Chapter Two
Sergi shook his headand made a production of joining her on the floor.Then he chuckled.“It’s been a long time since I sat on the floor but this is where you seem more comfortable.”He shrugged as if to saywhen in Rome, live like a roman.He leaned against the wall behind them and asked, “So, what do you think of the way we are doing things here?”
Briar paused to stare at him.“What do you mean?”
“I mean you don’t agree with so much of what we are doing that I want you to tell me what you think we should be doing here.”
Briar shrugged.“That’s not for me to say.I would never tell you how to run your operation.How can I tell the Bratva anything?You would never listen anyway.”
Sergi grinned slightly.“You might be surprised what I would listen to.”
“Such as?”Briar wanted to know.
“Such as, Serenity thinks Pablo Sinclair is a man that doesn’t exist,” he told her.
Briar nodded.“Well, that makes sense actually.”
“What do you mean?”Sergi asked.
She shrugged.“Nobody knows what this guy looks like.And that name sounds made up like Pablo is Spanish but Sinclair isn’t.Unless there was a mixed parentage thing but the name just doesn’t jibe.Sometimes Mr.C, you have to think outside the box and this guy knows exactly how to do just that if he mixes a name that way.The name alone confuses the matter of who he is.”
Sergi sat there for a moment then he stood to dust off his behind.“Smart...I like the way you think, young lady.”
Briar scoffed.“I’m not as dumb as I look.Most people are surprised about that actually.They think people living on the street are savages living in the stone age.Uneducated and stupid.But we actually have a brain and use it on a regular basis.”
Sergi stiffened in acknowledgement as he looked down at her and made it clear, “I try not to judge people by where they live, young lady.And since meeting you, Serenity and even my own granddaughter, I have learned that lesson well.Raven was raised on the streets.I do not know if you heard that entire story, but she had been trained to be a thief.She went along with it for survival and she had Nicky to care for.”
Briar nodded.“Serenity told me some of it.And wow, that story is amazing.Nicky grew up like that too.All while they had you and Nikoli out there and never knew it.Ok, so maybe you have some understanding then.I had friends who helped me, but I never had to work for some criminal.If I had, I might have been put in jail.”
“Yes, I am glad that you realize we do not think anything less of you because of your past of living on the streets.I never meant to imply that we thought less of you for that fact.Parts of our family lived that way for some time.”He tipped his head at her then he stood from the floor.He went back to Serenity’s spot in the room and sat down.
Serenity just stared at him then she nodded.“You have to excuse Briar at times.Mr.C.She’s not used to being around so many people.She grew up all alone and her mouth gets ahead of her thoughts sometimes.She doesn’t mean to sound so uptight or disrespectful.That’s just the way she grew up.”
Sergi smiled faintly.“This I know.Hell, I can even understand it.Raven is the same way at times.But even now she said something that actually makes sense to me and I want to slap my forehead in surprise.Like just now, she proposes that this name Pablo Sinclair sounds made up.Like this man tossed the two names together to create confusion.She said we have to think outside the box and her directive is right on the mark.Now that we know that this guy has been on this particular mission for a long time, it only makes sense to look and dig deeper into who he really is.
“Then you won’t mind my saying I have already started digging into Anton’s background for this man?”She grinned at him.
Sergi just shook his head.“The two of you never cease to surprise me.”
Serenity gave him a nod.“Briar came to me a while ago and told me to look as far back as I could on this guy and to for a connection to the name Pablo Sinclair, not to look for the man with that name.It was shortly after she got back from seeing Willy.”
Sergi caught her gaze.“So, you know this man Willy?”
Serenity nodded.“Yeah, I know him.I’ve seen him on several occasions over the years.He’s a good man.Then despite what you think you knew about him thirty years ago, the street people know he could never do what you accused him of.That was why Briar wanted the tent and the puppy.If you will remember, Red and a couple of his men knocked Willy out then burned his camp and they even killed his old dog.Willy wasn’t doing anything except trying to exist and Red took it all away from him.”
