Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 120165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
He scowled. “I rarely know what you think.”
“I think you’re scared. You’ve lost so much. I think it would hurt if you reached out and he rejected you. And instead of facing that, you isolate yourself.”
Radimir crossed his arms. “You think I’m a screw-up. You think I’m povrezhdennyy. Damaged.”
I looked him right in the eye. “No,” I said gently. “I think you’re a man.”
He glared at me, but I refused to drop my gaze. And eventually, those frozen sky eyes softened, and he rubbed at his face and cursed in Russian—
There was a knock at the door. Radimir looked up but I leaned in front of him and gave him an imploring look.
He sighed. “I’ll think about it.” Then he turned to the door and raised his voice. “What?”
“It’s Valentin. We need you.”
We dressed and went downstairs. Gennadiy was leaning over the dining table looking at a huge map of Chicago with our areas of control marked in red. “Sorry, brother,” he said when he saw us. “You both deserve a rest. But Spartak’s men are attacking all over the city.” He shook his head grimly. “We’re not going to be able to hold onto everything. We have to save what we can.”
The rest of that day was brutal. Radimir and I spent most of it driving, racing from one emergency to another. A bar that had been smashed up. A crane destroyed at a construction project, setting it back months. A politician who’d suddenly switched allegiances to Spartak and now wouldn’t sign off on a new casino. And of course, the police noticed the upswell in violence and demanded to know what was going on, so we had to work with the cops we had on our payroll to calm things down.
We did our best to cling onto territory but just as Gennadiy said, we couldn’t save everything. We had to choose where to send the small number of men we had: which communities to protect and which to let fall to Spartak’s control. At one point, Radimir had to choose to let a commercial street on the south side go in order to reinforce a street packed with families in the north. Later, we had to drive through that same street and saw cars burning and stores with their windows smashed in. I saw Radimir’s knuckles whiten on the steering wheel: his empire was falling.
The only good moment all day was when, that evening, I realized that we’d been working side by side this whole time. Radimir was a master of intimidation and scaring people into submission and I found I was good at reassuring people and smoothing things over. I was becoming the Bratva wife I never thought I could be.
When we regrouped at Gennadiy’s mansion, half of the red, Aristov territory on the map had turned to black. Spartak had swept like a wave through the city: it didn’t feel like a war, it felt like a coup. “We’re not going to last until Konstantin’s men get here,” muttered Gennadiy. “Another couple of hours and they’ll have taken everything. And then they’ll come for us.”
“How did Spartak plan this so well in just a few days?” I asked. Radimir, Valentin, Gennadiy and Mikhail shook their heads despondently. We could all feel us losing. Even Mikhail’s dogs had sensed the mood and were lying quietly, their heads on their paws.
A roar of engines made us all look up. Headlights blasted through the cracks in the drapes, lighting the room up. Valentin peeked outside. “Cars,” he told us. “A lot of cars.”
Spartak. He was coming for us now.
Radimir grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him, then picked up a gun. Valentin turned off the lights and we all moved back from the windows.
I could hear footsteps outside, scrunching through the gravel to the front door. We all exchanged looks. Fuck. We’d misjudged things. Most of our men were out fighting in the city, we only had a handful of guards.
Someone banged on the front door. Gennadiy pointed his gun at it, ready to fire as soon as they broke it down. “Go upstairs,” Radimir ordered, his voice tight. “Hide. They might not find you.”
I shook my head and squeezed his hand. “I’m not leaving you.” I tried to sound strong, but my voice was shaky with fear.
Another bang on the door. Everyone tensed, ready...
“Konstantin sent us!” yelled a voice.
We all looked at each other. It’s a trick. It was a twelve-hour drive from New York. Konstantin’s men wouldn’t be here for at least another few hours, however fast they drove. Radimir shook his head. Valentin cocked a shotgun and pointed it at the door...
“I come with a gift,” yelled the man. “A box of the pastries Mrs. Aristov liked so much?”
My eyes widened. No one else would know about me snarfling the pastries. “It is them!” Before anyone could stop me, I ran to the door and pulled it wide.