Chapter 3 - Lev

My finger was still poised next to the trigger as I frowned at Pavel. Had the fucker really just thrown his daughter on the pyre to save his ass? Christ.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" I cocked a brow at him, leaning forward with the muzzle pressed against the asshole's forehead.

"My daughter, Parker. You can take her to cover my debts. Please," he begged. "She'll make for a good wife. I'm sure of it! She's…she's studying to be a doctor. At the hospital now. Sharp as a tack! Really!"

A doctor.The thought piqued my interest. There was always a need for someone with a good set of hands around the house. Injuries happened, after all, and Pavel was speaking pretty highly of her.

Still, she was in school to become a doctor. How much could she know at this point? And would that even be worth the hassle of having to snatch her up and get her back to the house?

Obviously, Pavel knew what kind of people we were, but desperate times and all that. So maybe the fucker really was just terrified, and this was all that he had to offer? I didn't relish the thought of having to settle for a non-cash prize, and I had a feeling Sergey wouldn't love it either.

However, a little leverage against a person to use in the future was always a smart idea. If we could figure out who'd been spending the dimes on, that would be valuable. But I still had some questions.

"What happened to the money, Pavel?" I leaned my face closer to his, directing my words right into his ear. "Maybe you tell me that, and I'll think about this daughter of yours."

"I…" The guy was stalling again, and my patience, as stated, was lacking.

Jabbing the point of the gun against Pavel's skull, I yanked him forward by the collar of his cheap shirt and pushed—hard.

"Speak!"

"Gambling!" He squirmed against my grip; Pietor had already secured his arms, so there was little else he could do. "I lost it!"

Ugh. Not this bullshit.

I hated gambling. Taking a risk for potential profit is one thing, but going in on something when the odds were so clearly not in your favor was just plain stupid. Every game in this town was rigged, from basketball to cards to horses.

"You've got to be kidding, Pavel. You lost it gambling? Thought you'd double down, huh? On what? Who fronted you the credit?"

There was no one in town who didn't run things through the Vadims first. We owned basically every bookie and club in this town. If it was one of ours that let him gamble with such high bids, knowing he stole that money, they were in some serious shit.

"I…"

"If you fucking stutter one more goddamn time Pavel, I'm going to blow a hole in your damn knee. Speak up." The words may not have been a shout, but they were low, a growl, and I shoved harder against the gun at his head.

"Wasn't yours! I went off family to bet. I knew you'd…"

Smashing the gun against the side of his face, I pulled back from him. Pavel's head whipped to the side, and I ground my molars, gripping the pistol so hard it bit into my hand.

"You knew that we'd catch on."

Pietor righted Pavel in his chair as he'd slumped to the side, and I faced him once more. "Who, asshole? What crew dealt with you?"

A grotesque sob blubbered out of the man as he spat blood, tears, drool and snot smearing all over his face since he couldn't wipe it away.

"Lenny Dotson." Pavel sniffled. "Independent contractor."

Disgust roiled through my veins, and my head fell as I sighed. "Fucking, of course."

Giving Pavel a swift kick to the shin, I shook my head, racking my brain for ideas. Lenny was well-known throughout the city as one of the few remaining bookies and dealers who weren't loyal to anyone. I'd been warned about him as soon as I got to town and received the low down on business from Sergey and the gang.

The guy was smart, always moved around, and he had a small network of chumps working for him. Tracking him down to put him out of business had been impossible for the Vadims for years. It wasn't worth it to try tracking him down in a vain attempt to get our money back.

Pavel's fucking kid was the best shot right now. Dammit. I don't have time for this.

I hunkered down on the balls of my feet, using the gun to shove Pavel's chin back up.

"Name. I need your daughter's name, whereabouts, everything."

Unconsciousness was dragging him down at the edges, and as much as I wanted to lay into him for that, I reined it in, just giving Pavel a few slaps with the pistol. He pulled back, his eyes lazily opening.

"Parker…Kozlovsky. Attending the Chicago Medical School at…at Franklin. That's it. It's all I know." He shook his head. "They keep that shit private. She just moved down by campus. Strawberry blonde hair, short."

I rolled my eyes. "That's so much to go on, Pavel. Don't strain yourself."

With a sigh, I looked up at Pietor. "Get our guys on the phone. Find out where she lives. We've got an in with the school, so it shouldn't take too long."

There was a trickle of fear behind Pavel's exhausted eyes, and I ate that shit up like goddamn cake. He really thought he could pull one over on us and get away with it. Chump was going to learn real fast how much we enjoy being played.

Watching Pietor pull out his phone and dial up a few of the more technologically savvy among the family, it didn't take long for him to nod at me.

"Marcus says he can pull on his connection on campus. He's in with one of the dealers we have working in that area." He turned his attention back to the phone, and I stood back up, looking down at Pavel with a satisfied smirk. "He's got a man on the phone with him. Says it'll take the guy a minute to crack the campus files."

I leveled the gun at Pavel once more. "You do know what's going to happen if they can't find her in the system, right?"

The guy swallowed hard, and I continued to just stare him down. It was longer than I would have liked before Pietor heard back from our university contacts, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear that our dear Parker was living in a student apartment just off campus.

"Thank you, Pietor." I turned back to Pavel. "Well, I guess it's your lucky fucking day."

Landing another blow across his cheek, I relished the way Pavel flew back in his chair. When he righted himself, I grabbed him by the hair.

"If you so much as think about crossing us again, you won't be so lucky again."

I tossed his head back, addressing my men in the room. "Get the car ready. It looks like we'll be making a trip downtown."

***

Tension filled the car as we drove to the address given by Marcus's contact. The silence before a job took over the interior of the Escalade, and my men studied the floor intently as they psyched themselves up for what was about to happen.

Snatches were always an interesting part of the job. Hell, they were fairly common, but you never knew just what was going to happen. Some people went along pretty well with it, taking orders and reserving a healthy amount of fear for their captors. Others, however, put up a hell of a fight and made things get…messy.

I didn't want messy. I needed this operation to go quickly and clean. We'd avoided real damage at Pavel's office, leaving nobody to clean up, and I didn't want to lose this string. No money, no kid, and nothing to hold over Pavel would be a shit way to end the night.

The sound of guns being loaded and anxious men checking and rechecking their mags filled the cab to burst. I checked my own piece, a nervous habit of all of ours. There shouldn't be any need to unload, but it never hurt to be prepared. Silence was the most appropriate approach, but there was bound to be a bit of commotion when we first got into the apartment.

"Check the perimeter before we head in. I don't want anyone to know we were here. You got it?"

"Of course." Pietor nodded, then looked over to the others, landing his hard glare on them to drive home my point.

With the crunch of gravel beneath the tires, we pulled to a stop in the alley just off Parker Kozlovsky's apartment. The Escalade was black, and when the driver shut off the lights, it disappeared into the shadows. Knowing well enough to pause, the crew waited a solid minute before sliding out of the car and leaving the trunk cracked and ready for the driver to peel out fast.

"Silence." I made eye contact with each of my men. "You see a witness, you let me know. We don't want a trail leading back to us."

They all nodded, already obeying my command for radio silence.

"Go."

Booted footsteps blended into the sounds of the street behind us, and we moved forward as a unit to the back of Parker's apartment. There was a window, and I gestured for someone to investigate. A second later, my man came back with a report.

"Bathroom. We can slip in only one at a time. May need to use the front."

Dammit. A front entrance would be pretty exposed. I didn't like it, but if there was no other way…

"Get someone inside the window. Open the front from inside. Quickly."

The smallest of the guys, perfect for tricky entrances, got to work, sliding the lock on the window over with his pocket knife and crawling inside. The rest of us hurried to the front, waiting at the door for him to come let us in.

When I heard the lock on the other side of the door, I pushed in, my crew tight on my heels. They flanked the living area, making sure we weren't being set up by Pavel. I wouldn't put it past the guy to have a tiny collection of rented men inside here as a stupid attempt to enact some vengeance or some shit.

Pietor came back with the others. "Clear."

"Bedroom?" I cocked a brow at him.

"Back there. She's asleep."

I smirked. I always did love an easy mark. "Perfect."

We all padded slightly down the hall. Pietor had left the door cracked so that we didn't have to risk the knob twice, and I appreciated his attention to detail. As I slipped into the dimly lit space, I was surprised to still see a lamp next to the bed on. I gestured with my head at it, and one of my men quickly turned it off by yanking the chain.

The room plunged into darkness, the light from the street lamp just outside the windows the only thing keeping us from being completely blind.

Parker stirred in her bed, rousing to roll over, and then suddenly, she was awake.

"My light."

When she reached for it, the man standing just out of sight by her nightstand stuck on my nod, grabbing her wrist and pulling her out of bed. His hand quickly clamped around her mouth to stop the yell that shot out.

There was a moment when I considered that it was turning the light off what triggered her, until I stepped forward into the glow of the window light.

Parker's eyes were wide saucers in her face as she took me in—and the thugs gathered behind me. She was pushed into the light along with me, forced within just a foot of me by the guy keeping her silent.

At once, I noticed the pale green of her eyes. It was a lovely shade, reminding me of my mother's birthstone, the peridot. When the fear behind them finally reached her limbs, Parker thrashed against my man holding her. It sent the strawberry blonde curls she'd loosely tied back to tumble into her face, and I was filled with the strange desire to rake my fingers through the glossy ringlets.

"Hello, Parker. I do hate to interrupt your beauty sleep. I'm afraid, you'll be coming with me."