Levka squeezed his eyes shut. The slight doubt that had crept in made him feel so guilty. He should have known Luerna wouldn’t turn him in.
Adrik grabbed a chair from the side wall and placed it in front of him. He put his elbows on his knees, trying to get Levka’s attention. “I always knew you were a fucking idiot. Pretending to rape Kira was just the tip of it.”
Levka clenched his teeth. The urge to punch Adrik in the throat, if only to bring down his ridiculous ego, pulled at his wrists, sinking the zip tie further into his skin.
“Luerna doesn’t need your shit.”
“Don’t fucking talk to me about her.”
“She–”
“I said, don’t fucking talk to me about her. You all don’t give a shit about her, so don’t act like you know what’s best.”
“And you do?”
Levka turned his head and said nothing.
“She has a role in this family–”
“To be Rurik’s whore. Got it.”
“Interrupt me again, and I’ll take over where Rurik left off.”
Levka shifted, the zip tie burning into his skin. He wasn’t gonna sit here and listen to bullshit. He’d rather Rurik come back in and take his ears off.
Adrik sat back with his legs wide and his hands resting on his lap. “I can be on your side, Levka, but you’re so fucking annoying. Ever since we were kids.”
“Yeah, great, can we get this over with?”
Adrik stood and took up the machete. He came around Levka. The man stiffened, staring at a spot on the ceiling, ready for whatever punishment Adrik had. But he cut the zip tie and tossed the blade.
Levka, unsure and hesitant, rubbed his wrists as he watched Adrik sit back down.
“You are too rash,” Adrik began. “In the situation with your hotels, you reached too far too quickly. You don’t let it grow. Businesses take two to three years to get off the ground. But you sell it before the profits roll in. You’d make substantial passive income if you hadn’t sold the companies.”
Levka was skeptical about this conversation. Why did Adrik talk like they were equals? “I don’t have time.”
“Why not? You’re twenty-three? Twenty-Four? You got time. You keep all the laundry businesses, all the small profit ones, but sell off the big ones.”
“The smaller ones take less effort.”
“Then hire people.”
Levka rested his elbows on his knees, spitting more blood on the floor. He rubbed his lips.
“What’s your net worth?” Adrik asked.
“Five million.”
“Could be fifty-five in three years.”
Levka snapped his head up. “It was a hundred before your family fucked us up. I had to build from the ground up. In five years, I’ve undone all of your damage. But the Stephanovs have taken up most of the streets, leaving us with shit. Pretty soon, I’ll either be under their thumb or yours.”
Adrik held up his hands. “Lesser of two evils.”
Levka sneered. The very idea of being part of the Morozov family made him sick to his stomach.
“I have a job if you want to take it.”
