Page 4 of The Brutal Arrangement (The Ivanov Syndicate #2)

DAMON

I spent all day checking in with the men I’d assigned to hunting down my brother.

Nik was nowhere to be found, and because of that, I had to really wonder if he was trying to stay hidden.

If he was still awake and with it to send us those proof-of-life kind of messages with the code only we knew, it was as though he was checking in but not checking out.

I didn’t want to assume anything, but for him to use his phone at all, he had to be conscious and not near death’s door.

Aggravated by a lack of intel, I drove back home in the evening.

It had taken hours to meet with all the leaders and spies I’d delegated to search for Nik, and it was exhausting and daunting to be out like this.

Usually, I did my “work” in the basement with anyone we brought in for questioning and torture.

The problem with this case—much like the case of someone poisoning my father—was that there were no leads, no one to question.

Having this little to go on was strange, and it reinforced the thought that had come to me this morning that none of our enemies had taken Nik.

They’d hired out the kidnappers. Plenty of independent contractors were available for hire, and by acting as lone operatives, they were much harder to track down.

Summoned home for a family meeting, I hoped I could catch up with Maxim before it.

He’d been gone earlier, off to the hospital for what sounded like a pregnancy scare with Sloane.

Because of his needing to, and insisting on, being with her during this check-up, Saul and I had handled everything for him.

That was how we worked as brothers. As a family. Fortunately, I caught up with Maxim in the hallway toward the elevator and had a chance to speak with him more like he was the boss and I was an employee.

“Nothing?” he guessed preemptively as he pressed the button for us to go upstairs to our father’s apartment. Each of us had our own floor to the building as our own apartments and private homes. Tonight, apparently, Grandmother wanted us to speak near Father.

“Nothing,” I confirmed with my older brother. “I’m convinced Nik will try to stay captive for intel.”

He nodded as we rode up.

“And I also have been considering whether independent contractors are the ones who took him.”

Again, he nodded. “And then they handed him over to the enemy.”

But which one? The Kozlovs and the Romanos were the highest suspects if we had to identify anyone by name.

Those two families had been at odds with us for the last few years.

As the most powerful Bratva family in New York, though, we had many enemies who’d be envious of our power, reach, and wealth.

“We’ll come on it,” he said as we arrived on Father’s floor.

“Is Sloane all right?” I asked, regretting that I hadn’t started with that question. I knew my brother cared for her, and he had to have his priorities with her.

“She is. She’s resting. It was just a scare, something to watch for.”

“Does she need to be on bed rest or anything else now?” I asked, clueless about pregnancies. Maxim and Sloane were the first ones to start the next generation.

“No. She’s tired from the stress of it all, I think. She’s resting now but with no restrictions.” Slowing as he entered our father’s lounge, he sighed and glanced at me. “Thank you for asking.”

I huffed a rough laugh. “She’s going to be my sister. Of course, I would ask.”

“Sister?” Father asked from where he was seated and underneath a blanket despite it being the end of summer.

Like the other times since he’d woken, his voice was scratchy and rough from unuse.

Slurred and sloppy, his tone wobbled and gave the impression of a long way to go with recovery.

He wasn’t half the man he used to be, but he was alive and with us.

Personality changes were already evident as he tried to join us when he could, but it was the overall cognitive disruption that would take the most therapy to overcome.

“Sloane,” Maxim said, not for the first time this week as Father had more lucid spells. “Sloane, my fiancée.”

Father nodded, his gaze too vacant for me to believe he understood.

“Fuck,” Maxim muttered under his breath to me. “He’s so different now.”

I hated seeing our father reduced to this state too. Patting then briefly rubbing my brother’s back, I showed him as much support as I could think of to offer.

“There you are.” Grandmother beckoned for us to join her and Father. Saul was pacing and on his phone behind the couch she sat on. “Come along. I know you’ll want to get back to Sloane.”

Maxim nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets as he stopped and waited. I took a chair and tried not to wince at how weak Father looked. Weak and confused.

“With Sloane’s scare earlier, it’s reminded me of how fragile our futures are,” Grandmother said. “I insist that we all need to invest more into the next generation and prepare?—”

Maxim and I groaned at the same time. Saul smirked as he sat next to Grandmother.

“Don’t look at me,” Maxim said. “I did as you asked. I have an heir on the way. Sloane is fine. The baby is fine. Those little scares can happen, and we’ll monitor it all.”

“Sure, you did as I asked,” Grandmother replied wryly. “You kidnapped her and?—”

“Let’s spare the details,” Maxim replied with a nod of his head toward Father.

“We can pace this, Grandmother,” I said, not in any mood for her to resume her nagging about us brothers needing to settle down. Ever since we attended a wedding in the early part of summer, she’d been on us to pop out babies so the Ivanov name would continue.

“She’s right,” Father said, his voice stronger than I expected it to be. “We need a future.”

Grandmother smiled. “We do. Now, while things are… well, interrupted with Nik being gone and potentially hiding, it’s not the number-one priority to remind you all of the importance of having heirs and the next generation, but it is still a matter to deal with.”

Then take your own advice and stop nagging us.

“Especially this matter of an arranged marriage.” She held up a few papers. “When I was going through information about other Mafia princesses and daughters for you”—she glanced at Maxim—“just in case you were ready to settle with someone, I found this old agreement.”

She handed it to Saul, and he didn’t even look at it, handing it to me.

I gave him a dry look, annoyed that he’d literally pass the buck to me. Maxim was engaged to Sloane. Nik wasn’t here. And clearly, Saul wasn’t interested.

Of course, you’re not.

Of all us brothers, he was the player who liked to sleep around, a die-hard bachelor at heart.

I skimmed the paper but instead of really reading it, I listened to Grandmother summarize what she’d found. “Grigory, you signed this with Thomas Kozlov years ago. Well before Thomas was killed and Anton took over the family.”

Father furrowed his brow, as if it required great mental energy to think that far back—if he could remember those old memories at all now.

“What’s the agreement?” Maxim asked.

“For one of you to marry Thomas’s only daughter, Katerina Kozlov,” she replied.

Holding up both hands, she almost seemed dismissive.

“Now, this agreement was forgotten.” She glanced at Father.

“Not because of your incident. I suspect this was drawn up as a courtesy, a joke even, with Thomas, not as a serious contract. And it’s been dismissed all this time, forgotten about and no longer relevant. ”

I frowned. “It looks legitimate to me.”

“Yes, but it seems like it was written or concocted without a serious or legitimate reason to adhere to it. Thomas was a good ally. A friend.”

Father still seemed confused. “Why wouldn’t we still be friends? Thomas is a strong ally.”

Fuck. He was in rough shape, unable to remember his old friend had been killed years ago.

Maxim and I shared a worried look, then I spotted Saul frowning as well.

We’ll work with it. He’s still recovering. We can’t give up all hope that he’ll be the man he used to be.

“Thomas is dead,” Grandmother gently reminded Father, who didn’t reply and instead stared vacantly. Facing us again, she sighed. “What’s most intriguing about this particular agreement is that Anton has reached out to us with the intention to see it fulfilled.”

“Why now?” Maxim asked.

I shrugged. “Maybe because word is getting out that you’re engaged to Sloane. It could be that he knew about this all along and intended for you to marry Katerina.”

He cringed. “Fuck no.”

“He seems interested in forcing us to see this through.”

At the first thought of the stubborn brunette who was often too sassy for my liking, I knew she belonged with Nik.

He was the one who seemed to speak with her the most at mutual gatherings when families came together.

Just this year, at that wedding, he’d gone off to talk with her and even danced with her for half of a song.

“Tough shit if he wants to force anything,” Maxim said, glancing in the direction of Father, who suddenly snored loudly. He was out. It happened. It didn’t take much to tire him. On cue, a couple of medical staff members came to assist him onto the wheelchair to take him back to his bed.

“I don’t care if Anton wants to demand that we follow an old agreement like that,” Maxim continued. “We’re not exactly friends anymore.” With Thomas’s death, his brother, Anton took over. Under Anton’s rule, the Kozlov family were more enemies than allies.

“I’m skeptical about why he’d push this now,” Saul said.

“I am skeptical as well,” Grandmother admitted, “but I am trying to view this as an opportunity as well.”

“An opportunity for Anton to send a spy into our family?” Saul guessed with a scoff.

Maxim nodded. “Most likely. So maybe you’re right, Grandmother. After all, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

I stood, not liking the direction of what they seemed to be deciding. Arranged marriages were common. This sort of thing happened among many crime families. But?—

“Hold on.” I shook my head. “What are you suggesting?”

I felt trapped. Singled out. Turning toward Saul, I scowled as he stubbornly shook his head. “Hell no.”

“I can’t fulfill the contract,” Maxim said.

“Don’t look at me,” Saul said.

“I am looking at you,” I growled.

You can’t be thinking that I would marry Katerina.

“Damon, you can handle this,” Grandmother decided.

I gaped at her. “No. Fuck no.”

She nodded primly, as if her mind were made up. As if she didn’t even hear me. “Yes. It is your duty to support the family. You can contribute to securing more heirs for us and?—”

“ No ,” I repeated. Marriage hadn’t entered my mind at all. When Grandmother started her nagging a few months ago, before Maxim took Sloane from her lousy situation, I had zero thoughts about finding a woman or settling down. I ignored it all because Maxim, as the eldest, would go first. Then Nik.

“The only duty I’m focusing on—completely, one hundred percent investing in—is finding my brother. I’m dedicated to finding Nik and helping him get home. So don’t look at me as a stand-in for this arrangement.”

“No worries there,” Saul said, butting in. “I’ll handle the search for Nik.” He patted my back once, and I was tempted to reach back and grab his arm so I could punch his smug face.

“I’m not marrying Katerina,” I vowed.

God, even just saying that felt wrong. I had no interest in her. None whatsoever. While I figured a woman would have to be paid or forced to put up with looking at me for the rest of her life, I couldn’t imagine it being Katerina. It just didn’t sound right. Didn’t feel right.

Maxim raised his brows at me, almost amused, if not contemplative. “We can discuss this further tomorrow,” he said.

Whatever. He could talk until he was blue in the face.

I wasn’t going along with this outdated marriage agreement.

Not when I had to put all my effort into finding Nik—who would be much more appropriate for this little game of spying that Anton seemed to want to play.

I shook my head and turned to leave, convinced there was no way in fucking hell they’d get me to go along with this idiotic idea.