Chapter One
Sergi got up from thefloor and brushed the dust from his dress pants.He snapped his gaze over to Felix and said, “Find out how they got so close and who set off that bomb.I want to know who is behind this.Get Serenity and Nicky looking into Pablo Sinclair.I want to know how he figures into this mess.”
Felix nodded at him and got onto his phone to send some texts.
“Why are you still standing there?”Sergi demanded as he stared at his bodyguard.
Felix looked up from his phone.“While I will follow your orders.When a bomb goes off, I willnotleave you.”
Sergi shook his head, then he looked at Artem and said, “Check and see what the damage is and if anyone got hurt.Get Levin to help, then check on the prisoners.”
Nikoli reached for his phone and began making his own calls to downstairs security.Then he looked over at Briar and noticed she was also on her cell.He walked over and caught her side of the conversation.
“Pippy, this is getting out of hand, you need to pull back and stay out of the line of fire.”She listened to Pippy for a moment then she asked, “I think this has to do with someone named Pablo Sinclair, at least that’s what they think but they don’t know much about him.They’re trying to run him down.”She paused then said, “Willy is the one who might know but he’s scared now so it might be hard to find him.His story runs thirty years into his past and he won’t come out of hiding, not now.”
Sergi had stepped over and now, he reached for the phone and took it out of Briar’s hand.“Pippy, this is Sergi.I really need you to find this Willy.To convince him to come here and talk to me.You tell him I know the truth now.Then if he won’t come to me, I’ll go to him.I need to see him face to face.”
“I ain’t gonna just bring him to you,” Pippy griped.“He ended up on the streets for a reason and I’m not about to dismiss that fact.We all have our own story, Mr.Constantine.We all have something in our past that we’re running from.I don’t know what Willy’s story is and it’s not my business but I’m not just going to sacrifice him to your altar.”
Sergi sighed hard.“That is not what I’m asking you to do.He was set up on an attempted murder charge thirty years ago and back then, I was just rising in the Bratva.I listened to someone who set him up and because my son was the victim I didn’t know the whole truth and I didn’t care about the truth.I was more worried about my son.I let Willy slip through the cracks.But I know the truth now and I want to apologize for my blindness back then.”
“Thirty years is a long time Mr.C,” Pippy replied.“Maybe too long.People can change over that long of a time.If I can find him I’ll talk to him but I can’t promise he’ll listen.He’s probably underground now after Briar’s visit.He’s not one to stay out in the open too long at any rate.But I can at least try, not for you but I’ll do it for Briar.I hope you can understand that.”
“Indeed, I understand what you’re saying.When you find him, please tell him I found the coin, maybe he’ll come forward when he hears that.”Sergi handed the phone back to Briar and nodded at her.“I need to make this right for him, for me and Misha.”Shaking his head he admitted, “Misha tried to tell me it wasn’t Wilhelm but I always thought it was naïve to believe that.”
“Why?”Briar asked.
Sergi stared at her before he finally admitted, “Because Misha was so young and he didn’t believe that his friend would do that to him, but also because he was never able to tell anyone who did it.He was hit from behind and he never saw the face of the man who beat him so badly.That beating almost cost my son his life and Wilhelm was the only other man there.The doctors never told us he had given his own blood for Misha.”
Briar scoffed.“Of course, they didn’t.Willy was a nobody, wasn’t he?Your son was the only one who mattered.”Then she pocketed her phone and walked away.
Sergi just stood there and stared at her.She certainly never bowed down to him and was just now starting to respect him just a little but he realized this all had become a one step forward two steps back situation.And that stung.He knew it would take a big concession on his side to regain the footing he just lost.Shaking his head he looked up.
Nikoli had watched the exchange and he slowly shook his head at Briar’s disrespect.He walked over and said, “She doesn’t understand the pressure of what you do.”
“No, she sees what I did thirty years ago and what that cost another man.And she’s right.I listened to my father-emotions, not to what was right.I should have pushed more for the truth.”
“But you already thought you knew the truth and Wilhelm ran away like he was guilty,” Nikoli argued.
Sergi nodded.“But he was always one to read the room and he knew he could go to prison back then.And you can’t blame him for escaping that nightmare.Our prisons were terrible.Even Misha told me days later he didn’t think his assailant was Wilhelm.I should have listened to him.”
“Misha gets back tomorrow,” Felix reminded him.“Are you going to warn him about this threat before he comes home?”
“Proklyatiye,” Sergi swore under his breath.“I would rather have him here but I can’t let him come back yet.I better call him and let him know to stay away until we can find the person behind this mess.”
“Do you have any idea who this Pablo Sinclair is?”Nikoli asked.
“I have no idea.I’ve never heard that name before now,” Sergi admitted.
“Is it possible he might be under a new name for some reason?”Nikoli asked.
Sergi shrugged.“It could be but no one can find a picture of him, so there’s no way to identify him.”
Nikoli hesitated then said softly, “We heard the name from Wilhelm, maybe he knows more than he’s saying.”
“Da maybe,” Sergi shrugged again, “But we don’t know where he is and it’s not likely he’ll come to us.This Pippy says he might go underground and stay there so we may never find him again.And the only way we knew where he was had been through Briar in the first place.And I don’t think she’ll be willing to help us again.”
Nikoli shook his head.“You could force her.You are the leader of the Bratva.”
