"YOU'RE A SCAMMER! WITH THE MONEY WE PAY TO BE HERE, YOU SHOULD BE LICKING OUR SOLES!"
A maniacal smile spreads across my face, and Vasili has already moved to grab him by the shoulders.
"I was actually having a rather boring day. Vasili, make him comfortable in the basement while I wrap up here."
Vasili is more massive than the problematic individual and has all his brain cells in the right place, so he pushes him toward the hallway leading to my playground without much resistance.
The judge turns his head from Everette and raises an eyebrow, but all I do is smile at him and signal Tommy to bring him a glass of Macallan.
As I'm about to step into my favorite place in the whole club, I hear his voice.
"I need some of your time, Damien."
I look over my shoulder and see the man who's been closer to me than my own father. When he helped me escape Warsaw, he put his own skin on the line for me, and that kind of loyalty is something I could never repay. Even now I don't know what strings he had to pull to ensure my sister's safety in Poland, but his only condition was that I never set foot in Warsaw again. A promise I only made after he allowed me to get weekly updates from home so I'd know our dear mother wasn't exploiting her anymore.
"Didn't know you were the type who begs for attention and sweet talk, Sarin," I say, laughing.
He shakes his head.
"Nothing but nonsense comes out of that mouth, but I know you mean it affectionately."
"Vasili, make sure our friend can never audition for The X Factor, okay?"
"Don't worry, he won't be singing opera anytime soon," he replies and closes the basement door behind him.
I turn to Sarin and follow as he heads toward my office.
"I heard something about a wedding," Sarin tells me as he drapes his jacket over the chair in front of my desk.
"Don't tell me you want to walk me down the aisle."
"Don't be an idiot." But I see the trace of a smile on his lips. "I have news from Warsaw. Your future wife's name was mentioned at an event, and I know for certain your dear mommy heard it."
My body tenses because I know what she's capable of, and now that she has a name...fuck!
My hand instinctively goes to my phone, and I text Stefan to find out if she's okay even though I spoke with him ten minutes ago.
"Stop acting like a lovesick puppy, son. She'll smell your weakness from a mile away, and you know better than anyone how she'll exploit that."
Oh, I know. When I lunged at dear mother with a blade, she made me watch my own sister get raped by one of her soldiers.
My stomach revolts at the thought that something similar could happen to Roxanne, butno. Back then I had no power. No one loyal to me.
"I heard she's planning a visit here," he continues.
"You think she'd dare leave the security of home?" I ask, surprised.
"She's desperate, Damien. The vote is tight, and you're a man. No matter how many secrets she keeps in her pocket, the organization is still conservative, and a woman will always be beneath a man."
That's been the only blessing. The fact that the entire Council is full of misogynists who wouldn't put a woman in charge unless that woman held a blade pointed at their balls. Which my dear mother has done too many times. That's why she's still alive.
"I secured Tsarkov's vote for you," he says, and I sense there's something there.
"What does he want in return?"
"An alliance through marriage," he replies, examining his fingernails.
Eyes narrowed at him, I say, "I'm pretty sure polygamy isn't allowed here, and even if it were, Roxanne would make sure that woman was marrying a corpse, because that's what I'd be if I mentioned taking a second wife."
