Shit.
“Is Alexei okay?”
Saint shifted in his seat. “He left.”
I took comfort in the fact that Saint was still here. That maybe Alexei had gone to Cam. “What’s the position here? Do you think the Albanians killed Sidorov? Or did Sambini do it?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Saint said. “He’s gone and now everything is different.”
“Is Viktor in charge?”
“Maybe.”
Rubi rapped his knuckles on the table. “It doesn’t matter who’s in charge. We still ain’t fighting that war. And we need to stay neutral.”
“How can we stay neutral?” Embry spoke up. “If Viktor inherits Sidorov’s business, that puts him in an alliance with the Esteban cartel. Pissing them off puts Liliana in danger.”
“Viktor wouldn’t let that happen.”
All eyes in the room turned to Folk.
Including mine. Goddamn, he was still wearing my sweats and the faded tee that smelled so good.
My stomach did a legit flutter, heat rising in my blood until Rubi broke the spell.
“Speak up, Folksie,” he said. “What makes you the expert in Viktor the Russian?”
Folk shrugged. “I knew him before I came here.”
“From Crowland.” It wasn’t a question, but Folk shook his head.
“Before that. He was a mercenary on the ground in Syria. He offered me a lot of money to leave the forces and work for him.”
Rubi frowned. “That’s a gossip nugget you could’ve shared a lot sooner. I’m assuming you said no?”
“I did.” Folk’s expression turned wry. “I wasn’t a soldier-of-fortune kind of bloke, but that’s not my point.”
“What is, then?” Nash asked.
Folk took a slow inhale that probably went unnoticed by anyone but Saint. “My unit caught his crew smuggling contraband arms into Aleppo. We thought they were working with ISIS. Turns out they were arming and training teenage girls so they could protect themselves on the road.”
Rubi’s face did something complicated. “That’s the most fucked-up anecdote I’ve ever heard. What did you do with him? After you caught him?”
Folk smiled, though it was faint and laced with something I couldn’t decipher. “We let him go.”
“When did this happen?”
“Six years ago. Maybe seven. I don’t know anything else about him, though, if that’s what you’re asking. Next time I saw him was on the Crow compound and he laughed at me. That was it until today.”
“You could’ve told us sooner,” Mateo said. “It’s not like you didn’t know we had a working relationship with him.”
“I told Alexei,” Folk retorted mildly. “He knows everything about me.”
A year ago, Mateo might’ve pushed harder. Tonight, he shrugged.
Rubi let it go too. “All right, here’s where we’re at.” He placed four cigarette boxes on the table. “Viktor and Esteban on this side, Albanians and Sambini on the other. Who’s gonna win?”
“Not Sambini.” Alexei’s voice came from behind me. “They are too stupid.” He ghosted past me, reaching Saint with a stare I couldn’t see, laying a hand on his lover in a way no other man, except Cam, ever could. “Last night, Gianni believed he could fix another problem with such idiocy, but crossing Viktor was a risk he will pay for.”
