"This shit has gone too far. Solovyov just killed five of my men. Notourmen.My men.Then he stole a shipment of guns that was headed to the Colombians. Now not only do we have to hunt down the men who betrayed us, we have to gut them to send a message. Then track down the guns and get them to the Colombians before they come after our families."
"You are forgetting one tiny little thing, cousin." I kept my tone level, showing him exactly how not afraid of him I was.
"What's that?" he sneered, his eyes narrowing to slits.
"My brother didn't lead Solovyov here. It was your weakness that did that. He saw an opportunity and you should be down on your knees thanking Kostya for figuring it out before it was too late. He didn't have to help you. All he had to do was follow the girl. It would have been far easier for him to grab her and just take her back to Russia."
"That is—" he said, but I had no interest in listening to whatever bullshit was going to come out of his mouth next.
At the end of the day, I was right. Solovyov was after Gregor long before Kostya swore a deathbed promise to his first wife.
"What the fuck are you doing working with the Colombians?" I asked, cutting him off.
There was good crazy, the kind that struck fear in the hearts of men and forced their loyalty. Then there was the shit the Los Infieles Colombians did, and that went well past torturing to send a message. It was torture that was so extreme it had to be a sick fetish.
"That's not the point," Gregor hissed through clenched teeth. "I want to know what the fuck you are going to do about it?"
Gregor turned to pace, shooting Damien a loaded look. I took a step back, making sure to be out of his arm's reach in case he took a swing.
Before I could tell him, I was interrupted by the shrill ringing of my phone.
"What?" I answered.
"Boss, we found the guns. Solovyov's men took them and now he is in the process of finalizing a deal with the Colombians to sell them at a lower price."
Fuck.
"Is that it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then stand by." I hung up the phone and looked around the room. Everyone was staring at me, waiting for answers.
"Solovyov is selling our guns to the Colombians. He's trying to isolate us from other families."
"Of course he is," Gregor said before turning to Mikhail. "Get the women to safety. Keep them together. Marina too."
Kostya gave him a nod of appreciation.
"We are going to war. It will be brutal and bloody, but this shit ends now."
If Gregor was finally going to step up, my takeover was going to be a lot more difficult.
"This is still my problem to solve," I argued. "Solovyov will be handled by me."
"Fine," Gregor snapped. "You have twenty-four hours. But until then, I need to make sure the Colombians don't smell blood in the water and come for our women."
Our women.That phrase echoed in my head a few times. I needed to know Viktoria was safe.
While the others organized arrangements and called their wives, I called the security I had on Viktoria. They all reported that no one had come or gone, but I needed to be sure.
I sent Ivan to knock on the door. He texted back minutes later, telling me there was no answer.
Maybe she was asleep, or just didn't answer the door for people she didn't know. If it hadn't been for the worry pulsing through me, I might have been proud.
Instead, I pulled up the app and checked the cameras, which I had my men return to their proper positions while we were at dinner.
I couldn't find her.
