quickly reload my pistol, not wanting to take any chances. Someone hiding in wait is entirely possible. But all remains quiet.
I’ve left my best soldiers in charge of seizing the building and confiscating the arms on-site. The Kozlovs are now officially arms dealers.
“Oleg is losing his touch. That job was child’s play,” Leo says, disappointment coating his words as he slides behind the steering wheel of the armored Land Rover. Moments later Daniil opens the backdoor and joins us in the vehicle.
“Well, that was fun.” He leans between the two front-seats with a feral smile on his face.
Leo screeches out into the night as I take one final look back at the warehouse that is now ours. Kozlov property.
Perverse satisfaction fills me. I’m one step closer to seeing Oleg Antonov and his empire burn.
* * *
Back in our office, we’re still hopped up on the high that comes with a successful mission, even one as dead easy as taking over the Antonovs’ arms warehouse.
Leo lifts his shot glass and clinks it against my own. “Za zd?rovie,” he says. “To Papa’s memory.”
“To rebuilding his empire,” Daniil adds, downing the shot.
“Fuck that. To building our own empire.” I relish the burn as the liquid slips down my throat, slamming down the glass on the table. “What did Papa do for us?” Bitterness tinges my words, an old wound opened after learning the circumstances around our mother’s death.
Leo sighs into his drink, and Daniil shakes his head, but proceeds with his shot. I won’t leave the issue alone.
“Are you just going to ignore what we learned? He didn’t protect her, not like he should have.” A knife twists as the memory of my mother’s listless body swaying on the rope. It’s a vision that will haunt me till the end of my days.
“There’s no mercy in this world, Andrei. You should know that better than anyone.” Daniil spins the empty glass in his hand. “Papa did what he had to do, but he was hurting just as much as we all were. If you need to direct your anger anywhere, look no further than Oleg Antonov.”
A growl escapes my throat. “Papa could have told us earlier about Kira. He could have helped find her. He kept the secret for over twenty years and did nothing, didn’t tell us we have a sister being raised by our enemy.” I throw my glass against the wall, anger bubbling inside of me.
The irony isn’t lost on me. The day Oleg killed our father, we learned he sired and raised our sister. Now tell me that’s not fucked up.
It has meant leaving Oleg alive while we try to untangle the twisted web of our family tree. We’ve spent every day since this revelation trying to hunt down our sister. All we know is that she’s twenty-one and was raised in Russia until the age of five. After that, the trail goes cold. No matter who her father is, Kira shares our blood, and she deserves a place in the Kozlov family fold, if that's what she wants.
“He buried the truth with our mother and continued to live a lie. He should have obliterated Oleg years earlier. Instead, he just pretended it never happened.”
Silence hangs heavily between us like an anvil. They know I’m right, no matter how quick they are to defend our father. He didn’t kill Oleg when he had the chance, and in the end, Oleg killed him. Simply because he could.
Daniil curses under his breath, a frown pulling at his lips. “It would have meant a full on mafia war, one I don’t think the American authorities would have taken too kindly to. Papa didn’t want war. By the end he just wanted peace. He was tired, Andrei, tired of this life. We are finishing the job now.”
“He’s right,brat. The past is the past.” Leo stands and wanders over to the grimy window overlooking desolate railway tracks. “The only thing we can control is what comes next. And that is something we need to discuss.” Leo flicks a serious look in my direction. “Word is Oleg is rallying his troops, bringing in allies from Russia. He’ll soon crawl up from the sewer he is hiding under, and rumors are that he’ll want his trusted people back under his command. I’m sure Oleg’s plotting his revenge against us, especially after tonight. This is the time to send Georgia back to him.”
The floor falls out from under me. The plan was always to send Georgia in to help us find Kira before killing Oleg once and for all. I knew this day was coming, but now that it’s real, the idea sends bile into my throat.
I can feel my jaw clenching hard. “What do you suggest?”
“Talk to her. She needs to know that she’ll be put into play in the next few days.”
My brother’s eye me keenly. They know what’s been going on with Georgia; we haven’t been hiding it. For the last two weeks, she’s been mine day and night. She’s leached into my soul, burrowed deep into my very being. I never asked for this connection, this desperate need and wanting, but I can’t let it distract me from the ultimate goal.
In the end, I hope she’s strong enough to walk away from me and this dark world. She deserves her freedom more than anything.
Daniil tilts his head, his mouth tightening. “I know this isn’t easy for you, but you know as well as we do that this is our best chance at finding Kira. We have the perfect pawn. Now we have to play the game.”
“Don’t fucking call her a pawn.” The harsh words are out of my mouth before I can think better of it. “For chrissake, maybe for once we can rise above what’s expected of us.” The fires of hell await the Kozlov brothers in the afterlife; we’ve done things, seen things, committed deeds that there is no seeking redemption from. But the overwhelming possession I feel towards Georgia makes me pause when it comes to offering her up on a platter to Satan himself. “There has to be another way.”
“Not to do everything we want to accomplish.” Leo looks at me. Assessing. Weighing. “If this was just about burning Oleg’s empire to the ground, we’d do that without help. But this is more delicate than that. We need access, information that only someone on the inside could provide.”
A volatile energy bounces between us, my heart slamming in my throat. She’s my weakness. I know it and they know it, but it doesn’t mean I have to give into it. This is about learning the truth of our mother’s death and reconnecting with family. Our blood.
