Lev only lazily shrugs.
Rurick pinches his thin lips together. “Trust me when I say this: I don’t like being in the States. I like the money from here—that’s it. I’ll give you a bigger cut, and Lev will stay here to manage things. He’s low-ranking, no threat.”
Lev immediately frowns at being referred to aslow-ranking.
No underboss is low-ranking.
Rurick’s attitude toward Lev shows he has no respect for him.
He’s using him like a fucking puppet.
“Lev is good. Loyal,” Rurick adds.
Lev perks up some.
“He also has no intention of ever becoming boss.”
And Lev goes back to being depressed.
I grab a toothpick and point at Lev with it. “That true, Lev?”
Lev slowly nods, not even half convincing.
Antonio stands, collects a crisp hundred from his wallet, and drops it on the table. “We have Lev’s number. We’ll be in touch.”
“It’s a good deal, Antonio,” Rurick comments, rubbing his stomach.
“We’ll be in touch,” Antonio repeats.
“It’s a damn good offer,” Rurick says. “A deal not to pass up.”
“Didn’t say it wasn’t,” Antonio said. “I said, we’ll be in touch.”
Rurick’s jaw clenches as he watches us leave.
A lifestyle filledwith violence will always put you in an early grave.
But the hotheaded ones with impulse issues? They die even younger.
That was another one of my father’s lessons when I was growing up.
He spent years outsmarting death and then madeonesimple mistake.
He chose to side with a traitor, let his guard down, and became distracted by topless dancers. My father made the mistake of being too cocky and forgetting how brutal this world was.
“What’s your take?” I ask Antonio once we’re back in the car.
“We decide who stays breathing and who doesn’t.” He stares out his window, watching Rurick and Lev leave the diner and slip into the SUV.
“I don’t trust either of the fucks.” I glare as the SUV drives past us.
“Then it’s just how we get rid of their bodies.” He glances at me in concern. “This also puts you in a fucked-up spot.”
I nod, starting the car.
If Aleksy wasn’t Liliya’s brother, he’d already be dead.
Letting him live despite his putting a hit on me paints me as weak.
