9. Drake

“You have some fucking balls coming here, Draco,” Daniil says as he descends the steps of his father’s home. “Or is it stupidity?” He chuckles as he steps off the last step.

Gesturing to his guards, I smirk, and say, “This is a bit much, don’t you think?”

I’ve been standing between five armed men in the foyer of Dimitri’s home for the last thirty minutes. Patience isn’t my strong suit when thousands of innocent people’s lives are at stake, but I know Daniil is a man of honor. As convoluted as his idea of honor is, I know he wouldn’t stand for this.

“Our fathers are friends. I don’t know why we can’t be,” I say jokingly.

The Bratva isn’t friends with anyone, it’s business. I know if he does this for me, I will be in his debt until he comes to collect it.

Waving his guards off, he says, “Our fathers are business partners. Don’t get it twisted, Draco.”

“Well, then, I’m sure you know what they have planned for tonight.”

“I am not my father’s keeper. Get to the point faster, Draco. I have business to attend to.” He smirks as one of his many women saunters in between us wearing a barely there red lace dress.

His eyes rake over her as she smiles at me. He slaps her ass as she walks by.

“Business, huh?” I snort.

Turning his head back to me, his eyes are glaring at me. I know he’s losing his patience.

“What do you know about The Fourth Circle and their plans to eliminate Raventown?” I ask, waiting to see his reaction.

“Eliminate? How exactly?”

“From the sounds of it, mass murder. Via the water system.”

“My father would never agree to such a thing.” He scoffs. “We have a code of honor.” His voice is laced with doubt as he attempts to stand tall, proudly wiping the wrinkles out of his designer suit jacket.

Our fathers are not good men, but to take part in such betrayal against their organization’s code of conduct for their own personal gain was never something I expected.

“He would if he was being threatened.”

“Who the fuck would threaten Dimitri Parshikov?” He stares at me for a beat until he realizes.

“Your fucking father.”

“You want the Bratva to have the blood of thousands on their hands? Or do you want to help me stop him?”

A muscle in his jaw ticks in frustration. “When and where?”

Pulling the blueprints of the water system out of my jacket, I hand it over to him.

As he angrily swipes it out of my hands, I say, “Your father’s access point is circled in red. Be there fifteen minutes before nine.”

Turning away from him, I push the guards aside and walk through them, exiting through the front door. Surprised they didn’t come after me for my aggression, I can hear Daniil speaking to them in Russian. Mine is very limited, but I know he is calling them off.

***

Approaching Daniil’s line of black armored SUVs, one of his guards steps in front of me.

Without hesitating, I grab my Glock. “Move,” I growl through gritted teeth.

“On odin iz nas segodnya noch’yu.” I hear Daniil snap firmly.

The guard steps out of my way, reluctantly.

As Daniil approaches me, I prod, “What did you tell him?” I nod back in the guard’s direction.

“I said ‘He is one of us tonight.’” He looks at me. “Don’t read too much into it. I won’t hesitate to kill you if this is some game.”

Slapping his chest, I laugh, “Ah ha! There’s the real Daniil.”

Walking down the stairs to enter the tunnels that house the waterway access points, we stay silent. The look on Daniil’s face tells me he is still trying to convince himself that his father would be okay with such destruction.

A few steps ahead of us, I can see the shadow of a man standing next to a barrel of chemicals, guarded by soldiers that I recognize as my father’s men. Of course he wouldn’t use the Bratva to keep him safe.

Dimitri.

I can see the anger flash in Daniil’s eyes as he registers what he is seeing.

“Father.”

Turning around, Dimitri sees his son standing in front of him. For the first time in all the years I have been around the man, I see an emotion flash across his hardened face as his shoulders slump.

As if hearing the disappointment in his son’s voice was enough to change his mind.

“This is not how we operate.” Daniil may be my age, but his goal is to one day be just as powerful as Mikhail, and he wants to climb the Bratva ladder the proper way. Not by sidestepping his organization’s code of conduct and gaining power by killing innocent people. Daniil and I both differ from our fathers in that we both enjoy the power and wealth that our lifestyles bring with it, but not at the expense of helpless victims, women, or children.

“Call Enzo Craig off. Now.” Daniil orders, walking up to his father, his shoulders squared.

“He threatened...” Dimitri snaps, as if to explain his actions.

“I will take care of my father,” I interrupt. “Just tell them to stand down.”

“Enzo will listen. I am not quite sure Demassi will.” He pulls his phone out and types a message before replacing it back in his pocket.

“Idi domoy, otets. Go home, Father,” Daniil says.

Then, looking at my father’s guards, he says,“Get rid of this.” He disgustingly points at the barrel of murderous chemicals, “and if any of you make one mistake, I will put a bullet between your eyes.”

Surprising me, he turns to me and says, “It looks like the Bratva is in your debt.” He pauses as he glares at his father. Dimitri returns his hard stare.

Without turning away from his father, he addresses me, “Go. Take care of your father. I will make sure Demassi stands down,” he says through gritted teeth.

***

Ironically, the access point my father assigned himself was two blocks away from Vanguard Enterprises. As though he pictured himself standing in his ivory fucking tower as the people of Raventown began to grow ill, desperate and begging for help. The chemicals my father concocted contain high levels of arsenic, thallium and a synthetic derivative of the botulinum toxin. Normally, in small amounts, these would not cause death, or would even work rapidly, but my father hired a chemist that knew how to add these chemicals together to make a fast-acting concoction for the most potent and quickest destruction. For the right amount of money, his evil plan was brought to fruition.

After learning of his plan, I also gathered intel he had ordered the precinct and emergency line to stop taking calls for the next forty-eight hours. The corrupt police captain fears my father, so of course he obliged. There will be no one to help these innocent people unless they bring themselves to Edinburgh General. No help and no hope.

Descending the steps, I stare down the long tunnel at the man standing at the end, overtaken with greed and power. I am surprised to find he has no guards with him. This isn’t the same man who raised me. He may be a criminal and have an unethical way of doing things, but cold-blooded murder was never something I thought my father could be capable of.

The closer I get to him, I realize I’m too late. The chemicals are pouring into the water, and I have no way to stop it.

“You’re late.” He sneers, calling over his shoulder. “Enzo and Dimitri may have been weak, but at least Demassi still went through with the plan.”

My stomach sinks. Daniil couldn’t get to him.

Turning toward me, he smirks. “There’s nothing you can do now, except watch the destruction.” He pauses thoughtfully before continuing, “You can join me in my endeavors, Draco. Take up my mantle, power, and wealth.”

I cringe at his given name for me. “No. I will never be associated with someone as vile as you.”

“You’ll never escape me, son. And soon, I will own all of Raventown and everyone in it.”

Pulling my Glock out of my belt holster, aiming at his face. “No, Dad, you won’t.”

Cocking the bullet into the chamber, my father stares at the barrel of the gun, waiting.

He smiles his evil grin, “Well go on th-...”

CRACK!

The sound of the bullet exiting the gun echoes through the tunnels as my father’s brains splatter against the wall behind him. His body falls limp to the ground, his head hanging off the pavement into the flowing waterway.

Returning my gun to its holster, I turn on my heel and begin running the length of the tunnel to the stairs.

As I exit the underground tunnel, pushing the metal drain grate to the side, I walk the two blocks back to Vanguard Enterprises. Looking around the streets, it seems eerily calm.

Until I hear the first screams of pain.

Looking to my right, I see a man gripping his stomach in pain before he vomits the contents of his stomach out. His wife crouches down next to him, screaming for help as he collapses to the ground, convulsing.

I try calling the emergency line, but it beeps three times, and the line goes dead.

As the hours pass, the screams grow louder around me in the streets. Feeling helpless, I run back to my father’s company. Stopping in front of a window of an electronics store, a TV is flashing headline news in captions across the screen as the reporter speaks, “There is a suspected poisoning in Raventown. Source unknown. This story is developing.”

Behind the reporter is a picture of a black-haired teenage girl with emerald green eyes staring into the camera as tears fall down her face.

Falling to my knees in front of the window, I feel the bile rise in my throat seconds before I lose the contents of my own stomach.

I will never forget this moment. The night I was responsible for three hundred and eighty-three innocent lives stolen.