Absolution (The Titans of Founder's Ridge)

by Nichole Greene

  Conversely, this is the place where I suffered deep trauma and psychological abuse at the hands of someone I thought I could trust. I was forced to play Russian roulette with orphans my uncle would grab off the street, forced to watch them die in front of me. Ivan shaped me into the bloodthirsty psychopath that I am, deep inside. I hate him for that and for tying himself intrinsically into my memories of this place.

  Later, as I walk down the iconic steps of the hotel, flanked by Lev and Griff, I know that whatever happens tonight, I will walk away a different man. I just need to offer them both an out, one last time.

  “You guys know you don’t have to come with me, right?” I stop at the bottom of the steps. “You have your sisters, Griff. Lev, you have Ivy.”

  “Yeah, and you have Hoodrat,” Lev shoots back at me.

  “We’re doing this together, and we’re going home together,” Griff answers.

  “Alright,” I hold my hands out in surrender, “that was the last time I’ll say anything.”

  None of us say anything as we settle in for the drive to the estate where the party is taking place. The driver of our car has classical music playing, a haunting string version of “Sweet Dreams are Made of This” fills the silence of the car. Lev is in the front passenger seat, as usual. His navy suit paired with a black shirt matches the dark intensity of his eyes. Griff is in black on black. I’m also in black on black. I’m betting we all had the same idea about bloodstains on dark clothing.

  We pull up to a gorgeous neoclassical mansion. I’ve never been to this one before, so I don’t know the history of the building. It’s now rented out for events but was clearly once a manor for a wealthy family.

  We don’t wait for our doors to be opened for us, and the three of us exit the car. We go up the stone staircase to the landing where about a dozen people are smoking a variety of things, a couple e-cigs, a pipe, and some cigars. We walk past a group of girls, probably in their mid-teens but dressed way too provocatively for their age. My jaw clenches as I realize they’re probably here as sex workers. If I thought it would help, I’d drop a couple grand for them to leave, but they’d only pocket it and stay. Whoever’s running them would end up with most of it anyway.

  We keep our eyes open for Niklov Yegorov. From the picture Griff found, he’s a good-looking guy, about our age, with dark hair and a scar running down the left side of his neck. I’m also keeping an eye out for Ivan and Dad.

  “Over at the bar,” Levi says with a slight gesture to the right. “Is that Niklov?”

  “Looks like him,” Griff confirms.

  “I guess we’re getting a drink.”

  We walk toward the bar, and I nod at a few familiar faces. Most of the people at the bar make room when they see me, those who know my family anyway. I haven’t seen most of these people in years, but I’m unmistakably a Volkov.

  “Connor Volkov.” I hear my name come from my left right after I finish ordering for the three of us. I look over, and it’s coming from Niklov.

  “Yes.” I answer in Russian. “And you are?”

  “Niklov Yegorov. I’m here representing my grandparents.” He answers back in Russian. “Who are they?”

  “Griffin Potter and Levi Marsh,” I answer in English. “Associates of mine.”

  He gives them the slightest nod of acknowledgment. “I’m surprised to see you here for this,” he says in heavily accented English. “I thought you were more caught up in your business affairs in America than the criminal underworld of Europe.”

  “Sometimes the two overlap.” I glare at him. “I’m surprised to see you and not your grandparents here. How are they?”

  “They’re good, they had last minute matters to attend to, so that’s why they sent me.”

  “Last minute matters like cancer treatments?” Griff asks.

  “Or was it early onset Alzheimer’s treatments?” Levi asks as he scratches his chin.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He sneers at us.

  “Right, well, if we were to spread those rumors around, how would that affect your supply chain?” I stare him down eye-to-eye. “I know there’s some new competition coming at you guys from the south, and with Alexi breathing down your neck on the east side, you’re running scared.”

  “What do you want?” he asks in a harsh whisper, reverting to Russian.

  “When shit goes down in the meeting, you and your family need to have my and my father’s backs.” I hold my hand out for a handshake. “No one will hear about your grandparents from us, and I’ll consider this a personal favor to me.”

  He gives me a nod and turns back to his drink and the man he was talking to before we came up. It’s not an enthusiastic yes but probably the best I’ll get out of any stoic Russian. We take our drinks and walk over toward one of the ballroom balconies. I’m almost to the door when I feel a hand land on my shoulder. All the hairs on my body rise when I feel the familiar squeeze.

  I turn around and look my uncle in the face. “Ivan.”

  “Connor.” He turns and pulls a girl up to us. “I bought you a late birthday gift.”

  The girl is in a skintight black mini-dress and heels. She looks young and drugged out of her mind. “No.” I glare at him.

  “Why? She’s lovely, isn’t she?” he asks, pretending he has no idea why I would say no.

  “Where is Dad?” I ignore his goading. This is just attempted psychological intimidation by him.

  “Around here somewhere. I see you brought your friends.”

  “Figured, why not? Lilith is having her bachelorette party this weekend. Might as well bring the boys over here with me.”

  “Exactly why you should take Karina into one of the private rooms for a bit.” He shoves her at me. “I even paid her extra to cry and scream.”

  The impulse to pull my gun and shoot him point blank is so strong right now. I can feel the red haze of anger and hatred falling over me, driving me to make him beg like I used to beg. I want him to feel every bit of pain he forced me to inflict multiplied by ten.

  “I don’t think Lilith would appreciate that,” Levi, addressing Ivan, pulls me from my violent fantasy.

  “There you are,” Dad steps up next to Ivan. “The meeting is about to start.”

  We follow Dad and Ivan through the ballroom and down a long hallway that ends with a staircase. Lake falls in behind us. We go down two flights of stairs and down another dark hallway. The room where the other eight families are already sitting has a large oval table. I stand directly behind Dad with Ivan to my left. Griff, Lev, and Lake sink into the darkness along the wall.

  The meeting begins the way they usually do, discussing business and how to continue to build the power of The Nine. There’s a lot of pressure on the families who control the areas to the south. A similar group of powerful families from Turkey, Greece, and Croatia are beginning to run drugs and weapons into our territory. As the usual infighting begins among those who want to expand our boundaries and those who want to maintain them, I look over my shoulder.

  Griff is paying extra close attention to everything going on, he’s probably got some sort of recording device actually. They made us drop our cell phones into a basket at the door, but obviously no one is giving up their weapons in a room full of power-hungry and blood-thirsty gangsters and criminals. Dad stands and bangs his fist on the table to get everyone’s attention.

  “It’s come to my attention,” he says in Russian once everyone stops arguing, “that we have someone within The Nine double-crossing us.”

  Ivan tenses up beside me, just enough for me to notice a slight change in demeanor. His jaw clenches once Dad continues.

  “I’m not actually talking about one of you, though.” He turns to Ivan and points, “I’m talking about my brother. His list of offenses is long. Starting with double-crossing myself and framing us for corporate espionage. Next is the murder of my future daughter-in-law’s father.”

  Ivan gives Dad a bored look.

 
“Worse is the plot to sell my daughter and daughter-in-law into the sex trade,” Dad pulls his gun and shoots the man who Ivan was paying off, “Anton knew the plan.”

  Everyone in the room reaches for their weapons.

  “I’m done.” Dad sets the gun down. “The only one still at risk here is Ivan. His worst offense was the years of psychological torture and abuse against my son. So, in honor of the most fucked up thing he ever did to Connor, I propose a game.” Dad turns to Ivan, who still has a bored look on his face.

  “All I did was toughen him up, Victor. You raised a pussy American boy. To inherit everything, I was giving him what he needs to be strong.”

  I don’t even think, my fist just flies at his face, snapping his head to side. I’m not surprised when he turns to me, laughing with blood running his face and staining his teeth. He’s completely insane.

  “See?” He points at me. “I did that. I taught him to be strong.”

  “You taught me nothing,” I answer in English.

  “How about some Russian Roulette, Ivan? Instead of my son and homeless children, though, you and me. There’s only one bullet left,” he lifts his gun and shakes it in Ivan’s face.

  What is he doing?

  Panic begins to bubble up inside me. This is not the plan. This is my mess to clean up, not my dad’s problem. I, along with everyone else in the room, stand watching the stare down between brothers. At some point, Griff and Lev moved beside me. Their proximity might be the only thing keeping me from going off the rails.

  “Fine.” Ivan steps toe-to-toe with Dad. “But you go first.”

  Dad picks up the gun and holds it to his temple. All the blood in my body is roaring in my ears. I can feel Levi’s eyes on me instead of my father and uncle, as if he’s ready to jump in and stop me from doing anything crazy. Dad pulls the trigger, and I want to drop to my knees in relief when nothing happens.

  He flips the gun and hands it to Ivan. Ivan looks at it and then back at Dad. He holds it up to his own head and pulls the trigger. My body tenses back up when nothing happens to him. Dad smiles calmly and takes the gun back. He puts it to his head and pulls the trigger again. Every mean thing I’ve said and done to my dad goes through my mind—it’s a fucking long list. I let out a shuddering breath when nothing happens again.

  “Three left,” Dad says holding out the gun for Ivan.

  Then pandemonium erupts. Ivan pulls his own gun out and before anyone can react shoots Dad in the chest. Everyone in the room pulls their guns, and I know it’s about to turn into a blood bath. A bullet passes between Griff and I before Lake starts returning fire. Someone flips the table over for cover, and Lev, Griff, and I dive on one side. Lake is crouched down beside Dad. I see Ivan crawling on his stomach toward the door like the fucking coward he is.

  I cross the floor toward him, flipping him onto his back and raining down punches. Blood is everywhere is from gunshot and knife wounds. I hear Lev yell, “Griff!” and look over to see them caught up with a few guys loyal to my uncle. I slam Ivan’s head on the floor before getting off him, confident that he’s at the very least knocked out. I’m halfway back to the guys when Griff yells at me to duck. I turn just in time to see Ivan raise his gun at me.

  The sound of a gunshot echoes in my ears, and for a second, I think I’ve been hit, but a bullet tears through Ivan’s skull. In shock, I look over at Niklov who tucks his gun in the back of his pants and walks toward me.

  “You owe me, Volkov,” he says as he walks toward the door. “Be ready when I come asking for a favor in return.”

  I turn and drop down beside Dad, sure that I’m going to find him dead, but when I get to him, he’s sitting up. His shirt is unbuttoned, and a Kevlar vest is on the floor beside him. I grab him and hug him like I haven’t in years. He holds onto me just as hard. We sit there until Lake clears his throat and suggests we leave.

  Lev helps me up, and I pull Dad up with me. Looking around, there are four bodies on the ground. Ivan, the guy Dad shot, and two others. Bullet holes riddle the walls. Dad stops by Ivan and reaches down to rip a chain from around his neck. He closes Ivan’s eyes and cups his cheek. It’s obviously hard for him to walk away, but I pull him back to his feet again, and he comes with us.

  Lake’s team surrounds us as we go down a separate hallway from before and up one flight of stairs. We come out of the back of the building, and there are two vans waiting for us. Dad, Lev, Griff, Lake, and I get in the first one. The rest of Lake’s guys get in the second one carrying Ivan’s body.

  The ride back to town is quiet aside from Dad calling up his contacts to meet him at the family estate for Ivan’s body. I look over at Lev and Griff. They’re both lost in thought, looking out the windows. Our phones all light up at the same time, and a feeling of dread settles in my stomach. Griff is the first to get his phone open to the text that’s waiting for us in our group chat.

  Lily: I’ll be waiting for you three in the penthouse when you get back from St. Petersburg

  “Well,” Griff looks up at us, “we’re in trouble.”

  “Double trouble for me.” Lev shows us his text from Ivy which actually just yelling in all caps. “Ives is pissed.”

  “Rightfully so,” Lake says from the front seat. “You should have filled them in. Like I told Con, there’s no room in relationships for secrets. He should have been honest with Lilith right from the start.”

  “No,” I shake my head, “she would have found a way to come here. I couldn’t risk her safety for something that was my responsibility.”

  Dad gets off his call and slides his phone in his pocket before turning all his attention to me. “In absolutely no way was any of this your fault. Every single part of this is all on Ivan. You need to let that guilt and shame go because as long as you hold onto it, you won’t be able to move forward.”

  “You need to tell Lilith,” Griff adds.

  “Yeah, if she doesn’t kill us first,” Lev pinches the bridge of his nose. “Ives told me she’s staying with her dad for a while. How’d they even figure out where we were?”

  “Zion. I left him a letter asking him to make sure Lilith stayed safe with him through the weekend and explaining everything.”

  “You told her best friend before you told her?” Dad’s eyebrows raise up to his forehead. “Good luck explaining that to her.”

  9

  CONNOR

  “I’m not ready for this,” Lev mutters under his breath as I unlock the front door to the penthouse. None of us have spoken in hours. Each of us is worried about Lily and what we’re going to find waiting for us behind that door. Even the door creaks ominously as I push it open.

  We file in and find her sitting at the island, the spot she takes when she drinks her coffee in the morning and scrolls through emails. She’s wearing jeans and a navy sweater with her hair pulled back in a neat ponytail. She’s staring down at the counter, not making eye contact with any of us. She pulls in a shuddering breath, her whole body trembling.

  When she looks up at me, I feel my heart crack open. Her eyes are red and glassy with tears. Her usually bright skin looks dull. When her eyes meet mine, I feel it. I feel every ounce of her anger, disappointment, and heartbreak. She holds her hand up, the one with both the ring we gave her for Christmas years ago and her engagement ring.

  “Do you guys remember when you gave me this?” she asks, indicating the one on her middle finger. She pulls it off and reads the inscription, “Family over everything.” She gives us a sad smile as she sets it on the counter. “You guys gave me that when I was at my lowest. When I had lost the only family I had left on the planet. You three were reason I got up the rest of that year. The reason I pushed through the grief every day. I lost my dad, but I gained a chosen family. Three men I knew would always have my back and would always be there for me, and in turn, I would do the same. I guess that assumption was wrong, though.”

  “It’s not the four of us together, it’s you three and sometimes me.” She slides off the s
tool and grabs the handle of a suitcase I’m just now noticing.

  I’m frozen to the spot in fear. I can’t even speak. I can’t fight for her.

  “Lilith-” Griff starts to try to reason with her, thank fuck, since I can’t.

  “No,” she holds her hand up and shakes her head, “I don’t want to hear reasons or excuses. Griff,” she stands right in front of him, “I never thought I’d see the day where you disappointed me. You are the logical one, the one who thinks things through with a cool detachment.”

  Griff pales as she walks past him, pulling her suitcase with her.

  “Hoodrat, wait,” Lev steps in.

  “No,” her voice trembles as the first tears track down her cheeks. She reaches up and drags Lev to her by his collar. “You are the only person left in this world that I share blood with Levi Franklin Marsh. I cannot lose you. I cannot lose you in some reckless bid to keep me safe.” She pulls his forehead to hers while they both cry.

  “I love you,” he tells her.

  “Then remember how much it hurts to see me walk out that door. I won’t let you guys fill my life with so much only to shut me out in the scary moments.”

  She stops in front of me, and I can barely breathe. My body is screaming for her, my arms to lock around her and not let her go. I want to drown in her strawberry and rose scent. Instead I stand there, still as a fucking statue while she guts me.

  “I can’t accept this if you aren’t going to share every part of you with me.” She pulls her engagement ring off and puts it in my hand. “I’ve never shied away from your darkness, Connor. I love every part of you, but I refuse to let you shut me out. I won’t stay locked in a pretty cage, even for you.”

  She opens the front door with a click, leaving a sobbing Lev, a dumbfounded Griff, and myself gutted. I finally fucking snap out of my stupor and race out the door and into the hall only to be stopped by another set of angry eyes.