Page 60 of Violent Possession

The same disdain. The same arrogance. It’s Alexei again, in another form. The whole world conspiring to remind me that the things I want would always be out of reach.

I pull out my Sig Sauer and point it at the middle of his forehead. Seraphim doesn’t even move. His eyes don’t blink. It’s like threatening a statue.

“I’ll ask one last time,” I say. “Who is he?”

He stands up very slowly. Walks to the light of the surgical lamp, illuminating his own face in a spectrum flash. He leaves the folded linen on a metal shelf.

“I don’t get involved with him, Malakov,” he says. “And if you know what’s good for your soul, you shouldn’t either.”

I don’t take my finger off the trigger.

“Don’t fuck with me,” I say. “You’re protecting an outsider. That’s not how things work.”

“Things work the way I say they work. You’re inmyhouse, Vasily.”

The sound of a god being bothered by a poorly made prayer. The barrel of my gun doesn’t tremble.

“Seraphim,” I warn.

He picks up another roll of linen. Then he returns to the gloom, and turns his back to me, walking to his workbench. A perfect target. An invitation. He’s sure I won’t shoot.

“You threaten me in my house because your brother found a new toy and you got jealous,” he begins. “Because yourbrilliantbrother accused you of treason for your father in Istanbul andfor the first time in his life he was wrong. Because in Odessa you staged the most expensive little play in the world just to make a name, and in the end... for what? Revenge? ForIstanbul?”

A mirror. It’s what I hate most about myself.

Shooting him now would be useless. It would be a tantrum. A confession that he’s right.

Slowly, I lower the Sig Sauer.

“You don’t know anything,” I say, but the phrase comes out hollow, without conviction.

“You betrayed your brother without hesitation even knowing it’d crush theonerelative who trusted you completely.”

The one relative.Ivan.

“You tear down your own pawns,” he continues. “I don’t do that.” He calmly picks up the scissors. Unrolls the linen and holds its tip. “I know you came here looking for a weapon to point at your brother. I’m telling you that the weapon he found will shoot you first. Now, please, leave.”

Then, the son of a bitch goes back to cutting. The only sound in this whole fucking thing is the scissors.

Snip, snip, snip.

If he won’t tell me anything, I’ll find that fucking information myself.

When I leave through the gray door and return to the street, the smell of rust and meat has never seemed so familiar. So honest.

The angel’s prophecy still echoes in my head.The weapon he found will shoot you first.

We’ll see.

CHAPTER 5

AN ANGEL APPEARS TO BALAAM

GRIFFIN

The organizer grabs my left wrist and raises my arm. The man on the ground doesn’t move. The crowd screams, and, in a corner, Marcus is with both thumbs up, probably already counting the money.

But I barely register him.