Page 31 of The Enemy’s Defector (Ivanov Syndicate #3)

NIKOLAI

I f Katerina wanted more distance from me, she was out of luck. With every minute that passed and this wedge remained driven between us after our last argument, I missed her more.

Giving her space seemed smartest.

We could both be hot headed and over-opinionated. Her stubbornness was what always excited me.

Yet, after that first night when I felt like she could use a breather from me and our argument, I hated to be away from her at all.

She’d been through a lot. We had been with each other in hiding, without a break. If a little space helped her cool down, I would grant her that. Once she realized that I was compromising with her and bending with her wishes, she would have no reason to be so standoffish and upset with me.

I hunted down her former house staff, the closest thing she’d had to friends or family, and arranged for them to move in as retirees. Then I set up appointments at the doctor’s office and hospital so Katerina wouldn’t be nervous about a home birth.

I could cave for her. I wasn’t so stuck in my ways just to make her miserable.

But this had gone on long enough.

I missed her.

And I didn’t want a break from her ever again.

Still, it wasn’t as though I was trying to keep away from her. Now that I was back, duty called. I was expected to be present at meetings. I was counted on to help my brothers handle more attacks and issues with our men being confronted.

Maxim once admitted that he felt like we were experiencing the calm before the storm before Father was poisoned.

And we’d been living through the storm these last couple of months.

I was sick of the constant battle, even if it was played out in smaller fights.

Every attack on our businesses, men, or turf accumulated into a larger headache.

“It’s time to end the Kozlov Family,” Maxim stated ruthlessly at this meeting downtown.

I tightened the knot of my tie, never having gotten the hang of them, and nodded. It sure was fucking time to end them.

“But how can we know this isn’t a diversion from the Romanos?” Hugo, one of our best supervisors, asked. “How can we trust that all these rumors are right?”

I shook my head. “It no longer matters. I was held on a Kozlov property. Even though I was relocated, beaten, and originally captured by third-party contractors, Anton Kozlov participated in my captivity by hosting me in one of his fucking cells.”

Saul, seated at the table in a chair next to Maxim, leaned over and rubbed his face. “No one’s arguing with you on that point, Nik. But what if we focus too much on Anton and in the meantime, the Romanos drive in and strike us harder somewhere?”

“We’ve already been working with the general idea that the Kozlovs and Romanos have been operating with a loose alliance as partners,” Damon added.

“I see what you’re saying. If we go all in to take out Anton and his Kozlov organization, we need to be careful that we’re not ignoring the Romanos in the meantime. ”

Facing two fronts of an attack wasn’t ideal, but we could manage it.

Usually, when crime families teamed up, it was small groups that would build into a bigger coalition.

They never ended well. They’d get too big.

No one respected one leader and infighting would break it all up.

That was partly why we’d always been isolated, and at the top.

Father never wanted a steady ally where control would become a point of conflict, but he valued secure friends. Like Thomas Kozlov once was.

I stayed back, walking back and forth as I let the others talk.

The supervisors and leaders within the organization all chimed in.

They were the men on the street, on the frontlines.

Like Father used to, Maxim sat patiently and listened to them all.

He would always show his willingness to listen and react, not be a dictator for the sake of holding all the power over the rest of us.

Still, the men couldn’t seem to agree.

If we’d go forward with a plan to annihilate the Kozlovs, then watch the Romanos.

If we’d split our efforts and try to take out both parties.

Or if we’d kill Anton only and focus on the Romanos as a group.

One thing wouldn’t be changed. I wouldn’t allow it.

“Anton Kozlov needs to die,” I stated once the clamor and discussions faded in the large meeting room.

I said it for Katerina. I declared it as revenge for my capture.

“But do you have proof that he is the one who hired the contractors to capture you?” one supervisor asked.

“Or are you eager to kill him just because you married his niece?” another asked.

“Regardless of what part Anton Kozlov had in my capture, he was behind it to some extent and that is enough of a reason for me.” I stood straighter, daring anyone to reject Katerina’s place in our family.

“Most of all, though, he needs to be eliminated now , not later, because he’s put a hit on her.

He placed a hit on her because she has always sided with me, with our organization.

He wants her dead despite the fact that she is carrying my child, one of the future generation who will lead this family after us. ”

No one contested me on that point.

“From what I recalled during my captivity, it seems most likely that Dominic Romano has played a heavy hand in this operation. They are equally to blame for the crimes against the Ivanov Syndicate.”

Saul nodded. “From what we’ve compiled from the surveillance copies Katerina provided, it seems that they split the tasks. The Romanos likely arranged for your capture and movement, but Anton provided the holding places.”

Maxim sighed, adding a growling rumble to it.

He was clearly exasperated, and knowing my brother as well as I did, I could tell that he was getting impatient.

Like the rest of us, he wanted this crap over with.

Stepping into a position of power was a huge adjustment, but he wasn’t even doing it during a time of peace.

He had to juggle a new wife, the coming of his child, and keeping the organization safe and profitable against a two-pronged attack.

“This is just like before,” he muttered. Looking at Damon, then me, he furrowed his brow. “We were younger then, but when we were captured and held…”

“Then almost shot,” Damon added, scowling, “all because of Beatrice’s affair and her willingness to appease her lover by having us killed.”

I tried not to dwell on those memories. Remembering that one woman could’ve held that much power over my fate chilled me, and it was a weighty part of why I’d struggled to commit for so long.

“No one could tell who’d taken us then,” Maxim reminded us all.

“We were taken as a way to bring down the family. The sons of the Pakhan were held and almost killed because the enemies wanted to end us all and ruin the family.” He stood, seeming too restless to sit while he dredged up these thoughts.

“That was the last time someone had worked on an endless campaign to end us. Now we’re wondering who to target with this. It’s déjà vu.”

I shrugged. “I won’t change my mind. I say we kill Anton and handle the Kozlovs. I will call war upon them for whatever part they’ve played against us. And if the Romanos were in it, too, they can take this as a message that they’ll be next.”

Half of the room cheered my cutthroat remarks. Those who weren’t as vocal in agreement would go along with it anyway.

I didn’t blame some of the men for being nervous about focusing too much on only half of our problem, but at the same time, it seemed more foolhardy to do nothing for now and wait. It wouldn’t be feasible to take out all of the Kozlovs and the Romanos at once.

Saul was contemplative, though. I noticed him watching Maxim, picking up on how our older brother seemed uneasy to choose one way or another, whether we should go after Anton Kozlov with the full force of the Ivanov Syndicate now or wait.

“I understand what you mean,” Saul told Maxim. “It does feel like before, when you guys were taken.”

It had always stood out to me that he wasn’t taken with us. Only three of us—not all four brothers—had been captured then and almost executed.

“And it’s too bad we can’t rely on a tip like before,” he said.

Someone had come to tip off Father about our being killed, and that was how he’d diverted his efforts to find us, just in time.

In this situation, though, I had to suffer some regret and guilt. If a tip could have popped up to point us in the right direction, it would’ve come from me. It would’ve been something I could overhear and share from being among the enemies.

But that hadn’t lasted.

“That was why I stayed away,” I told them all.

“I stayed captured so I could listen and pick up a clue like this, to learn the identity of who ordered my capture. I’d only been able to learn that there was a connection between the men who escaped the night our father was poisoned and the men who moved me around.

That was enough to tell me that whoever hired the men for the poisoning had to be the same person who’d ordered me to be captured. ”

Maxim smirked. “Are you trying to say that you regret being saved?”

I shot him a sarcastic glare. While he seemed to be teasing me, I took it as a sign he might be warming up to Katerina and becoming more open to her being part of our family.

“No,” I replied dryly. “I don’t regret anything where Katerina is involved.”

Actually, that was a lie. I regretted staying away from her after our fight.

It wouldn’t be long before I could head home and reconcile with her.

And when I did, I would make sure that she understood I loved her way too much to ever stay mad at her for long.

Our marriage hadn’t started without its hiccups, but so long as she would always meet me in the middle, we would last forever.