I hear door hinges squeaking as the upstairs door is opened and closed, followed by the sound of footsteps heading down the stairs. “Who is that?” I ask.
“Another one of your brother’s men. I don’t recognize him,” Viktor says, keeping his voice quiet.
I move to the far-left side of the door and strain my ears to hear the guards speaking in Russian to Roman and Daniil, their voices hushed and secretive. I can only make out a few words, but what really catches my attention is the urgency and concern in their tone.
Something is wrong. The new guard is sharing bad news.
“They don’t sound happy,” Viktor remarks in agreement with what I was just thinking.
“I can’t hear everything that they’re saying. Something about a damaged car? One of ours?” I whisper.
There’s more talking. More footsteps. Then the door opens and shuts once more.
“They’re all gone,” Viktor tells me, his voice returning to its regular volume. “One of our cars was torched by an unknown arsonist.”
“An attack?” I murmur. Attacks on us aren’t uncommon, but we just took care of the bikers. Who’s causing trouble now? “Did it sound like they have any leads?”
“I don’t think so,” Viktor replies. “But something tells me that this isn’t the first incident. One of them mentioned a break-in. One of our businesses must’ve been attacked too.”
“Two attacks this close together means someone’s testing us,” I say as my frown deepens. “Maybe it’s someone affiliated with the bikers.”
“Possibly,” Renat chimes in. “But the bikers weren’t much for making allies. Not long-term ones at least. And we took out most of them.”
“Whoever is attacking has chosen a good time to do so,” Viktor points out.
My neck tenses. Because of the rift I’ve caused with Gavriil? ThePakhanis down his second, and word must’ve spread about that.
And my betrayal makes him look weak. Vulnerable.
Gavriil’s probably furious, even if he doesn’t show it.
“But what’s the purpose of these attacks? What do they want?” I mutter, mostly asking myself.
If I was an enemy organization in the same city, what would I want from Gavriil that I don’t already have?
“Territory,” I answer my own question. “And they’re betting we’re too fractured to defend it.”
We were attacked for the same thing a few years ago by a faction no longer in this city. We cleared them out quickly and efficiently.
“Do you think Gavriil will be able to hold them off?” Viktor asks.
I’m the one who plans our retaliation. I’m the one who handles these situations and keeps them from getting out of control. If Gavriil is calling all the shots, making all the decisions on his own without anyone to push back, then I don’t know what the result will be. He prefers to lead by force while I lead by foresight.
“Depends on who is attacking,” I reply. “I doubt it’s the Italians, unless they’re holding a grudge about the guns. All of the other organizations, the Albanians and the Irish, have their own strengths and weaknesses. All dangerous in some capacity.”
“If something serious is going on, Gavriil should be talking to you about it,” Renat tells me.
“I’m not his second anymore,” I remind them.
He thinks that he can handle this on his own, and maybe he can, but I doubt it.
“Now would be a good time for a regime change,” Renat points out. “You stepping in and preventing a war would mean even more support for you to bePakhan. You could try to convince Gavriil to forgive you, to let you help, then just like…take over command.”
It’s risky and I doubt Gavriil will be giving me any second chances.
“We’ll see if things get out of control,” I tell him before stepping away from the cell door and heading over to the shower to strip down and try to cool off.
What the hell is Gavriil thinking? Torturing Alina and edging us closer to war?
