Page 92 of Emerald Vices
“Blyat’.” Shura recoils in disgust.
Viktor is still dry heaving like a cat hacking up a hairball when I grab him by the scruff and shove him towards the door. “Get him out of my sight.”
Shura takes over, hauling a slurring, screaming Viktor all the way to the front door.
But traces of him remain. My brother’s vomit seeps into the carpet fibers, and I decide that merely throwing it away won’t be enough. I’ll have to burn it to get the stench out.
Half an hour later, Shura finds me next to the pool. He drops into the chair next to mine with a weary huff. “I dumped him in a ditch outside the brothel I found him in.”
I nod, but the silence lasts no more than a second before Shura is back on his feet, pacing.
“He mentioned a strong ally. Do you believe him?”
I’ve done my own pacing for the night, and my answer is ready. “Yes.”
“Do you think it’s?—”
“I don’t know.”
Shura lapses into silence. His eyes are far away as he stares up at the cloudless night sky. Finally, he shakes his head. “He was a fucking mess, man. Even by Viktor’s standards, that was low.”
“I don’t know what made him think he was better off with Slavik. He always saw Viktor as weak.” I run a hand over my sore neck. “When I look at him, I’m disgusted by what he’s become. The problem is, I also see the little five-year-old who used to follow me around and demand that everyone call him ‘Andrey Junior.’”
Shura’s eyebrows arch. “He did that?”
“He wasn’t always a broken mess. Somewhere along the way…” I exhale loudly. “Sometimes, I think I failed him.”
“You did everything you could for Viktor. Including making excuses for him when he didn’t deserve any. He was nothing more than your dead weight. Now, he’s Slavik’s dead weight. Until the old man cuts him loose, at least.”
I look at him sidelong, trying to gauge how easily he could shove me into the pool if he doesn’t like what I have to say.
“He would be easy to crack, Shura.”
“Yebat’! Don’t you think I know that?” He runs a hand through his thinning hair and swears again. “But it doesn’t matter how easy the job would be. It would be her—Katya—doing shit that I ought to be protecting her from.”
“She’s a grown woman.”
“So she keeps reminding me.” He turns to me with fire in his eyes. “She won’t talk to me because she says I treat her like property. Are you gonna stop talking to me, too?”
I keep my voice calm. “We both know I would react the exact same way if I was in your place.”
“I sense a ‘but’ coming.”
I raise my hands. “Just a piece of advice: accepting who Natalia is has worked a lot better for me than trying to mold her into something she’s not.”
Shura curses once more under his breath, but he stops pacing.
“Natalia was never and is never going to be a traditional Bratva woman, Shura. She’s got a mind of her own. Goals. It’s the whole reason I could never convince her to quit her stupid day job. And, need I remind you, she started training with guns long before I knew about your lessons.”
Shura cringes. “Are you holding that against me?”
“Not at all. It was the right thing to do. All I’m saying is, there was no point denying her the right to train. She found a way to do it anyway. I had to learn to let go a little. And, as much as it wasn’t always easy, it’s only made our relationship stronger.”
Shura clicks his tongue in irritation. “I can’t believe I’m taking relationship advice from you.”
“I can’t believe I’m giving it.”
He plummets back into his chair with a groan. “What if Katya can’t convince Viktor that she’s on the outs with Natalia? What if he suspects that she’s working for you?”