so depressed she died of her own despair. Sergei never remarried after her passing.”
The story of how deeply the tragedy of his beloved wife’s death affected Sergei was well-known in the mafia world. According to rumors, the Russian boss became a completely different man. Turned far more ruthless. Showed no mercy. Had little to no value for human life. I’d often heard it said that everything inside of him had died along with Claudia, leaving nothing behind but a rotten shell of a human being.
“Odd that he never adopted a son,” Rome commented, turning to Dad. “You’d think he would have wanted an heir.”
“Not if he wasn’t blood-related,” Dad replied. “The Russians take their bloodlines very seriously.”
So, by all accounts, Sergei saved Lexi’s life when she was a kid. From the sounds of it, she could have died if he hadn’t found her. I rubbed the tension knot in my neck, trying to work out why the hell that bothered me so damn much.
“Other than that,” Ace said, “there weren’t any surprises.”
“Speaking of,” Cris said. “Do we know anything more about the shooting at Kozlov’s compound? Have we heard from Sergei directly?”
“Only to confirm that he was alive,” I answered. Sergei had sent me a very brief message, letting me know he wasn’t dead. “Before I left Moscow, he told me if I don’t hear from him, I should assume everything is going according to plan. Otherwise, he’s going to stay radio silent until he gets the situation squared away.”
My mind chose that moment to recall how Sergei’s bodyguard/righthand man—Dimitri—had looked at Lexi as we’d been walking out the door. The way he’d touched her. That last parting glance at her ass just before the shooting had started.
The prick.
“Have we identified the shooters?” Rome asked. “Was it the Voiny? If not, who do these guys work for?”
“We don’t know, and no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. The one I fought was wearing a mask, and I didn’t exactly stick around to interrogate him.”
“I’m working on accessing the security camera feeds at the compound from that day,” Ace cut in. “But it’s been a pain in the ass. Whoever set up the firewalls on that system knew what they were doing. It’s going to take some more time to get through them all.”
“But we can at least assume it was the Voiny,” Luka speculated. “And that with Sergei going below ground, this is their opportunity to rise to power.”
“I don’t give two goddamns what’s happening in Russia,” Dad snapped. “As long as it’s not directly impacting this family. They can deal with their own shit. Which brings us to the other matter at hand.”
We all simultaneously turned to our patriarch, giving him our undivided attention as he shifted gears behind his gleaming mahogany desk. I closed the folder on my lap. I would pour over it later tonight.
“Raphael Esposito’s trial begins next week. We all know it’s going to turn into a media shit storm like no other, and God knows what Raphael’s defense team has in store for the prosecution. Although I have it on good authority that the prosecuting attorney, Carmen LaMacchia, has enough on him to put him away for five lifetimes. Connelly says she’s a bulldog in court.”
He was referring to Bryce Connelly, NYPD detective and our close friend from the neighborhood. He was the only individual on the entire force that we wholeheartedly trusted. Hell, he was the only badge in this city who knew, for the most part, what we were about and hadn’t arrested us for it. He had a habit of looking the other way when shit went down with us that wasn’t entirely legal because he didn’t care for the corruption of the families any more than we did.
Dad interlaced his fingers on top of the desk. “Cristiano has given LaMacchia his statement and agreed to testify in court regarding the night Raphael was arrested. Is everyone still in agreement about that?”
Even though it was his friend Kade who had shot Raphael in the shoulder and ultimately beaten him half to death, Cris had been there that night and had taken out some of Raphael’s goons himself. All in self-defense, of course. But Cris was taking all the heat in order to keep Sam and Kade out of it.
Ultimately, it was Cris’s decision to appear before a jury, but since we all shared the same name, his actions affected all of us. So, it came to a family vote, one