by K. J. Dahlen
Sergi looked over at the younger man and could see the obvious similarities to Timor in him.
“Well, Alena was gone. A few neighbors said she left days before. She just left him there alone. I was so angry I just took him and left. I tried to find his mother, in fact I made it my mission in life to track her down, but I couldn’t find any trace of Alena for a very long time.”
“I was thirty years old before we found my mother,” Iosif told them. His eyes looked stormy for a moment, than he shook his head. “Needless to say it was not a happy reunion, for any of us.”
Timor shook his head as well. “No I cannot say it was, but she did have some things to tell us both. Some things we needed to learn and believe me when I say it left more questions than answers.”
“Such as?” Sergi asked.
“She told me she had another child. A child from the first time we were together. She told me I had another son. He would be forty years old now, if he was still around.”
“If he was still around?” Misha frowned.
Timor nodded sadly. “Yes, you see the day I found Iosif, she told me I should have found his brother there as well. He would have been six years old then.”
“And you didn’t find him?” Sergi stated.
Timor shook his head. “I only found one of my sons that day.”
“And now?” Misha asked. “Why did you come here now? And what does this have to do with us or rather, my father?”
“I had a meeting with Pyotr Wassel last week and he told me you were showing off pictures of your great grandchildren to him and others a while back.”
Sergi and Misha exchanged glances but didn’t say anything.
“What about it?” Misha stared at him.
“Well, Pyotr said he saw something in one of the photos that made him think of my father.”
Sergi stared at the other man for a long moment then turned to Misha. Turning back to Timor and Iosif he shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“I’ve come here to ask you if I could see the photos you showed Pyotr that day?” Timor asked.
Sergi continued to stare at him for a moment then reached inside his desk. Grabbing a handful of photos, he passed them over to Timor and Iosif.
Timor took his time in looking over the photos. After he searched them one by one, he passed them off to Iosif. It wasn’t until he came to the second to the last one he paused inhaling a gasp. His hand shook as he stared at the photo.
Iosif watched him for a minute then gently took the picture from his father’s hands. As soon as he saw the man holding the tiny baby in the picture, he whispered a name. A name he couldn’t remember until that very moment, “Rommy.”
Sergi sat forward and grabbed the picture from the younger man. Looking at it, he took a deep breath. Passing the picture to Misha he asked, “Do you know this man?”
Iosif shook his head. “No, I don’t, not really but there is something familiar about his eyes. I remember those eyes but how could I? I’ve never seen the man in my life.”
“Maybe not the man he is today but in the boy he used to be?” Misha wanted to know.
Iosif took the photo from his hand and stared at it for a long time. “I don’t know if what I remember is real or not. I was only two when my father found me and I don’t remember too much about that time in my life. In fact, I didn’t think I remembered anything from that time in my life until I saw this photograph. Then a sudden flash came to mind.”
“A flash?” Sergi asked.
Iosif nodded. “There’s something in his eyes that I remembered, almost as if I’d seen them before.”
Sergi took the photo and studied it. “He looks so sad when he’s looking at Dominic. I never noticed that before now.”
“Do you know this man?” Timor asked.
Sergi nodded. “I do indeed. His name is Roman Salizar. He works for me in America.”
“Roman…” Timor whispered. “Can I meet this man?”
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Sergi stated. Shrugging his shoulders he added, “What if this man is not your son? How will you ever know the truth? Your woman abandoned both her sons and as far as I know, Roman doesn’t have any family. From what I understand, he grew up on the streets of Moscow with four other youths. This could be a mistake. For all of you.”
“How did he come to work for you then?” Timor asked.
“All of them work for me under one of my captains Nikoli Silvonic,” Sergi told him.
“All of them?” Iosif questioned.
“Roman and his four blood brothers, as they call themselves,” Misha explained. “Apparently, when they all found each other running the streets of Moscow they became blood brothers and that link holds them together even after all this time.”
“How well do you know them?” Timor asked.
“One of them is my son in law and grandchildren’s father.”
Timor frowned. “I wasn’t aware you had any children.”
“I was unaware that I did either until about two years ago, when Nikoli called me to let me know he found my daughter.” Misha smiled. “I never knew her growing up but now I feel I’ve known her, her whole life. She’s made me a better man for knowing her and I wouldn’t change that for anything.”
Timor looked over at his son for a moment and got a dreamy look in his eyes. “It was the same for me when I found my son. I didn’t know him when he was a tiny baby but from the day I found him, I loved him and that doesn’t ever change. Now I pray that this man Roman is truly his brother and both my sons will be together again soon.”
Sergi glanced over at Misha and the look they shared was troubled.
“I’ll tell you what,” Sergi exhaled deeply. “Let me make contact with Nikoli and gain his thoughts on this matter and then I’ll be in touch with you. I can’t promise anything yet, but I will see if Roman wants to make contact. But my friend,” he paused and the look in his eyes went hard. “I can’t let you upset the balance over there. Roman has a strong friendship with his brothers and with Nikoli. These five men have been through hell together. If this man is your son you must go slowly, he may not want to know you after all this time.”
“But I am his father.” Timor rushed to his feet. “He belongs at my side.”
Sergi just stared at the other man. “He’s a grown man and what’s more is he grew up without knowing you or his brother. It wasn’t your fault this happened but it did happen and you cannot change that fact. If you want to have any kind of relationship with him, you have to step back and allow him to take the lead. Give him the chance to get to know you first.”
“But he is my eldest son,” Timor almost shouted. “He should be beside me, working with my people. Knowing me and Iosif as his family not a bunch of strangers from when he was a child.”
Sergi shrugged. “In a perfect world perhaps that would happen but this world we live in is not perfect. I don’t know his whole story and neither do you. What I suggest you do is get to know the man he is today rather than expect him to bend to what you think he should be. He grew up long before he was ten years old when he was a street rat, scrambling for a warm place to sleep and food enough to fill his hungry belly. You need to remember that, but don’t judge him for it. He didn’t have any choice in the manner he grew up in. All he had at his back were those four friends he calls his brothers.”
“But now he should have his real family,” Timor insisted.
Iosif got to his feet and grabbed his father’s shoulder. “Father, let’s just go. Allow Sergi to make contact like he said and see what happens after that.”
“But I want this now. I can’t wait another moment.” Timor growled. “I’ve waited his whole life for this moment and I won’t wait anymore.”
“But we have to wait,” Iosif argued. “I don’t like it either but we must wait.”
Timor glared at his son for a moment then turned to Sergi. “Make the call. Set this into motion. I want my son back.” Then he turned a
nd stomped to the door.
Iosif turned to face the two men. “I’m sorry. He’s never been a patient man and with this, he wants it done yesterday. He’s been looking for my brother for a long time now. And now that he’s this close, he wants to steamroll over any difficulties in getting his way.”
Misha laughed out loud. “Maybe Roman is his son after all. He has the same temperament.”
Iosif smiled briefly. “That would be a good thing. He just about killed my mother when he found out that she abandoned the both of us.” He looked down at the floor for a moment then looked at the two men. “I just hope Roman can accept us as his family. It will break my father if he can’t.”
Sergi nodded. “Let me see what I can do. I promise I’ll be in touch.”
Iosif turned to leave.
When he was gone, Misha swung his troubled gaze his own father. “Well, this was unexpected.”
Sergi nodded. “If this is indeed true, how do you think Roman will handle the news that he does indeed have a family out there?”
“He’s had a family since he was ten years old,” Misha stated. “They are his blood. He doesn’t even know Timor Maxim or Iosif.”
Sergi shook his head. “He might know Iosif, but by another name.”
“Are you going to help Timor make contact?”
Sergi nodded. “Wouldn’t you want to know if you had family out there? You remember how it was when we found Raven, don’t you? Like Roman, she didn’t know you either.”
“I remember.” Misha whispered. His haunted eyes were turned to the past. Then he glanced down at the photos on the desk and he had to smile.
Sabine Pass, Texas…
Pappy, the President of Hell’s Fire Riders MC slammed his phone shut and scowled at the group of men around him. He and the others were on their way back to Baton Rouge for a while. They were going as back up to the Advocates MC while the city was getting ready to try most of the civil authorities for corruption and racketeering charges.
He looked over at his men and frowned.
“What’s up Pappy?’ Calico asked. He, Bear, Dewey and Reaper were waiting on Pappy to come, so they could leave to go to Baton Rouge.
“That was Yuri Anatoly.”
“Oh, what did he want?” Bear asked.
“He wanted us to know someone took a shot at Stevie today,” Pappy announced. “He thinks it might have something to do with what’s going on in Baton Rouge but he doesn’t know that for sure yet.”
“What the fuck?” Calico swore.
Pappy nodded. “Yeah, she and Benny were at Roman’s house when a window shattered behind her. She wasn’t hurt but she could’ve been. At the last minute, she knelt to pet her dog, the next thing she knew she was covered in glass.”
“Didn’t he have security around the house?” Reaper asked.
“He did and they found where the sniper shot from but by the time they found his nest, he was gone.”
“So, now what? What are they going to do to protect those two kids?” Calico asked.
“The Russians are going to double their protection while we dig into who might be behind this attack,” Pappy assured them. “We’re going to work with Jackal and his group to find out who wants them dead and then we’re gonna stomp them into the ground.”
“I think Silas and his pals can help us do all that,” Bear stated.
“I think you might be right.” Pappy nodded. “If anyone can find out info no one else is supposed to know about they can. Stevie was right when she said they were a network of their own. And that most people just plain ignore them.”
Dewey walked over to join Pappy and the guys. “What’s up?”
“Somebody hired a sniper to take out a couple of kids in New Orleans,” Pappy informed him.
“What the hell?” Dewey swore. Glaring, he gritted his teeth. “What can we do to help?”
“Maybe we can get Trudy to do a full background check on the people waiting for trials. Maybe she can find something everyone else missed or are overlooking.”
“Get me a list of their names and she’ll find out what they ate for supper six months ago,” Dewey vowed.
“She helped earlier with the first hitman, but maybe she can dig up more associated with them and I don’t give a fuck what they ate,” Pappy swore. “I want to know their secrets…secrets they would kill to protect.”
Dewey nodded. “You’ll have it.”
“We’d better get on the road. We got a three hour trip ahead of us,” Bear stated.
“Yeah, just let me call Silas and get him working on that list Trudy needs.” Pappy nodded.
“Will Stevie and Benny be ok?” Dewey laid his hand on Pappy’s arm.
Pappy snickered. “Oh yeah, they’ll be just fine. They got the Russians looking after them. Besides, now they know someone is out there hunting the kids, that bastard won’t get close again.”
“I’ll let you know what Trudy digs up,” Dewey promised.
Pappy nodded then rounded up his men and within moments, they were gone.
Trudy came up behind her husband and asked, “Are they gonna make a difference in this fight?”
“They have to.” Dewey told her. “They won’t accept anything less.” He turned and smiled. “And we have work to do. You have to do some digging and I have to line some safeguards up for them. I may not be part of this mission but I can do what I can do here.”
“Honey as long as you have their backs you are part of any mission they’re on. Whether you’re with them on point or not.”
Just then her cell phone pinged and Trudy looked at the message coming in. She got a certain look on her face and Dewey knew she’d just gotten the list from Silas. She looked up at him and smiled. “Baby I got work to do.” She brushed her lips against his and went to a secure room off the main room at the clubhouse.
When she shut the door, Dewey shook his head. He almost felt sorry for the names on that list. He knew when she got done they wouldn’t have any secrets left and that Pappy would use every bit of info she could get her hands on to destroy them. Almost felt sorry for them, but then he figured they deserved what they had coming. To Dewey’s mind you never went after kids.
Chapter Three
New Orleans…
Roman ushered Benny and Stevie into the penthouse suite at the hotel. Yuri, Kosta, Raven and Barshan joined them and security stayed in the hall on watch.
Raven went over to Stevie. “Are you guys ok?”
Stevie nodded. “I’m fine, just shook up.” She glanced at Roman then away quickly. “I think maybe I just need a shower, you know to wash all the blood off.”
Raven gazed into her eyes for a moment then asked. “Do you need some help?” “No,”
Stevie assured her. “I think I just need some time alone.”
Raven patted her on the arm. “Ok. If you need anything, please let me know. I just want you to feel safe here.” She paused then added, “And you are safe here. Roman and his brothers will never let anyone near you that would hurt you in any way. You and Benny are part of their family now and they take that very seriously.”
Stevie still felt a shiver of coldness deep down inside. She hadn’t realized it was even there until they left the hospital and she hadn’t said anything to anyone yet about it but somehow, Raven knew.
Raven leaned forward and whispered, “Been there done that.”
Stevie grabbed her hand and begged her, “Please promise me something.”
“What is it?” Raven frowned.
“If anything happens to me please promise that you’ll take care of Benny. He doesn’t have anyone else and he deserves a better life than he’s had so far.” Stevie stressed. “Please promise me.”
Raven took her in her arms and hugged her close. “Oh honey, of course we’ll take care of him but I have to tell you, nothing is going to happen to you. Roman won’t let you go and he’ll go the distance to make sure you and Benny are safe. They are all the balls to the walls kind of guys.”
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Stevie stepped back and brushed her tears away. Then she turned and walked into the bathroom closing the door softly behind her.
When Roman got to the bathroom door, he heard her sobbing over the sound of the water running. The sound nearly broke his heart. Taking off his clothes, he pushed the shower door open and slipped in behind her, wrapping his big arms around her tiny body.
Stevie didn’t jump in fright but instead cuddled into him.
After a while, he asked, “Are you all right?”
“I am now,” she whispered
Roman tilted her chin up to see her face. Her eyes were still teary but he could see the lingering fear in her eyes. “Are you sure about that?” he murmured.
“I’m trying to be,” she admitted. “I’m really trying.”
“I know you are sweetheart.” He wrapped her in his arms a bit tighter.
“Do you know what happened yet?” she asked.
Roman shook his head. “No not yet, but we will.”
Stevie leaned into him again. “Will this nightmare ever end?”
“It will, I promise,” Roman whispered. “I won’t let anyone or anything ever hurt you again, I promise.”
Stevie looked up into his eyes. “I need you to promise me something else too.”
“What’s that babe?”
“I need you to promise me that if anything happens to me that you will keep Benny safe.” Stevie hugged him closer. “I need to know Benny will be all right. He’s had nothing but pain in his short life, he needs to know there’s something more waiting for him out there, something he can use to build a good life on. As a foundation to build the rest of his life on.” She paused. “Can you give me that much?”
“I can but I’ll give you so much more if you’ll let me.” Roman smiled.
“I’d like that.” Stevie smiled back. “What can I give you in return?”
