Page 9 of The Dark Side

Alexei rolled down the partition, sitting in the front seat. “What do you think?” His arm was in a black cast, resting on the door. He also looked out the window, watching her. “Think she’ll talk?”

“No,” Adrik acknowledged. “She understands.”

“She didn’t cry or beg. You didn’t threaten her family. I don’t know.”

“Sometimes, less is more.”

Alexei mumbled, “Guess that’s why you’re next in line.”

Adrik observed the side of his brother’s face. Though there was some aggravation, there wasn’t any resentment, and that mattered. Alexei was the oldest, but when he turned eighteen, ready to take on as head of the family, Alexei purposely screwed up so Adrik could take over. Alexei never wanted to be the leader. In their line of business, everything needed to be calculated and thought out, and Alexei wasn’t a planner. He only knew where he was going once he was already coming back.

“Want me to send someone to Orlando, just in case she changes her mind?”

Jolie’s parents lived in Orlando. The implication was clear, but Adrik didn’t see the need. “No. Has her apartment been mended?”

“Yep, the cleaners are done.”

Adrik closed his eyes. These minor, insignificant problems could become an avalanche if not cared for properly. It was why he took time out of his day to deal with it, but the big situation was the assassination attempt on his child. Nearly eighteen hours later, there was still no claim to the attack. He had gone over every situation, and none of it made sense.

Ten semi-major families were in his control, along with over a hundred gangs and clans that flew the Morozov flag. Any one of them could have done it, but why?

The Morozov family was a million souls strong, with roots in Tampa, Clearwater, Lakeland, St. Petersburg, Bradenton, Ft. Myers, and a slowly developing gang in Miami. They were the most prominent mafia family in Florida. So, who would be dumb enough to go after his child?

Kids were supposed to be off-limits until they were eighteen. It’s an unspoken law in their underworld. This was a cause for war, and he had every intention of hitting back as soon as he figured out who it was.

“Who responded so far to the meeting?”

“The Garcia family, Delgado, Utkins, and Kuzmin.”

Only four out of the ten. Was there something going on that Adrik didn’t know?

“Oh, um,” Alexei nervously began. “Papa wants to talk to you.”

Adrik curled his hand into a fist. “Shit.”

His father went on vacation two months ago to allow Adrik to run the company as a trial. Adrik was fully capable of being the head of the family, but his father was controlling.

“Put him on the phone,” Adrik requested.

Alexei grimaced. “He’s home.”

Adrik sunk into his chair like a troubled teen.

Adrik walked the long hallway toward his father’s office. Yakov Morozov was a man of specialized taste. He was fond of a hunter’s life, a copy of his father, Adrik’s grandfather, who was a great hunter in Russia. Yakov took on all his father’s favorites to become the favored child out of ten siblings.

It worked, Adrik mused.

The dark mahogany double doors stood before him, and he took this time to reassemble any anxiety. His father was better at reading people than he was.

With a deep breath, Adrik stepped in.

There were dead animals on nearly every section of the wall. Deer, muskrats, bears, and moose. Behind his father’s desk was his most prized kill: a full-bodied lion standing on a shelf. The shotgun he used sat beneath it, always cocked and ready in case of an emergency. The room was a gift Adrik had given his father on his sixtieth birthday.

Yakov sat at his desk, currently on the phone. He put a finger up to quiet his son, and Adrik sat in one of the high-back leather chairs. The office was straight out of a gangster movie, and Adrik sneered at every little stereotype. Yakov was part of the older generation, never conforming to the newest way of things. It’s why their ring of business was in decline in Yakov’s care.

Yakov hung up, standing, forcing Adrik back to his feet to greet his father with a kiss on the cheek. Yakov held his arms. “How is my granddaughter?”

Though Adrik was relieved his father was here, he worried about what his father would say. For two months, Adrik had complete control over the company. Against his brother’s advice to do things the same way they’ve always been done, Adrik implemented new ideas and improved their resources by thirty percent.