31. Alexander

Chapter 31

Alexander

I glance at my phone. Natalya’s in the living room with that crazy old lady still. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but Natalya’s sitting at the piano and occasionally playing, and I’m betting they’re talking about her music.

She seems happy. That’s the important thing.

I put my phone away and crouch down lower in my truck. It’s late in the afternoon, but the Velvet Echo isn’t open yet. It’s an exclusive place in deep South Philly in a big brick warehouse structure that must’ve been closed for decades. Now it’s a fancy club owned by the Marino’s and it’s allegedly Adriano’s favorite place in the world.

I can almost see why. It’s got a good reputation from what I heard. I did some digging, and Velvet Echo’s supposedly legit. Which means it isn’t just some cheap mafia front—Adriano probably takes running it seriously.

I spot his SUV before he even steps out of it. I push open my door and walk in his direction, my hood pulled up, a black mask over the lower half of my face. From his perspective, I’ll look like any old random homeless guy, in my beat-up jacket and my ragged jeans, and I’m faking a pretty good limp too, though that’s not hard since the wound on my calf still hurts.

Adriano steps onto the sidewalk. I’m fucking lucky—the guy’s alone. He barely glances in my direction as I pick up my pace, and he only pauses to frown over when I turn suddenly and draw my gun.

His eyes go wide in surprise. I hold it steady, aimed at his chest.

A moment passes between us.

He’s dead. He knows it. All I have to do is pull the trigger and he’s dead. For what he did to Lev, I’m fucking tempted.

But I took this risk for a bigger game.

“Hello, Adriano.” I pull down my mask.

He shows me nothing. No fear, no anger. “Alexander. I was wondering if you were still alive. I heard rumors.”

“Still breathing.”

“I assume you’re not here to kill me if I’m not dead yet.”

I tilt my head to the side. “That’s a good assumption.”

“How’d you know I’d be here?”

“You take this place seriously. I guessed you show up before everyone else does and opened the place alone. Looks like I was right.”

He smiles very slightly. “Clever. Maybe you really are as good as they say.”

“Let’s have a talk inside.”

Adrian shrugs. “If I turn and open the door, are you going to shoot me?”

“Not yet. Just go slow.”

It’s an agonizing process. Adriano unlocks the door and takes me down a hallway. He hits lights as he goes and talks like he’s giving me a tour. I watch his hands very carefully for any sign that he’s going for a gun, but he’s a smart man and he knows how to keep himself alive. He makes no fast movements, and he keeps his hands away from his body at all times. He starts to take me toward his office, but I steer him into the club itself instead.

The place has a good vibe. Even empty, I like it right away. Upscale without being pretentious. Lots of space, a big DJ booth, and a serious dance floor. Not a place to come bullshit, but a place to party.

He sits at the bar. I go stand behind it like I’m the server. I lean back against the counter and keep the gun trained on him.

“Let’s talk,” he says, crossing his arms. “My people will start showing up in twenty minutes. I assume you’ll want to be gone before they arrive.”

“You tried to kill Lev.”

“His sister left me at the altar.” His eyebrows raise. “She married you instead.”

“I got her pregnant. It’s nothing personal.”

“Have you ever been ditched on your wedding day, Alexander? Trust me, it feels very personal.”

“You don’t actually care about Natalya.”

“No, I don’t,” he agrees.

“So why push this war?”

His face shows a very slight smile. “That’s my father’s doing. If it had been up to me, I would’ve pursued other options.”

“Such as?”

“Business arrangements. Like that big job you have going with your Canadian friends.”

I’m not remotely surprised. This has been about our business from the start. That’s why the Marinos were amenable to a marriage alliance in the first place—they know that once the Canadian pipeline is up and running smoothly, we’ll have enough product to flood the whole east coast. Sooner or later, we’ll drown them out.

Adriano’s smart. But his father’s old school. To a mafioso like that, respect is everything.

I suspect Adriano’s more concerned with money and power.

“What if you and I came to an agreement? What if we found a way to pull out of this mess?”

“Like I said, I’m open to it.”

“A piece of the Canadian job. Product at cut rates.”

“We were getting a better deal when I was going to marry your wife.”

“I don’t think I can get you anything else at this point. You did nearly kill Lev.”

He gestures like that’s a fair point. “What do you get in all this?”

“I get an end to the war and I get to keep my wife and our child without worrying some Italian cocksucker is going to try to murder us.”

“Seems like a decent reason to me.”

“But that won’t be enough. My boss will want something. Your arrangement to Natalya fell apart, but that doesn’t mean a marriage is off the table.”

“You want me to marry a different Russian girl?” He says it like that’s the most distasteful thing in the world.

“I want you to make a good business decision. Who knows what the world will look like in the future? If you’re in the family now, you might see a bigger piece of the profits later.”

He drums his fingers on the bar. “I’m not interested in going through with another one of those shams.”

“Then we’re going to have a problem. I need something to bring back to my bosses. I can’t just give you some of the Canada job with nothing to show for it.”

He tilts his head. “The problem is, your wife was acceptable because she’s Federov’s daughter. That makes her close to Valentin Zeitsev himself. But without her—“ He shrugs as if there’s nothing he can do.

“You have women on your side, and Natalya has a brother.” I shouldn’t have said that, but it just rolls off my tongue, because it’s the obvious solution. Natalya’s married now, but Lev isn’t. He could take an Italian bride and we could start all over again.

Except there’s no way Lev will go for that.

“I’m interested,” Adriano confesses. “But it won’t be easy to convince my father, and you’ll have to get your side on board.”

“But this is a start.”

“It’s a start,” he agrees.

I lower my gun and shove it back into its holster. He smiles and his arm up in the air like he’s gesturing at someone.

I follow his gaze—and spot a man standing in the second-floor VIP lounge with a sniper rifle aimed at my head.

Mother fucker.

Adriano stands up and extends a hand. “My apologies for shooting you before.”

“And my apologies for killing your associates.”

“These things happen.”

We shake, and I get the sense that Adriano’s playing his own game, apart from his father’s goals, but I don’t really care what he’s after.

So long as this war never turns into an outright slaughter and I fulfill my promise to Valentin, nothing else matters.

I just have to figure out how the fuck I’m going to convince Lev to marry an Italian.