With the command resting between them, Vasily paused—the glass he was bringing to his lips suspended in the air—his gaze moving to Kaz. Even Gerald looked up from his reading, where he was acting as though he was not listening to the conversation.
That was the thing about having one’s father as the boss as well. The lines blurred as to which persona you got. It was one thing for Kaz to speak out of turn to his father. Though still disrespectful, it could be excused. But to speak to a Pakhan as though he were equal, that was an offense not taken lightly. It didn’t matter that Vasily’s vocalized response was one of a father’s feelings toward his son, the discussion at hand was between a boss and his soldier.
Placing his glass back on the counter, Vasily laid both hands down, leaning his weight into them as he narrowed cold eyes on Kaz. His displeasure bled out of him. “What did you say?”
Kaz had a choice, everyone always had a choice, just as he’d told Violet last night. He could repeat himself, risk his father’s wrath, or he could bite his tongue and stay silent. Knowing his mother was still somewhere in the house, Kaz chose the latter.
“Nothing.” It took a lot for him to even voice that—Kaz wasn’t usually one to back down from a fight.
A heartbeat’s time. Two. Then, Vasily’s shoulders relaxed as he straightened. “Finish what you were saying.”
“Ruslan took one home.” Kaz didn’t remember the girl’s name, or had he even bothered to find out? “And Nathaniel took the other to the hospital. Undoubtedly, you already know this. So, instead of wasting time on what we already know, how about you tell me the real reason you called me here.”
Vasily frowned. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why was any of that necessary?” Vasily elaborated. “What happened before this?”
Truthfully, Kaz hadn’t thought much of what had ultimately caused the girls to be in Ruslan’s office. The only thing he remembered hearing was a glass breaking near the bar, and the girls’ cries of alarm from where he’d stood with Ruslan.
While his brother had immediately went to help the women, Kaz had lingered behind, making sure the broken glass was cleaned up and that no one else was hurt, then he went to see if his brother needed any help with them.
“One had too much to drink, I assume. I didn’t see it all.”
That did nothing to placate his father, however. He still looked baffled, and a bit annoyed by it all. “You knew better,” Vasily said again, shaking his head. “How many times have I told you that Brooklyn is off-limits to you? And that you were to never be around the daughter of Gallucci.”
The first he had said so many times that Kaz thought his head would bleed. And the second had been repeated a few times, but not nearly as much as the first. It wasn’t as though Kaz had had any interest in Violet before last night. He had never given the girl a second thought.
“Plenty.”
“Then don’t let it happen again. The last thing I need is Alberto Gallucci giving me shit because you’re making moves on that daughter of his.”
Kaz sat back with a shrug. “Duly noted.”
The front door opened with a crash, the sound of two giggling teenagers breaking up the somber mood that had settled in the kitchen. Just as before, Kaz let down his guard as his two younger sisters, Dina and Nika, came barreling into the kitchen, oblivious to the tension that had just been there.
Of the two, Nika was the more outgoing. Dina let her sister lead, waiting her turn as Nika immediately came over to him and wrapped her arms around him. Getting to his feet, Kaz returned the embrace, reaching to bring Dina into the fold as well.
“Kaz, what are you doing here?” Nika asked, smiling up at him.
“Just visiting,” he returned smoothly. “And coming to ask what the two of you wanted for your birthday?”
From the corner of his eye, he could see Vasily nodding.
Nika looked to Dina, and Dina back to her before they both looked to Kaz and said simultaneously, “Clothes.”
“There’s this new place over on Sixteenth Street,” Dina said in a rush, picking up on her sister’s excitement. “We’ve been dying to go, but because Nika is having trouble in school …”
“Dina!”
“What?” she returned with an arch of her brow. “It’s not like he won’t find out from Dad.”
“But you didn’t have to be the one to tell him!”
And there they went, arguing as though there was no one else in the room.
Remembering that their birthday was only two weeks away, reminded Kaz of their party and the conversation he’d had with Ruslan the night before. In the chaos of everything that had gone down, he’d forgotten this, and the fact that Vasily hadn’t bothered to send Ruslan an invitation.
What better time to bring it up than right then?
“No worries,” he said, interrupting their banter. “I was just talking to Ruslan about your party and—”
Nika gasped, smiling widely. “Is he going to come? Dad said he couldn’t get in contact with him.”