My heart beamed and my belly fluttered, but I kept my game face on.
Vik added, “You’re the only person he’s locked into a room with him since he was ten years old. I don’t know why, but he’s included you into his small circle of protection. You’re part of his sanctuary.”
“Okay,” I muttered, elated by the information, but still confused. “What does that mean?”
Nas spoke gently, spelling it out. “He didn’t tell you because he’s scared to lose you, doll.”
I sipped my coffee, barely tasting it. “Right, okay. That still doesn’t explain what I saw last night.” I looked from Nas to Vik. “Either one of you want to enlighten me?”
Nas lifted Vik’s left arm and pointed to a tattoo there. A large, bold tattoo that read XAOC. “It all starts here, with Chaos.”
“What is that? Like a gang or something?” I asked carefully.
Vik chuckled. “Whoa there, small stuff. You call it a gang and you’ll get yourself shot.” He explained, “They call themselves a firm. We were a firm.”
Nas sat up straight. “Let’s rewind twenty-one years back.” She cleared her throat. “Bratva were the Russian mafia, the brotherhood. They’re still around, but they’re not advertising, you know. They’re a remote, private group. The only way to get in is to be the son of a member or have two of their members vouch for you. It doesn’t happen often. They don’t want people, cops namely, up in their business, so they started firms all around the world to throw off the scent of their business dealings. As far as the cops knew, the firms weren’t involved with Bratva.” She paused. “In come my father, Anton, and his brother, Ilia. Both men were members of Bratva, as their father and grandfather before them, but when they moved to the US from Russia, they were asked to start a firm, recruit some of the finest Russian-American crims known to man and do what firms did.”
I almost didn’t want to ask. “What did firms do?”
Vik pursed his lips. “The usual. Drug running, racketeering, extortion, arms dealing, fraud, smuggling.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. “You know.”
Nas went on. “So dad becomes president of the firm. Uncle Ilia became vice-president. Vik’s dad, Yuri, was account keeper. The firm was tight. The warehouse where they ran things was almost impenetrable. Then it comes time for the sons to be initiated.”
Okay, I was getting answers, but I had so many more questions. “What does that mean? Why did they need to be initiated?”
Vik smiled. “You say it like it was a bad thing, but to us, to the sons, it was an honor. We were enforcers. Me, Sasha, their cousins, Nik and Max, and their adopted brother, Asher. We all joined at the same time.” He grinned wickedly. “We were out of control. It was fuckin’ manic, baby. We had guns. We had women. We had money. Best years of my life.”
What about Lev?
I had to ask. “What about Lev? You didn’t mention him.”
Nas looked sad. “The men in the firm decided against Lev. They voted no. Said he was too unpredictable. Said they couldn’t trust him.” She added quickly, “Which was a total load of shit. They didn’t even give him a chance.”
It sounded screwed up to feel bad for Lev for him not being allowed into a group of thugs, but my heart squeezed painfully. He was always the odd one out. I hated that.
Nas continued, “So the boys are off getting their Chaos tattoos, leaving this one guy, Maxim, to enforce on his own for the night. None of the boys knew shit was about to hit the fan. No one but Lev.” She sipped her coffee. “The tattoo parlor that belonged to Chaos had its door busted in. A rival firm of Italians had been on our backs for getting in on their turf. One of their men decided to send a message. Comes in, guns raised, ready to shoot whoever got in his way.”