Fractured Ties by Bethany-Kris Page 0,59
at the Compound with Dad. You need to get over there. Her too, apparently.”
Great.
What now?
• • •
Kolya might have found Maya’s wide-eyed expression amusing, if it were any other time that he had brought her into the Compound. She looked to be experiencing a mixture of amazement and confusion, all at the same time.
“How big is this place?” Maya asked.
“As in square feet?”
Maya nodded.
Kolya shrugged. “Hard to say.”
“Huh.”
Sumerki trailed behind them at a good pace. Kolya had stopped checking on the dog after they had moved through the main entrance section of the Compound—how was Sumerki going to just do what he needed to do if he constantly needed someone to remind him to do it? That didn’t seem like a good way to train an animal to Kolya.
He needed Sumerki to just do because he knew.
Simple.
“And you use this place for—”
“Many things,” Kolya interjected. “A lot of which are unsavory, and none of which you should ask about.”
Maya was quick to nod at that. “Got it.”
“Vadim is also here.”
His girl frowned, but was quick to hide it by looking away. “So, stay quiet?”
“Please,” he murmured.
“Okay.”
She said that as though it were okay, but Kolya was not blind or dumb. He could clearly see her discomfort the longer they were inside the walls of the Compound. The place could be intimidating but he didn’t think it was the Compound that had her nerves acting up—more like his father. He didn’t know what to tell her, frankly.
Vadim had that same shitty effect on everyone.
Kolya directed Maya beyond the printing room rather quickly, although he didn’t miss how her eyes widened even as they strolled past the wall of money. To her benefit, she kept quiet and asked no questions, even as they entered the elevator that would take them to the upstairs where Konstantin and Kolya’s offices were located.
Today, they were going to Konstantin’s.
Kolya kept an eye on the camera in the corner of the elevator as they silently rode the floors higher. It wasn’t until they were standing just beyond Konstantin’s office that Kolya reached out to stroke Maya with two fingers against the back of her neck.
“Quiet, I know,” she told him.
He nodded. “Good.”
All hell broke loose when they entered the office.
Or rather, Vadim’s usually thin patience snapped.
“Where in the hell have you been, no? I called for you hours ago!”
Kolya pressed a hand to Maya’s back and gestured for her to go sit against the far wall in one of the available chairs. He waited until she was seated, comfortable, and Sumerki had placed himself directly at her feet before turning his attention back on the men. He found Vadim sitting behind Konstantin’s desk—certainly an irritation for his brother if Konstantin’s scowl was any indication from where he stood just in front of the desk.
“No Grisha?” Kolya asked.
“He has other things to do,” Vadim barked.
“Ah. Well, here I am. What do you need?”
Vadim’s gaze drifted to Maya, but just as quickly, he went back to Kolya. A good thing, surely. No one—and certainly not Kolya—wanted his father’s attention on Maya for too long. Nothing good would come of that.
“What do I need?” Vadim asked.
His father let out a sharp, dark laugh.
Konstantin, on the other hand, gave Kolya a look that practically screamed for him to tread lightly. Shit was not good, it seemed. Kolya had missed something.
But what?
Vadim snatched a remote from the corner of the desk and pointed it at the flat screen on the far wall just above Maya’s head. “You see what was sent to us this morning, and then tell me what I need, Kolya.”
Kolya would have responded to his father, but the scene playing out on the television took his attention, and seemed far more interesting. At least, for the moment. Even Maya crooked her head back a bit to watch what was happening.
The first thing to focus on the screen?
A man tied to a chair with a black hood pulled over his head. Other than the boxers the man wore, and the hood, he was naked. There were no defining marks on his body—no tattoos, or scars to say who he was. He struggled against the thick ropes keeping him bound, but he wasn’t going anywhere. A knot formed between Kolya’s brows as he moved slightly closer to the television in an attempt to make out the surroundings behind the unknown man.
Kolya stopped walking the second a Gashi Albanian came into frame, and moved close to the man tied in the chair.