remain, hmm?”
Pav had every strong urge in the world to lift his gun so he could shoot Vadim right in the mouth to shut the man up, but he managed to hold it back. That probably wouldn’t do them any good right now.
Kolya eyed his father. “Your plan is pointless, and you know it. We’re here … we will get the information about Viktoria, and then where will that leave you?”
“Oh, will you?” Vadim scoffed, and glanced away from his son. “You must think I am stupid. After all these years, I assumed you might have learned something about me. Who is your brother going to ask to handle Boris, hmm? Can Konstanin really trust any man of ours back in Chicago to take care of business? How many of them do you think I have been able to turn to my side of things since he put me in exile? All those loyalists who remained … I didn’t have to do much, did I?”
“I—”
“It is a death sentence for Konstantin and the rest of them back in Chicago, Kolya,” Vadim continued, refusing to let his son get a word in edgewise. “The Boykov men cannot be trusted, and even if he does use one who can be, there are still many others waiting in the wings to step in when needed to put him down. He never should have turned against me. It was only a matter of time.”
Yeah, Pav had enough.
He dropped the gun, and in an instant, had two of his three knives in his hands as he crossed the room with steady, long strides. Vadim didn’t even have the chance to move or fight back before Pav had the tip of one knife digging into the man’s throat, and the other pressing into his gut. He put so much pressure on the blades that, already, a trickle of blood from the one at Vadim’s throat started to dribble down the blade. A small red stain began to appear on Vadim’s silk shirt from the other knife, too.
Pav didn’t lighten up, either.
“The one at your throat,” Pav said, “it will go in slowly, Vadim. You will feel every fucking inch of it as I cut your vocal cords and slit your esophagus in two. I will see what the inside of your throat looks like by the time I am done with you. You will choke on the blood—you will drown in it, and I will watch you do it.”
Vadim swallowed against the blade. “And the other knife?”
“Just for fun. You know how I like having a bit of fun.”
“Not a good move, Zhatka,” Vadim said.
“I think it’s just fine, actually.”
“No. Kolya, who will call off a man who believes he’s answering to me, hmm? Consider that while this knife gets deeper in my throat, son. If Boris truly believes he is working for me and I am the only one who can give him orders he will follow before I can return to my position in Chicago … who will call him off? Think about what I am telling you.”
Pav already knew.
He said it before Kolya could.
“He’s talking about Konstantin.”
“Boris is going after Konstantin,” Kolya said.
Vadim smiled again. “Good job, boys.” Then, his gaze drifted back to Pav’s as he relaxed a bit under the knives digging into his body. “In case you don’t know what that means, Zhatka, she wasn’t the goal for me. Viktoria is something I can use—something to dangle in front of a man who has little to no control over his baser urges. If I could give her back to him, he would do almost anything for me.”
“I’ll fucking kill you,” Pav hissed.
“Not yet,” Kolya muttered from behind him.
“But—”
He pressed those fucking knives harder.
Kolya snapped, “Nyet, Pav. Not yet. We have to wait—let Konstantin take care of Chicago.”
Vadim laughed darkly. “You keep saying that, son, but I already told you. He has no one he can trust in Chicago. I made sure of that.”
“How little faith you have in him,” Kolya returned. “I guess now is the time we wait and see, hmm? Grab a chair, Pav, and we’ll sit while we wait. I’ll call Konstantin, and we’ll go from there.”
Pav didn’t move, but he did remove those knives from Vadim’s body. He crouched down a bit, enough to be eye to eye with the man. He used the tip of the bloody knife to point between his own eyes, and Vadim’s.
On the other side of the room, Kolya’s cell phone