Page 11 of Plaintive Vow


Font Size:

Daniil laughs. “You need new employees, my friend.”

“Considering what happened at the last place, I’d be worried if they had bothered to stick around.” The fact that there aren’t bodies to deal with is the upside.

“Sounds like it was clean and easy, so why are you calling me?”

Because I hate myself.

I’ve already called Alexei, another member of the Bratva, so he can have his lackey, Lev, can sort through the footage, and I don’t have to worry about cops tonight. It was just property damage, so unless someone connects me as the owner of this warehouse as well as the other buildings, then this is a problemwith little consequence. But it still pisses me off, and hearing Blair’s voice, even when I know she’s inhisbed, helps make it easier to deal with.

“Just wanted to give you a heads up. You’re probably going to have a couple detectives at your office in a couple days asking questions.” It’s a thin lie, but it’s the best I can come up with right now.

He laughs, dark and bitter. “A text would’ve worked, too. But, hey, we both know why you really called, yeah? Did you get what you wanted, jackass?” I grunt, but it seems to just piss him off even more. “You need to get over this bullshit crush, Andrei. She married me. She had my kid. And calling me in the middle of the night isn’t going to change it.”

I hang up, refusing to give him the satisfaction of gloating any more than he already has. He’s right, but I don’t have to listen to it. I made my bed before I even knew what I was doing, but that doesn’t make it any easier to lie in.

***

It feels like I’ve just fallen asleep when the sound of my phone ringing startles me awake, pressure instantly pounding behind my eyes. I scramble to answer, not bothering to check who’s calling before I do.

“Da?”I run a hand over my eyes, trying to get my bearings as I look around the room, lit by the first rays of light through the windows.

“You had problems last night. Why am I only hearing of them now?” Maksim’s gravelly voice and thick accent wake me up faster than a slap to the face.Blayd.

“Forgive me, Pakhan.The building was empty and unoccupied. The structure was the only thing lost, and I didn’t think it prudent to wake you.”

Should I have called him last night? Probably. Did I want to deal with him after talking to Daniil? Fuck no, but that’s not what he wants to hear. The truth is that I wasn’t going to tell him anything at all if I could avoid it.

It might not have been my smartest plan, but it’s what I had. And,fuck,I wish it had worked.

“My office. Thirty minutes.”

He hangs up, and when I check the time, the early hour glares back at me dispassionately. His place is a half hour away without traffic, and he makes everyone who enters go through a security screening that takes at least ten minutes. I roll my shoulder to relieve the tension that rushed back as soon as I woke up, and I make my way toward my closet to get dressed.

Maksim’s paranoia is already going to make me late. I might as well put on a suit before he chews me out for an hour.

And he does, but at least it isn’t for not being dressed appropriately this time.

He flips through the photos that my guy at the firehouse emailed me last night, thick brows drawn together as he inspects them.

Maksim’s office is still dark, the obnoxious blackout curtains still closed and only a couple of floor lamps casting the room with a dramatic glow that highlights the luxurious, deep redvelvet of the chairs and dark wood of the built-in units. He hopes the effect makes anyone who comes here uncomfortable, but it just makes him look like a melodramatic asshole.

Apparently, he never got the memo that trying to look like a supervillain just makes him look pathetic.

Crossing my legs at the ankle, I take in his graying hair, wrinkled face, and tobacco-stained fingers. Every time I see him, he manages to look more weathered. Idly, I wonder how much longer he’ll be able to stick around before someone takes care of him.

Maybe that’s why he’s letting Pavel take the reins on so many projects.

“Any idea who did this?” He slaps down another photo, glaring at me from under his brows.

“I have some ideas.” I shrug. I try to keep the corner of my eye focused on the open door. It wouldn’t be unheard of for someone to be eavesdropping. It doesn’t matter if it’s Pavel or one of the household staff. I have to assume that anything I say here will end up being the subject of gossip by the end of the day either way. “Pests don’t stay in their holes for very long. Whoever it was, they’ll come crawling out soon enough.”

Maksim leans back, running a hand through his thick hair.

“I don’t need more of this shit, Andrei. The feds have been circling as it is. We have too much going on and too many eyes on us. So fix it, or I’ll have someone fix it for you. Understand?”

Maksim’s definition of fixing things tends to rely less on subtlety or tact, and more on blowing everything to smithereens. And besides me, most of the men he calls on to clean things up for him follow suit.

If he wants this handled without attention, then he’ll have no choice but to let me handle it myself.