Breathing an internal sigh of relief, I pushed off my momentary lapse of confidence. A drink would help, but I found out—from a fit and tan man with a name-tag sticker on his bare chest reading ‘Roman’—that it was a dry bar. Only water, juice, and snacks were available. Not wanting to come across as a totalnewb, as Beppino would say, I asked for sparkling water with lime. At least I’d have the facsimile of a drink for something to do with my hands.
After walking around the club and seeing kinks I’d only read about, I decided to hold up the wall in the lounge area. I could see everyone coming and going, but not feel like a creep by staying in the dungeon to stare. The balance felt like a learned one. Watch, but don’t look like you’re about to jack off on the people in the scene.
Just as I was considering another round—there’d been a Femme Domme paddling a young man in chastity and making him beg to come that I wanted to see the finale of—a familiar face froze me in place.
A year ago, I would have murdered everyone in the room if this person had seen me in a queer-friendly kink dungeon. I’d still had one foot in the mob, mostly for my cousin, and the Russians weren’t friends of ours.
Felix Kiselov looked different than the last time we’d met, but his hulking bodyguard, Maksim, hadn’t changed a bit. They spotted me before I could decide if I wanted to make my exit and seemed to be discussing me while continuing my way. Felix was in tight fishnet, high heels, and had a lot of makeup on. If I wasn’t mistaken, he also had pointy, painted nails.
Maksim’s jaw tightened, and I saw the threat in his dark eyes. I’d heard Felix came out as gay, and I’d seen how close the two were, but my recent research and own thoughts made me jump to a conclusion about the two Russians. The way they clasped hands and stood in front of me confirmed my suspicion. They were lovers.
Reigning in my racing thoughts at how wild it was to see a Bratva Boss holding hands with his very male bodyguard, I nodded instead of speaking. I’d let them choose the tone.
“Greco, I didn’t expect to see you here,” Felix raised an eyebrow in question. He was really asking what the fuck I was doing there, and if it had to do with him or mob business.
“Kiselov, I could say the same,” I smirked to pretend nonchalance, “But I’ve never been here before.” My head tilted to ask the real question,‘is this going to be a problem?’
“Ah, well then,” Felix tilted his head in response, answering that it wouldn’t be a problem on his end. “Welcome to X Club.”
“We don’t have a problem, no?” Maksim asked, always more blunt and to the point.
“No,” my answer was as direct as his. I’d learned to mimic the mood of those speaking to me to help them feel settled and safe. In this case, it wasn’t for nefarious reasons. “I was glad to hear your cousins were sent away.”
Felix raised one perfectly groomed brow, and I was struck again by his perfect makeup. Maybe thinkinghiswas using the wrong pronoun? I shouldn’t assume either way, but old habits die hard.
“Yes, Ivanna and Igor were dealt with,” Felix finally replied, after deciding I wasn’t giving an underhanded insult. “Their passports were taken away, as well as a couple fingers. Though I know that doesn’t make up for the death of your own cousin.”
Narrowing my eyes, I did the same thing as him, waiting to see if he would add insult to injury. All I saw was anger and disappointment, but they weren’t aimed at me. Ivanna had exposed Felix’s secrets and almost killed him as well. He wanted more revenge. A man after my own heart. Although…
“Yes, that is true. But I accepted our deal when I passed on information for you to find that Italian friend,” I conceded. Then I tried out the language I’d learned online, “Please, call me George, he and him pronouns.”
Felix and Maksim both reacted to that, though almost imperceptibly. They were well-trained, too. Maksim took my offered hand and shook firmly. “Maksim, I use he and him as well.”
It was clear that Maksim was replying so Felix didn’t have to, and I was fine with that. Felix stuck his hand out for me to shake, holding it as firmly as his much bigger guard. “Felix, and I use all pronouns, but prefer they and them.”
“Glad to know,” I smiled to let him know I meant to harm, but he wouldn’t take a smile as my word. “I don’t want any more mob business, and I won’t do anything with this information. I swear it.”
Felix held my grip and gaze a moment longer before nodding and letting go. “Good. Neither do I.”
The Russian couple walked away to greet friends after a few more platitudes, and I realized a couple things. I was more able to learn and integrate new ideas than my old-fashioned family would ever believe. And I was definitely attracted to men.
CHAPTER SIX
BASIL
My huntfor an enemy to kill felt pointless after a couple weeks of fruitless searching. This Giorgio Greco was proving difficult to find. He didn’t have aFacebookor other social media, but I did find a lot of other Greco’s in the Bay Area. Most were in blue-collar jobs or teenagers, but none mentioned a Giorgio.
Going over to the East Bay to check out known haunts was just as pointless. Everyone was close-lipped or genuinely oblivious. I also wasn’t great at putting people at ease. Having a baby face didn’t help, nor did my blond hair and blue eyes. In Russia, it would have won people over. In Oakland, I looked like a frat bro who walked into the wrong bar.
One thing I did find was a marriage announcement in two-thousand, to an Angelique Chiarello, but there was no picture. And then her death announcement in two-thousand five. Complications from childbirth, which was wild in such a modern country. Somewhere, there was an eighteen-year-old Greco, but birth records weren’t as available. If all else failed, I’d try to find them.
There didn’t seem to be a missus Greco after the first passed, so that was a dead end, too. If only I’d majored in Computer Science like my aunt. Ivanna was doing tech related things for the Bratva in Europe and Asia, but was confined to a family house and restricted with certain words. She wasn’t allowed to search anything in the Bay, so I couldn’t get her help.
Ivanna and even Igor were messaging almost daily, asking about my progress. I was smart enough to know they wanted me to succeed so they could say,“Look, I’m an asset and leader. I got a rival killed without even being in the country.” I didn’t mind, so long as I proved myself.
Sometimes I felt like a failure before I even started. I was Bratva, a company man, but I didn’t feel like I belonged. It didn’t help that Felix told me to get acclimated to working in an office with my business degree, rather than guarding him or something more important. Accounting and payroll didn’t saycompetent member of the mob. My required Psychology class in college told me it was called imposter syndrome.
If I could find Greco, take him out, I’d show my worth to the Kiselov family. Maybe my father would stop calling mezhopa, which was like an idiot and brat rolled into one. I knew I was privileged, getting to live in America and get almost two decades of expensive education. Most sons never got the chance to do anything but crime in my family. But that’s why I needed to show my father and everyone else I was able to do both. Be smart and work hard.
