Chapter 27

Avgust~

N ow, as I'd told Sartori, it wasn't often that we all assembled in one place, but this was a unique situation. It was also one that I wasn't inclined to discuss with anyone else. Again, my father might like to act like he had a say in the organization, but he really didn't.

So, the five of us were all at my place, me, Maksim, Bogdan, Melor, and Akim, and we were here to discuss what Morocco had informed us about last night. We were the only ones in the organization that knew the truth, and I wanted it to stay that way until we found Louie Manziel and/or Klive Simpson, though that wasn't his real name.

"This is insane," Akim muttered under his breath. "We have…we have a half-brother?"

"According to Morocco Carrisi, we do," Maksim replied evenly.

"What? You don't believe him?" Bogdan asked.

"No, I believe him," Maksim clarified. "I just don't want to."

"We need to find out why he's here," Melor chimed in. "Does…could it be that he believes your parents left an inheritance, so he's wanting his share?"

Maksim shook his head. "Considering how long ago our parents died, if that were the case, then he would have shown up before now."

"Plus, why make trouble if he's looking to benefit from an assumed inheritance," I added. "I agree with the Sartoris that Klive or whatever he's calling himself is not here for noble reasons."

"He's been underfoot for years now," Bogdan chimed in. "I refuse to believe that he could be in Port Townsend for that long and not know that Maksim and Akim are part of the bratva. Even if he doesn't know their ranks within the organization, he has to know that it's suicide to go up against us for any reason."

I looked over at Maksim. "Is there anything from when your parents were alive that could shed light on why Klive would show up here?"

Maksim shook his head. "Not that I can recall," he answered. "Our parents didn't have much, and if Dimitri was flying back to Russia regularly, then either our grandparents or Arina Ovchinnikov were paying for the trips. We barely had money for food whenever we did have money."

"Could it be a simple case of envy?" Melor asked. "Maybe Klive wants to take Dimitri's abandonment out on Maksim and Akim." Melor shrugged. "It's possible."

"I've thought the same thing. However, why wait so long?" Maksim posed. "The folder that the Sartoris sent over has Nikel Ovchinnikov Barychev at thirty-three-years-old. Dimitri and Varya died twenty years ago, so why not seek us out then?"

"Or when he turned eighteen?" Akim added. "Once he became an adult, he was free to do whatever he wanted."

"Immigration issues?" Melor suggested. "According to what Morocco Carrisi was able to gather, Klive is a Russian-born citizen."

Akim ran his hands down his face. "This is so fucked."

I leaned forward onto the table. "Now that we know what Klive looks like, we can be more vigilant. However, what I need to know is his threat level," I told everyone. "I need to know the chances of him getting to either of you."

Akim immediately looked offended. "Because we're schoolgirls in danger of getting kidnapped?"

I shot him a look. "Because we still don't know anything about where he is or what he's been up to," I clarified. "He has had years to study us from afar, and we still don't know where he is staying or if he even looks like the picture that Morocco provided for us." I leaned back in my seat. "It'd be very easy for him to don a disguise. Also, years can age a person to look differently."

"Which is why we need Manziel," Maksim remarked. "He's the only one that can tell us anything significant about Klive."

"Are you sure about that?" I asked. "If Louie Manziel is a childhood friend, then he might not be as easily broken as we are hoping he will be."

"Eto yerunda," Maksim bit out.

While I agreed and this was bullshit, that didn't change the fact that Klive was still one step ahead of us, even if we finally knew what he looked like. It would also be unwise not to credit Klive Simpson's patience. Years after the Sartoris had first killed one of his men, Klive was still moving around like a ghost, and only a man with great self-discipline could achieve such a thing.

Leaning his elbows on the table, Bogdan said, "The problem is determining which is the best way to proceed. Do we send kryshas out to look for him, possibly tipping him off with their inquiries? Or do we wait for him to come to us?"

"Well, since we have already made it clear that we are looking for Louie Manziel, I see no reason why we have to keep our search of Klive a secret," I answered. "He has to already know that we have been looking for him, so it makes no difference that we know what he looks like now."

"Wait, is Arina Ovchinnikov still alive?" Melor asked. "If she is, then why can't one of us fly to Russia and get answers from her?"

"She passed away about five years ago," Akim answered, having gone over the report multiple times, same as Maksim.

"You mean, about the same time that he arrived in Port Townsend?" Bogdan drawled out.

"Well, I guess we now know why he waited all this time," Akim remarked dryly.

"What did she die from?" Bogdan asked.

"According to Morocco's report, she had a respiratory disease," Maksim answered. "It appears that her chronic condition is what sent her to an early grave."

"All this fucking guessing is giving me a headache," Akim announced. "We need to find Louie Manziel or Nikel himself."

I cocked my head in thought as I said, "I do not want to show all our cards just yet. So, while we'll let it be known that we finally know what Nikel Ovchinnikov looks like, we will search for him under his current alias of Klive Simpson." I straightened in my chair a bit. "He does not need to know that we have found his connection to Port Townsend just yet."

After letting out a heavy sigh, Akim said, "I'll get right on it, Pakhan. I'll let the soldiers know what to look for."

I looked over at the youngest Barychev. "I also want you to be careful," I instructed. "Now that we know what we know, the risk has gone up."

Akim's dark eyes shot me a look. "We're not pussies."

I smirked, my back relaxing a bit. "Regardless, you and Maksim need to be more vigilant."

"He's fucking with the bratva," Maksim stated unnecessarily. "I welcome the blood."

I knew that I was going to have to speak more in depth with Maksim about this situation, but for right now, I was going to let him be. It was obvious that he wasn't taking these new developments well, and it could be that he might be feeling a bit betrayed himself. After all, brotherhood was very important to him, so having a half-brother that was trying to take you down had to sting a bit. Maksim was all about loyalty, and I had no doubt that he would have embraced Nikel Ovchinnikov had things been different.

"I think that will be all for now," I announced, ending the meeting. "We can meet up again in a couple of weeks, or if we find them before then."

As soon as everyone said their goodbyes, then strategically left the club, it was only me and Maksim still left behind, and at this point, I wasn't sure if he had stayed behind to check on me, or if I was still here to keep him from losing his shit all over the city.

Finally, he said, "I'm taking this very personally."

"I would imagine so," I replied evenly.

Maksim's dark eyes slid my way. "If anything happens to Akim, I will not respond well."

"Neither will I," I assured him.

Then, in a rare moment of openness, Maksim ran his hands through his dark brown hair, his frustration obvious. "Blyad.'"

Yes, fuck was the appropriate word for a situation like this, but venting wasn't going to get us anywhere. We needed something tangible to help us with this clusterfuck, and even if Klive had gone on to recruit more men after the massacre at the Schurman Curve, it was Louie and Klive that we needed, not some more pawns that were nothing but mere distractions.

"We will find them," I promised.

"Before they try something with Akim?" he challenged.

That got a grin out of me. "You heard your brother. He's not a pussy."

Maksim smirked, and his shoulders relaxed a bit. "No, he's not."

"If you would like, I can assign someone to him," I offered.

At that, Maksim finally chuckled. "Yeah, because I can see that going over well."

Yeah, we were a stubborn lot, for sure.