“I think that's enough conversation for today,” Valentin says smoothly.
Viktor freezes, his eyes darting between Valentin and me.
“What’s the meaning of this?” he hisses.
“Oh.” I pretend to flick some dirt off from under my nail and lean back on the couch. “I overheard you and Alex talking a couple of weeks ago. You thought you could play us? Well, guess what?”
“We played you right back.” Valentin gives him a cold smile as he finishes off my sentence. “Let me tell you something, Viktor. You so much as threaten my wife again, I’ll break every damn rule we have in our world to make you pay.”
“I…I wasn’t…” Viktor pales as he stands to defend himself.
“Don’t lie.” Leonid gives him a sharp look. “We recorded everything.”
“You what?” Viktor looks at me, and I remove the earpiece from my ear, throwing it across the floor.
He sits himself back down.
“You should be more careful, Viktor,” Valentin says. “Imagine if Anton found out you've been running your own little extortion scheme without family approval, and that too, on his property.”
Viktor has a desperate, wild look on his face. “You wouldn't dare approach my brother.”
“We would if you gave us reason to,” Valentin says simply. “But if you stay away from my wife and our businesses, then maybe Anton never needs to hear about this conversation.”
“So what’ll it be, Viktor?” Miron takes a threatening step forward.
“Fine, fine. I’ll drop it,” Viktor hisses and looks away. “Now get out, the whole lot of you.”
“So, I’m guessing you don’t want to sign me on for marketing?” I smile at Viktor as I stand and walk over to Valentin.
Viktor says nothing, and Valentin laughs as he places an arm over my shoulder before leading me out. When I look back over my shoulder, Viktor’s still glowering.
***
Miron, Leonid, and their men head back to their compounds, while Valentin and I get into his car.
“So.” I turn to him, still high from what just happened. “That went well!”
“All because of you,” he grins and turns on the music. “And that joke at the end? Badass?”
“Thanks.” I let the window down, letting the breeze rip through my hair. “I quite enjoyed taking that dig.”
“You, Gela Jones,” he whoops out through his own open window. “Are a total, complete badass.”
“Thank you.” I turn to him and twist my fingers through his, which rest on the gear. “For trusting me.”
“I’ll never make the mistake of not trusting you again.” He turns to me, and the way he looks at me takes my breath away because I know he means it from the deepest corner of his heart.
We drive in silence for a while, letting the wind in, listening to the music turned up high, but something stays on my mind. I reach to lower the volume on the stereo, and Valentin glances over at me.
“What’s on your mind?” he asks, staring ahead at the road again.
“I was wondering what happens next with the Zakharovs,” I tell him.
“We had spoken through all possibilities last night, Trifon and the rest of us. Looking at what we discovered today, we don’t need to retaliate. Anton isn’t involved, which means the Zakharov Bratva has no official beef with us. Viktor was operating on his own, and now he knows we can expose him to his brother if he doesn't back off.”
“So it's over?” I can hardly believe it could be this simple.
“For now.” Valentin shrugs. “But we never know with these things.”
