Page 127 of Savage Roses
But he wasmoy mladshiy brat, and I loved him as such. He was the one who suffered by my side in the dark closets, because eventually, he too sought to hide. If Mama knew, she pretended she did not.
Alek and I may have only shared the same mother, but we survived together. We kept each other going.
And when we were old enough, we decided to make Mr. Maldini hurt in a more fatal way than he made us hurt. We made it so he suffered for every dwindling breath he took. By that time, he was long disgraced—the alliance between the Kozlov and Crotone family was strained once more.
Mr. Maldini had been ousted, revealed as a spy for the Kozlov family. The business he had been on in Russia when he first met Mama was not legitimate. The trip had not been authorized by Mr. Crotone.
It was discovered Mr. Maldini was playing both sides to his advantage.
As the eldest, I sought work. Mama cooked and cleaned homes for small sums.
Alek…disappeared.
The boy he was, the young man he was coming to be, did not handle our diminishing status in life well. The things we had gone through affected him differently than it did me. Our dark moments we survived in the closet and the humiliation of being dirt poor once Mr. Maldini was disgraced and we murdered him, left Alek yearning to be someone else.
Someone very desperate to be something. Anything but the humiliating love child of a perverted man that was his father.
For several years, I believed he died. He had disappeared without a trace. That was not true. Alek merely decided he would not settle for a life as a disgraced Mafiacapo’sson. I did not know then what he was capable of.
That the darkness we bore and survived had affected him differently than it had me.
Now, as I count the days formoy bratto get his revenge, I am unsure if I am afraid, or accepting of my fate.
My name and reputation has been smeared. The elusive businessman Volchok that I am known for, is highly fabricated. A persona that was created in my own quest for revenge. Initially, not againstmoy brat, but against Leandro Crotone.
The defunct Crotone family was responsible for the death of my birth Papa.
It was Leandro I initially wanted to tear down. Never did I imagine Aleksander would reappear in my life with equally ambitious desires.
Two half brothers seeking to destroy the man who destroyed their fathers—mine through violent bloodshed and his by humiliating banishment. We shared a common goal and should have been closer, more bonded than ever before.
Except, while he yearned to tear down Leandro, he also yearned to seize power. He wanted to do what his disgraced father had not been able to do, and rise up the ranks to run his own crime family.
The flip phone I have bought for discreet communication vibrates on my table, interrupting my thoughts about the past.
It is a text from Lena.
Would u like to meet? The Voronezh?
* * *
I met Lena Burtka when she was only sixteen. She was a teenage prostitute that often traveled with Vladimir Kozlov. Often used as a gift when conducting business deals, the girl had sad eyes and a depressing aura about her.
I was almost twice her age, slowly involving myself in criminal circles after Mama’s death years ago.
It was easy to pity the girl. Kozlov treated her as merchandise to lend out. We became aligned not because we liked each other, but because I pitied her, and we shared common enemies. Being prostituted and sold by men like Vladmir and Leandro, she desired nothing more than revenge.
As I arrive to the Russian café Voronezh located in the most dangerous pockets of Heinsberg Park, my eyes meet Lena’s. She’s sitting by herself at the table in the far corner. The rest of the café fills with locals, mostly Russians from many different parts of the city. Voronezh has the best borscht available for miles.
I stroll up and slip into the seat across from the pale blonde.
“You are late,” she says.
“You deserve it.”
“Tell me your problem. Mr. Adams says you put your hands on him.”
I stare for a moment. “He would do well to tell the whole story.”