3. Alek

3

ALEK

M y uneasiness about this potential alliance with the Kastavas didn't dissipate. Over the night, it worsened. By morning, when I was due to report in to my uncle for a so-called meeting with the top soldiers and brigadiers, I was anxious.

No one would know it by looking at me. The day I received word that my father died, I mastered the fine art of masking my emotions. I'd never believed the story I was given. That Pyotr Valkov, my hard-working father, had been killed in friendly fire during a turf war. None of my brothers believed it either, but with time, we had no choice but to accept it as fact. They'd questioned it. Maxim, my youngest brother, had still been more of a boy than a man when our father was killed. We all struggled in our own ways, but I knew that expressing my feelings would only be a weakness, a tell.

When I arrived at the restaurant, I was in a lousy mood. The grave and irritated expressions on the wait staff didn't improve my attitude. I caught more than one of them complaining about Pavel treating them like shit, like indentured servants, not professional waitstaff, and I could almost sympathize with them. But weren't we all in the same boat? He treated us all like peons, never hesitant to remind us that he was the boss and we would always be inferior. Dissent had been growing for a long while, and within that low morale, I had company.

It wasn't just me. My brothers often echoed my sentiments. I wasn't a lone complainer, but some days, I felt like I was the only one who'd ever think about fighting back.

"About time," Pavel said as a greeting. He wiped his napkin at the corner of his mouth then tossed it to the table. Everyone else was seated, but it seemed he and Andrey were the only two who had an appetite to touch the food.

I made a show of glancing at my watch. "I'm ten minutes early."

He shrugged as though to say whatever . "Seeing as we're all here now, I have two matters of business to discuss."

Such gatherings were an excuse for him to hear himself talk. He didn't know what the hell was happening with the family anymore. He didn't care.

Nikolai raised his brows at me in greeting, and I moved to stand next to him, off to the side. Ivan and Dmitri sat in front of us, and Maxim fidgeted in a seat down the opposite end of the long table. It didn't matter where we were, I always made sure to check on my brothers. I'd promised my father I would always look out for them, but I felt like I was failing at that. Letting them stay with the bratva seemed like I was permitting them to be dragged down.

"First, the fucking cartel." Pavel scowled, shaking his head slowly. "The fuck do they want?" Then he pointed at Andrey. "And the goddamn Italians. Good work, eliminating that spy at the warehouse."

Ivan leaned back, catching my eye and deadpanning. This wasn't the first time Andrey had taken credit for something he hadn't done, and it wouldn't be the last.

"They keep creeping on our territory. Interfering with our businesses. I'm sick and fucking tired of their meddling."

Big words from a little man. I maintained my blank expression while I fumed inside. If the asshole ever tried to keep tabs on patrols, our soldiers, any intel reports, maybe things would be different. He liked to talk big but act on nothing.

"Which is how the Kastavas will help us." He nodded sagely, losing the scowl and replacing it with a smug smile.

"They'll agree to guard our land?" a top soldier asked.

"No." Pavel sat up straighter. "They have docks on the other side of the city. Specifically, the Colver dock. We'll be able to run transportation much easier there. Our shipments won't be as susceptible to falling into the wrong hands." He pounded his fist into his hand. "The cartel and the Italians can fuck off with trying to interfere there. The law enforcement too."

The NYPD was always on our asses. The DEA too.

Still, it sounded too good to be true. I couldn't shake this skepticism, but Nikolai beat me to voicing it. "Why would Sergei Kastava want to help us at all?

"Isn't there bad blood between the families?" Dmitri asked before Pavel could respond to the first question.

Pavel scrunched his face, waving both of my brothers off. "That was from generations ago. It's not a big deal now."

Everything from the past could come back and bite us in the present. He was a delusional idiot to think otherwise.

"Besides, we have a solid agreement that's nearly finished now. Andrey and I have negotiated to barter their dock use for a portion of the arms shipment from Columbia. It's the biggest shipment we've arranged yet, and we stand to profit generously."

Maxim drummed two fingers on his thigh. As soon as I noticed the tell that Pavel and Andrey wouldn't be able to see from their side of the table opposite my brother, I narrowed my eyes. He was nervous. Or eager to speak up but too intimidated to protest. He didn't carry as much clout as the rest of us brothers did, but he was no fool. Something was bothering him about these details. I made a mental note to speak with him after this meeting concluded.

"And that brings me to the second announcement." Pavel clapped his hand to his son's shoulder. "Andrey will marry Sergei's eldest daughter. It will mark a union for life." He grinned, glancing around at us all. "They can't turn on us later if we're all family, right?"

Some of the men shared in his humor, chuckling and unworried. Ivan and I already knew, since Andrey couldn't keep his mouth shut last night. Even if this were the first I was hearing about it, I wouldn't have reacted.

"Not the most attractive girl," Pavel commented with a smirk, "but that hardly matters."

Andrey nodded, sighing. "I'd do anything for the family."

Oh, cut the shit. Stop acting like you're some kind of martyr.

Pavel patted his shoulder again, then turned to face me. "While we're busy with the final wedding preparations, I need someone to speak with their man about this shipment." He pointed to me, then Nikolai. "You two can handle that, can't you?"

Like we're not already out on the streets and actually keeping an eye on our turf already. I nodded. "We can."

"It's nothing more than making a show of faith, checking in and seeing that everything is running according to plan. Ask for someone named ‘The Doc' and inquire about whether they're ready for the big shipment."

Who the hell is The Doc? He can't mean an actual doctor. Using codes seemed weird. We weren't in the habit of relying on nicknames, and it only made me more suspicious.

I tilted my head to the side, eying my uncle sternly. "Is there a chance something won't go as you expect?" I doubted he would voice an honest concern about a potential backfire or hiccup. He was too proud to ever admit a flaw.

"Of course not. Just a pleasantry. To check in. To make sure they're getting on board with our stopping by more often."

"The agreement hasn't gone through yet," Dmitri warned.

"But we are further from being rivals," Pavel insisted. "Just go for a show of fucking faith," he ordered of me and Nik.

Faith? He wanted to talk about faith? How about instilling it in us for him? If he could provide any details or reasons we should consider this at all, I bet a few more might lose their doubts.

Pavel stood, buttoning his jacket as he narrowed his gaze at me. "Can I not trust you to handle this? A simple request?"

Before I could reply, he smirked. "Your father wouldn't have questioned me."

My father wouldn't have tried to align with our oldest rival, either.

"Consider it done," Nik said for both of us. He grabbed my sleeve, roughly directing me to the side, near Maxim. "Tone it down," he warned in a heated whisper.

I ignored his knowing look and the scolding energy behind it. I didn't care if Pavel became annoyed with me. It was a habit by this point.

Men filed out of the private dining suite, but Nik and I remained near Maxim. We'd both noticed his nervous tell during those announcements, and Nik pounced on him as soon as we were off in the corner, able to have a private moment. "What's wrong?"

Maxim glanced past Nik, checking on the others still filing out. I nodded, letting him know we would be in the clear to speak freely.

"We will struggle to give the Kastavas the agreed-upon arms. I've seen the details in some emails I've caught in correspondence. Pavel's not sharing much about these negotiations, but I've seen bits here and there."

I believed him. Maxim had held a position with the bookkeepers for years now. His forte was the office work, everything that happened behind the scenes to make all our transactions—legal or not—run smoothly.

"The books look bad. I don't know all the codes of their messages. Regardless, from the books I've seen and worked on, things are grim."

"How so?" Nik asked.

"We don't have enough money to secure enough guns coming from Columbia. When the shipments arrive, the Kastavas will get the short end of the stick with this deal. We'll already be using their Colver dock, as agreed, but what they'll see at that dock will be less that what they're told they'll get."

I rubbed my jaw. Unease and doubt prickled up my spine, and I knew my hunch, that bad feeling I couldn't shake, was a real and sincere concern.

"Does Pavel know?" Nik asked.

Our uncle wasn't a fan of being told bad news, and I wondered this same thing, whether Maxim, or another bookkeeper, had already shared these facts and it was dismissed.

Maxim cringed and nodded.

"I bet the Kastavas know too." If Pavel were capable of duplicity, maybe they wouldn't, but Pavel wasn't that bright. "They likely know and intend to use it as leverage."

"What are you saying?" Maxim asked.

"I suspect they're planning a coup. This alliance smells rotten."

"But as soon as this wedding takes place… it won't matter. They'll be family whether we want them to be or not."

I was already suspicious about the shipping plans, but if it's as bad as my brother warned, this could be the fuck-up that brought the entire Valkov operation down.

"Unless the wedding doesn't take place…" I glanced at them both as the idea took root. "If we're not united with them yet, I could try to look into this arrangement."

"You mean to stop the wedding?" Ivan asked.

I shrugged. It's not a bad idea. All I needed was more time to figure out how to avoid the potential downfall of our family.