by K. J. Dahlen
“What if I told you one of us has been keeping track of Ivan over the years?” Maxim asked the group.
Misha glanced over at his father then back at the man asking the question. “You have?”
Maxim nodded.
“Why didn’t you mention this yesterday when we found ourselves in this situation?” Sergi demanded.
Maxim stared at the other man for a long moment. “Because we had no idea what the Bratva was going to do. All we ever knew about your organization was what had been done to us under Ivan’s rule. We had no reason to trust that you would even care, let alone seek him out.”
Misha exhaled deeply. “Ok, granted but now you know differently. What information can you share with us?”
“When I checked in with the compound last night, I told my man to begin draining Ivan’s accounts. Well, the ones we’ve been able to find anyway. I checked with him this morning and he’s been able to transfer almost a million dollars. He’s a wizard at hiding money when he needs to be.”
“What else had you uncovered?” Sergi asked.
“Over the years,” Dima spoke now. “Ivan has had many visitors to his prison camp. Some we knew, some we didn’t know, but we had nothing better to do than listen, so we listened. We actually know quite a bit about his business.” Dima shrugged. “Ivan never thought he’d have to be careful about what he was doing. He never thought we would escape, so he wasn’t as careful as he should have been.”
“Any help you offer can only be a good thing in your cases,” Sergi reminded them.
“I’ll call in the rest of my men and have them bring in all the evidence we’ve put together,” Maxim agreed.
Misha got up, went over to the bar and poured himself a vodka shot. He slammed it back then felt someone join him. He poured another shot and turned around to hand it to Maxim. Maxim slammed back the vodka and held out his glass for another shot. Misha poured him, another shot then turned to look out at the city.
“So you and my sister huh?” Maxim remarked.
“Da, me and your sister.” Misha nodded. “I am claiming her and Anya.”
“Is this what she wants as well?”
“She doesn’t have a choice,” Misha told him raising his glass to his lips.
“Oh yes she does have a choice.” Maxim growled behind him. “It will be her choice not yours whether she stays here with you or not.”
Misha turned his head and glared at the other man. “She made her choice when she came to my bed.”
“Did you force her to come to your bed?” Maxim’s hands curled into fists.
Misha was about to turn on the other man when they both heard a voice answer his question. “Nyet, brother he didn’t.” Zeta walked around Maxim and came to stand beside Misha. Holding up her hand she looked at her brother. “I know you have worries for me. I know this doesn’t make sense to you but it makes sense to me.” She paused then looked at Maxim. “I know he may get tired of me someday and walk out of my life, I’m not a dummy and if he does, he does. But I want this chance. I am your sister but I am also a woman too.”
Maxim looked angry as he clenched his fists.
“You may not want to hear that but it is true. Misha is an honorable man. I want nothing more than he’s willing to give me. I will never demand more from him than he is willing to give me. If and when the day arrives and he wants something more than me, I will accept that too. He is wonderful with Anya and he treats me with respect. For now that is enough.”
“I have already claimed you woman.” Misha growled. “You will belong to me forever. Both you and Anya are mine. There will be no walking away for me.”
Zeta turned and raised her hand to cup his jaw. She felt his scruff and smiled. “We have so much more to worry about right now than this. Let’s deal with Ivan first. We can revisit the subject of us later.”
She tried to move away from him but Misha grabbed her and hauled her into his arms. His mouth crushed down on hers and soon, they were both lost in the kiss. Misha was claiming her yet again and she knew it. As did everyone who witnessed the kiss.
When he broke the kiss, they were both panting. Zeta had a bemused look on her face but Misha leaned down and whispered, “You belong with me and me alone. Never forget that fact because it is a fact. Understood?” When she didn’t say anything, he shook her slightly. “Understood?”
She looked up at him and nodded. “Understood.” Bringing her hand up, she touched her lips gently still feeling the tingle of his possession. She went back to the bedroom and closed the door behind her
Maxim turned to look at Misha. “You’d better mean what you told her. She doesn’t need any more heart break.”
“I will take care of both of them,” Misha vowed. “I can’t guarantee no more heartbreak but I will try not to hurt her.”
Sergi stood in the back of the room watching what had just happened. He was concerned for his son. He felt there was something Zeta wasn’t telling him. Was she perhaps using Misha for a net of safety she was looking for? Did she care for him at all? Misha wouldn’t have claimed her in the fashion that he did if she didn’t mean something to him.
Sergi needed to find out. He went to the bedroom he knew she was in and opened the door.
Zeta was sitting on the bed next to her daughter. Anya was asleep so Sergi remained quiet joined as he closed the door softly behind him.
Zeta turned her head and saw Sergi standing there. “What do you want?” she whispered.
“I want to know if you have any feelings for my son at all?”
Zeta turned her head toward the older man and frowned. “Excuse me?”
Sergi shook his head. “Nyet, I do not think I will. My son has offered you more than you will ever really understand. He claimed you and your daughter as his own. For a man of his standing, that’s saying a lot. He is worth a lot of money and power that goes with his title.”
Zeta got to her feet and stalked over to where he stood.
Sergi could see the fire in her eyes.
“I do not care one whit for his money or his power. I do not care that he belongs to the Bratva or not. He has given me so much more than just that. He has given me hope. He has given me a safe place to lay my heart. The money and the power are nothing. I wouldn’t care if he had nothing more to offer me than a small piece of ground and a dream.” She looked at him with truth in her eyes. “I know I haven’t known him long and I know you probably think very little of me because I slept with him already but I will tell you this, the moment we met I knew he would mean something to me. I felt a spark of light burst inside me when he touched me. It was akin to two half souls coming together as one. The moment I opened my eyes and saw him sitting there, I knew he was home.”
“A person is not a home,” Sergi argued.
“Misha is to me. He is the missing part of my soul. He is like the air I need to breathe. He offers me more than just money and power. I do not care about that. With him, I feel safe, like he stands between me and the rest of the world. I had a strong family when I was growing up and until I was nine, I thought noting could come between us.” She paused and shook her head. “I was so wrong. Ivan tore my family and my home apart with no reason or rhyme. Then my father was gone and next was my mother. I thought I had no one left then Maxim and his friends showed up. I had someone again, but there was still some part of me that wasn’t whole. Then I met Misha.” She shook her head. “Oh, I know I’m half his age and the whole world will look at me like I’m a tramp, but I’m not. I love him with all my heart. He completes my soul and if the day ever comes when he turns his back on me and walks out of my life, I will simply stop existing. I may continue to breathe but he will take my soul with him.”
Sergi stared at her face as she spoke.
Zeta shook her head. “So, please do not tell me home is not a person. Misha is home to me.”
Sergi smiled gently. “I am sorry if you felt I intruded where I didn’t belong but I had to know how you felt. Misha is my s
on and I love him very much. He has feeling for you even I can see. I just wanted to know that you weren’t interested in him for his money.”
“I care about him, not what he can give me,” she stated again.
“I can see that. Again, I am sorry for doubting you.” Sergi turned and would have left the bedroom but the door behind him opened and Misha stood in the doorway.
He looked from his father to his Zeta and back again. “What is going on here?” he demanded.
Zeta got between the two men and with a hand on either chest she said, “Just a parent to parent talk. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Dad?” Misha looked at his father demanding answers.
Sergi began to say what he was doing with her but Zeta covered his mouth with her fingers. She then turned to look at Misha. “He wanted to know that I wasn’t using you for your money or your power. I told him that I didn’t care about those things. You could be a farmer with a dream and I would still love you.” She gazed right into his eyes as she went on, “When I woke up and found you looking at me I felt like I was home and that is all that mattered to me.”
Misha frowned at her. “You love me?”
She nodded. “I’m still here aren’t I? If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t have stayed. No matter what you say about claiming me. I would have left here. But you are my heart.”
Sergi laid his hands on his son and moved him gently out of the way. He left them alone in the room. Closing the door behind them, he shook his head. They have what Anita and I have. I am so happy for Misha. Finally, love has happened to him. He pumped his fist in the air. “Da!”
Then, the leader of Bratva straightened his suit and tie to walk regally out into the main room.
Chapter Nine
When Misha and Zeta arrived to the main room, Maxim’s other men had arrived. Bringing with them the information, they had collected over the last few years.
Sergi was catching up on the man he thought he knew. Reading the reports, he realized he never knew this man at all. He hadn’t liked something about Ivan but now reading this, he finally figured out what it was he didn’t like. Ivan was a poser. A two faced poser. One side of him would lie right to your face while the other side of him would laugh that you were stupid enough to believe him in the first place. If he believed these reports and he had no reason not to believe them, the whole man Ivan presented himself to be was a lie.
Sergi set the reports aside for a moment. He looked around the room but only one man was looking back at him. Sergi knew he was Maxim’s man Zhora. Sergi waved him over and when he was sitting in front of him he asked, “You have something more to say to me?”
Zhora shrugged. “I don’t know if you want to hear what I got to say about Ivan.”
“If you know something you think we should know, speak up boy.” Sergi growled.
“Did you know I had been in Ivan’s prison for almost twenty-four years?” Zhora asked the old man.
Sergi frowned. “Twenty-four years?”
Zhora nodded and he knew Sergi got the timeline.
“That is about the time Ivan joined the Bratva, isn’t it?”
“And do you remember how he got his position?” Zhora studied his face.
“Da, I do.” Sergi glared at the other man. “He stopped the man who stabbed an officer just outside his office.”
“And do you remember the circumstances surrounding his appointment?” Zhora asked. “He was after all an unknown.”
“That’s right, he was back then wasn’t he? A complete unknown until the man he saved vouched for him and became his sponsor. Then Ivan climbed the ranks very quickly.”
“And what happened to the man who sponsored him to get him into the Bratva?” Zhora asked quietly.
Sergi frowned as he tried to remember events that happened twenty-four years ago. “If I recall correctly, he died from the stabbing a few weeks later.”
“And what happened to the man Ivan stopped after the stabbing?”
Sergi just stared at him with a blank expression. He couldn’t answer the question because he didn’t know the answer.
Zhora nodded. “Oh and Kolvastan isn’t his last name either.”
“How do you know that?” Sergi demanded.
“Ivan and I grew up together, near the town of Krasnoyarsk. Our fathers were both serving time in Prison camp 17. When we were fourteen, Ivan told me he was going to be a big shot in the Bratva someday. I told him he was crazy. He could never get in because of his family. He told me not to worry about that. He had a plan.”
“What was his name back then?” Sergi asked.
“Ivan Slavik. His father was in prison for murder. As was his uncle and grandfather.”
Sergi thought for a moment then replied, “I knew his grandfather. In fact, I sentenced him to prison for the killing he did. He jumped a fisherman, stole his boat and sold it. When the new owners took the boat out to sea, they found the body of the previous owner stuffed in the hull.” Sergi shook his head. “So he lied from the beginning huh? Was there ever a man named Ivan Kolvastan?”
Zhora nodded. “Yes, there was. But Ivan killed him and took his place as the man had no other family.”
Sergi frowned. “He just stepped into another man’s life that easily?”
“You were in Moscow. The background check on Ivan Kolvastan was done by someone who didn’t know him from Adam. It all checked out.”
“And where were you?” Sergi asked.
“Ivan promised me a reward for my stabbing the man he reported rescued then when we were supposed to meet later, he knocked me out. When I woke up, I was in his prison. He betrayed me but I guess I should have expected something like that from him.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone of this a long time ago?”
Zhora snorted. “Who would have believed back then?” He looked around the suite. “These men didn’t belong in any prison. They were standing up for their families. Me? I wasn’t. I was probably the only one that did belong in that horrible place.”
“How can you prove this accusation?”
“I know where the real Ivan’s body is buried.”
Sergi got a sudden chill and goose bumps broke out on his arms. It was a good thing he was wearing a jacket. He appreciated the fact that he could maintain a cold emotionless face but his announcement chilled him to the bone. “Thank you for coming forward. I appreciate your candor.”
Zhora shrugged. “I stabbed a man who did nothing to me. He didn’t present a danger to me or anyone. I didn’t kill him but I stabbed him for gain. Ivan promised me a reward, the only thing he gave me was eighteen years in a prison then five years on the run in another country. Now, all I have to look forward to is an empty life. My family is all gone now and I have no more ties to Russia even if I did go back. At least here, I had them. The men I’ve called my brothers. But when they find out the truth, they might not want me either.”
“You made a mistake and paid a dear price for it,” Sergi told him. “As you said you didn’t kill anyone and you did come forward with new information that might help us catch the bad guy here. You could have just kept your mouth shut and no one would have been the wiser.”
Zhora let out a sigh. “When you share your life with men you see every day, you have nothing to do but sit back and watch them, you listen to their stories, and you learn how they lived their lives. These men did nothing wrong but because they stood up to Ivan, he threw them in a place they didn’t belong. After a while, you finally figure a few things out. If you’re lucky, you learn from your mistakes and want to be a better man.” He shrugged. “I wanted to be a better man.” He got to his feet then looked down at Sergi. “If Ivan had to leave in a hurry, without packing I mean he might have left something behind. Have your men check the headboard of his bed. He always kept his most valuable stuff in a secret compartment close but where no one else would find it. No one would think to look for anything there.”
Sergi nodded and watched as the other man w
alked away. He reached for his phone and made a call to Russia. He passed on the new information and prayed they would find something. Something they could use to put the final nail in Ivan’s coffin.
Maxim came over to the table and sat down. Pouring himself a cup of coffee he looked at Sergi. “My men found the boat.”
Sergi raised his gaze up to him. “Really? Where is it?”
“On the Jersey side of the Hudson, closer than any of us are comfortable with it being to Bayonne.”
Sergi frowned. “What’s in Bayonne?”
“Our compound is just outside the city,” Maxim informed him. “Someone must have told him where we were located.”
“Perhaps the hit squad found your compound.” He shrugged. “We have no way of knowing but if he hooked up with them, he’ll have his own team of body guards. Men trained and willing to kill for his money.”
Maxim shook his head. “I never understood that. A man’s life should be worth more than just money.”
“Are all your men accounted for now?” Sergi asked.
Maxim nodded. “Da, they are. Maksim left the cameras on so he can check them and see if anyone has been around the compound.” He paused then added, “I thought I saw Zhora speaking with you. Is there going to be a problem?”
Sergi raised an eyebrow. “Now, why would that be a problem?”
Maxim shrugged. “Each of us have our own secrets. His might be more interesting than most but he is a good man.”
“How long have you known about him? And his secrets?”
Maxim ghosted a smile. “You don’t live with someone day in and day out without getting to know them. Like I said, we all have our secrets.”
The afternoon passed uneventfully. Reports on Ivan were coming in slowly but no one had seen the man since he left Russia. Sergi did get one phone call from the team in Russia. On Zhora’s tip, they went back to the prison and ripped apart Ivan’s bedroom. They found a hollowed out section in the headboard of his bed and they did recover an accounting book. They had dates and times and sales of women and children and who they were sold to.
