Page 23

In the grand scheme of things, standing around and waiting for one of our exchanges to go down wasn’t exactly where I wanted to be. But of course, it was business, and someone needed to be there to oversee it.

Plus, it was the first time we were trading with that particular dealer, so Daniil and I were there on the outskirts of the city in preparation for their guys rolling up.

“You think these guys are going to show?” I asked, crossing my arms while we stood outside our vehicles.

Daniil huffed a breath and gazed through his sunglasses while he looked across the open space around us. “They’d better, or else we’ll be making a house call. If the product is as good as they say, then we have a lot of money riding on this one.”

“No kidding,” I murmured, well aware of how much Alex had been willing to front for the trade.

Even if we certainly had our grip on New York alongside the Levovs, and we had the resources to do whatever was necessary to get ahead, there was always a risk that accompanied partnering with someone new, hence why we didn’t do it often.

But in our world, if you didn’t keep expanding, you’d eventually be stomped out by someone else, and they’d take your place without question.

For us, there was always the chance to keep growing and to reach further beyond our expectations. It was only a matter of making the right moves and standing by those decisions.

“Eyes up,” one of our guys said, making us all straighten at the first sight of vehicles approaching the abandoned lot.

Daniil’s gaze was hard while they approached, keeping a solid grip on his gun in its holster. He looked more on edge than usual.

“What is it?” I asked, able to see the clear tension in his body.

“I don’t know…something doesn’t feel right,” he murmured, clearly suspicious of something I wasn’t aware of.

Keeping his uncertainty in mind, I watched while Range Rovers pulled in closer, but the moment their windows started to roll down, a sense of dread rolled over me.

The bullets came next, hitting the ground first and sending up a spray of dirt before some met their targets and knocked our guys down.

“Shit—”

Suddenly yanked back, I felt Daniil’s grip on my collar while he pulled me behind the vehicle, and his expression was more intense and focused than before.

“We’ve been set up,” he muttered, using the SUV as a shield while he ducked in and out, firing at the tires and men while our guards did the same.

Forced to regain my bearings at a moment’s notice, I lifted my gun and aimed at one of the vehicles as their doors popped open and more men rolled out.

It was clear they were hoping to get closer to take more of us down, but our force didn’t let that happen.

Even if we were caught off guard, we hit them hard, focusing on taking down as many as we physically could.

As Daniil rose again to aim at a few men approaching our left side, one of the bullets nicked his bicep, forcing the breath from his lungs as he put a hand against it instinctively.

“Daniil!” I shouted, overcome by immediate concern as I pulled him back down, watching as he leaned against the vehicle.

“Fuck…I’m fine,” he uttered, pulling his hand away to reveal much less blood than I was expecting. “It grazed me.”

While that offered me some relief, I still wasn’t okay with how close it had been. Even if he was bleeding, it certainly wasn’t urgent.

“Don’t worry about me…just get the bastards.”

His demand reminded me of the task at hand, and I pivoted, taking up his spot before aiming at the drivers through the windshield.

Out of the four, one was already killed, while two more fled the vehicles to join the others.

With my sights set on the last, I pulled the trigger, piercing the windshield before the bullet met its mark, and he slumped in his seat.

The exchanged gunfire was heavy, but it was clear they had more men packed into those Range Rovers than anticipated.

As our guys fought hard, taking them down one by one, I couldn’t help but notice the sloppiness in their work. Despite flooding in as a unit, they lacked coordination and cohesion. They were all over the place, almost like rabid animals set out to take out whatever they could find.

It was too similar…too much of a coincidence.

Despite his grazed arm, Daniil got in a few more shots of his own and didn’t let it slow him down too much.

Finally, the last man still breathing was nicked in the leg, and as he went down in a heap, the gunfire stopped.

In the wake of that chaos, an eerie stillness filled the space, and I could finally let out a quiet breath.

Wiping my forehead with the back of my hand, I half expected Daniil to take it easy, but he moved by me in a blur.

At once, he was on the hostage, grabbing him by his injured leg. The man cried out from the pain while he was dragged through the dirt until Daniil dropped his leg roughly and pointed the gun in his face.

“You’re going to tell me everything you know, or I’m going to put her down right here…very, very slowly,” my brother demanded, hovering a boot above the open wound.

The man’s eyes widened, visibly trembling from the pain and likely fear to top it off.

“Please…help me.”

“No,” he snapped back, his demeanor cold once he settled back into his usual groove. “If you want to avoid a long, grueling death, then I suggest you talk.”

Watching closely, I approached the exchange.

“Who the hell are you? Who do you work for?”

The hostage didn’t say anything at first despite the evident terror streaked across his face. But the moment Daniil applied more pressure with his boot, he cried out again and held his hands up.

“Stop—please…I’ll tell you.”

Expression unchanging from its hard mask, Daniil was kind enough not to crush his leg in. “Talk. Now.”

Letting out a shuddering breath, a heavy sheen of sweat broke out across his skin and soaked through his clothes. “I was just hired for this job…I only know so much. But it was Francesco…he hired me.”

Daniil’s brows furrowed. “Francesco who?”

The man let out another shaky breath, as if even considering telling physically hurt him. But of course, it would be nothing compared to the agony Daniil would bring him instead.

“Gallo…Francesco Gallo.”

Recognition moved through my features at once, and a feeling of unease pressed against my shoulders. “Gallo…as in Tommaso Gallo?”

He panted and nodded. “Yes. Tommaso is his son.”

“Damn Italians,” Daniil muttered in thought before redirecting his anger at the hostage. “Are his men responsible for hitting our docks too?”

“Yes…he hired more fodder to gauge your weak points and to see what they could get away with.”

I scoffed and shook my head. “Which amounted to nothing…they’re lucky that sloppy work didn’t get them all killed.”

“But why? What pissed the Gallo family off this time?”

The hostage didn’t say anything at first, but with my brother’s mounting anger, he added pressure with the sole of his boot until the man cried out again, trying to pull away.

“What was the motive?” he asked firmly, unwavering in his brutality.

The man’s chest was frantic while he tried to get through the pain before weakly murmuring, “It’s because of the arrangement…Francesco’s angry. His son was supposed to get the Fedorov girl. But it was you.” He pointed in my direction. “You swayed, Andrey, at the last minute.”

My brows furrowed through my confusion, but the pieces started to fit into place at last.

Immediately, I knew what that meant.

I looked at Daniil, giving him a cold expression of my own. “Andrey was double-dealing…that’s likely why he hasn’t been returning my calls, or Alex’s.”

The hostage let out a pained whimper while he tried to pull his leg away. “The deal was made…but when you changed your mind, Francesco was burned. Now he wants revenge.”

Of course he did—why wouldn’t he?

“Damn it,” Daniil mumbled, mostly to himself. “We don’t need this shit…”

He was right.

Even if the Gallos were offended by my deal with Andrey going through, it wasn’t something we could allow to continue. Not when it involved them interfering and disrupting our business.

“Please…let me get out of here…I need to get to the hospital,” the hostage begged, shaking through the shock of his injury while it continued to bleed.

Reaching his wits' end, Daniil sighed and released the safety, aiming at his head before squeezing the trigger.

That final shot rang through the empty space in a deadly echo, and at once, the hostage stilled.

While I stood there, waiting for my hearing to go back to normal again, I could feel the kernel of anger within me seemed to double in size, growing and growing the more I thought about the hostage’s words.

Andrey had promised Tommaso to Tia…and he likely did it after I refused the offer the first time. As a result, it seemed Francesco was prepared to do anything in his power to get some sort of revenge.

Then, I was reminded of that moment in the club when Tommaso had been all over Tia.

It was clear neither he nor his father were over what happened, and with that in mind, it only made that memory feel more insidious.

Tommaso obviously felt that he had some kind of claim over Tia, and that thought alone was enough to make me squeeze my fists to keep from lashing out.

With a heavy breath, Daniil tucked his gun away and glanced at me. “Well…I guess we have our answer now. That partner of yours has some things to explain, it seems.”

He was right; Andrey and I were due to have a long conversation, and I had the feeling he wasn’t going to like it.

When I partnered with him, I agreed to the arrangement in good faith. It was to prove I intended to hold up my end of the deal. In no way was it something I needed to do, but I did it anyway.

In return, he was supposed to do what I expected of him. Not send another family after my ass in retribution.

The thought of him even wagering Tia in an arranged marriage with someone else had my blood boiling. Worse still, Tommaso, assuming he had every right to try and take her from me, set off a different kind of fury in me.

Tia was my wife, the mother of my child, and I wasn’t planning on letting go of her anytime soon, regardless of who was offended by our marriage.

It was clear I had to do something to subdue the Gallo family, but my first step was confronting Andrey.

One way or another, he wasn’t going to be able to avoid me for long.