“They must be talking about the entire territory,” Leon says. “The Bratva hasn’t always ruled this area of the city.”
“Who came before then?” Matvei replies.
“The Irish,” I tell them as I search my memories and all the things I heard from older Bratva men before my father came over from Russia. “There was a bloody war decades ago between the Irish and the Bratva over this part of the city.”
“Obviously, we won,” Leon says. “Now they want it back?”
“Why not? They think we’re weak right now,” I reply with a hint of bitterness in my voice. “I don’t think they’re working alone, though. I’m sure the Irish have allies.”
“What do we do? We know where the scum resides,” Leon points out.
I stay silent for a few seconds as I think to myself, trying to build a plan in my head. I have some ideas, but I don’t knowwhich one makes the most sense long-term. Dominik is better at this than I am.
He’d know what to do.
But I have to do this myself.
And like it or not, him or his men still need to be publicly punished.
“We’re going to remind them why we own this territory and they don’t,” I state as I cross my arms over my chest. “We’re going to track down one of their patrols and strike.”
“An attack?” Matvei replies as he lifts his eyebrows in surprise.
I nod, despite the flicker of uncertainty in my gut. The problem is that we look weak to our enemies, and we need to fix that.
“It’ll be a warning,” I tell him. “Leon, organize a group to carry out the attack. I’ll gather a small team to help me do some recon today so that we can pinpoint a good strike location.”
Leon hesitates for a moment before nodding. It irritates me, but I don’t call him out on it. We’re moving quickly, but I feel like we have to in order to send a firm message.
“We’ll reconvene tonight and finalize the details. For now, I have business to attend to downstairs,” I say before pulling my phone out of my pocket and choosing two men in my contact list to call in for a quick recon mission after I handle business with my brother.
“Yes, sir,” they both reply.
“Get to it. And give Timur a proper burial,” I tell them before walking off to make my calls, pushing past the weight building on top of my chest.
If we can’t scare off the Irish, things are only going to get worse.
Much worse.
I need to remind everyone that I’m in control. And that starts with proving to my men that I will hold traitors accountable.
All of them.
12
Dominik
The guards have been watchingus less each day. In fact, Roman is now the only one who guards the prison, and we only see him at mealtimes. Which means he’s being called away for other duties.
I pace around my cell, wishing I knew what was happening upstairs.
What kind of threat requires all hands on deck?
Something is going on that Gavriil doesn’t want me to know about, and whatever it is, it isn’t good.
“They could be weakening us piece by piece,” I mutter to myself, my brow furrowing in thought.
Thanks to my brother’s secrecy, I’m blind.
