Heads will roll in the department and someone will lose their job for arresting the wrong person, but the bottom line is that they must allow our client to return to Miami and we would have done our job and get paid by Kat.
“So you see, Irina, I’ve arranged it so that there is a very long digital trail linking your son to a young girl’s murder in Chicago. There will be no doubt that your son was there at the time and place of the killing, and he will go to prison for a very long time.”
“What do you want from me?” she asks, looking like she’s aged several years after hearing my revelation.
“This could have been a lot easier if you had pursued this whole matter with some civility. Do you just go around kidnapping people you don’t know all the time?”
“I didn’t know who Mr. Masterson was at the time.”
“But you know now?”
“I’m starting to understand, yes.”
“Then let me explain even further. You’ve made such a huge mistake that Ivan is not even coming for you. No family within two-hundred square miles of this place is going to help you.”
Ivan is the head of the largest Bratva family in Philadelphia. He and Joseph have a long-standing relationship that dates back at least twenty years. Ivan owes the old man a favor and has agreed to turn a blind eye to this matter since it’s personal and not Bratva business.
“You talked to Ivan?”
She swallows thickly and starts to look a tinge green. She’s worried because I know who Ivan is and seems to be truly starting to feel the weight of her miscalculation which gives me a feeling of satisfaction although I can’t probably say the same for Roman. I’m not the one who got shot twice and kicked in the ribs.
“Do you want to know what he said?”
“How do I know that you truly spoke to him?”
“He said you’d say that, so I’m supposed to remind you of Paris in 2005.”
Her face drops.
I do not understand what that date or place means to her, but it seems to satisfy her need for validation and she suddenly becomes more cooperative.
“What do you need me to do so that my son doesn’t go down for these bogus charges?”
“Your son will not go free.”
“What?”
“Your son terrified a young woman who means something to a friend of mine. He has to pay for that.”
“If he goes to jail, then why must I negotiate with you?”
“Well, first, you should negotiate for your own self-preservation and second, I could arrange it so that your son never leaves prison for the rest of his miserable life. It’s easier to do than you think. His appeals will get lost, his parole will get pushed back, and then next thing you know, nobody cares anymore and he’s forgotten.”
“What do you want,mudak?”
“First, I’d prefer it if you’d avoid calling me a Russian asshole or bitch or whatever the hell you just said.”
“You keep a woman like me in a disgusting basement then you’re amudak.”
“I fed you a nice chicken dinner.”
“In a basement and it was cold.”
Whatever.
“Next, we want a piece of your business as payment for the pain and suffering you’ve inflicted on my partner. He will have to spend some time recuperating, which is time away from our business.”
“How much?”
