In all the years Kathleen had been married to Glazov, she had never been shy about nosing around in his business. Discreet, yes; shy, no. She had simply learned the value of being careful. The Bratva men might have the brass balls but the women had an intuition that no man could ever match.
When you got the Glazov women together, you could multiply that intuition by five. They loved their family and would be relentless in their pursuit of anyone who threatened it. Plus, they were just plain pissed that someone had disrupted a wedding reception that had taken them a year to plan. That was why they had been vague in their explanations to their men so they could meet in Katherine's sitting room. Refreshments had been served and the women were sipping tea and coffee while curled up on the cozy, overstuffed loveseats that faced an ornate picture window at the rear of the house. They only had so much time before the men realized their women were all gone at the same time, so she got right to the point.
"I think we all know why I called this meeting."
"We knew you would," Roksana said with a smile. "Let's face it. You've never been able to stay out of the Pakhan's business for long." That elicited laughter from the rest of the women gathered in the room.
"That's because it isn't just your father's business, my dear daughter." She smiled wickedly in Roksana's direction.
"I know that's right," Roksana agreed, because she was just like her mother.
"All right, girls, what are your men saying? Give up all the details from that dirty pillow talk," Kathleen laughed.
Anastasia was the first one to speak up. "Dmitriy's in a meeting right now with Glazov and Novak. He said he was meeting with Glazov after the Pakhan got done at the gym."
"So, Papa finally found a sparring partner?" Roksana chuckled.
Kathleen rolled her eyes. "That remains to be seen, dear. The important thing for us to know is that if Glazov has called Dmitriy in, that means he's going to be bugging every damn thing that isn't nailed down. He drives me nuts when he gets like this. It makes it so much harder for us girls to snoop."
"He's always done that, Mom. Especially when it comes to you," Natasha interjected. "The guys are convinced this is an inside job, so he's really gonna be OCD about surveillance."
Roksana chimed in next. "Yeah, but with the changes going on right now, there are a lot of disgruntled employees to choose from. The diamond business is a big unknown for them; they're concerned about pay cuts and job changes." Her expression got serious, as if she knew something they didn't. "Sometimes our inner circle is so closed off that we don't hear the gossip between the women who sleep with the men who work for the Pakhan. Perhaps it's time we open up our circle just enough to get the pulse of the employees."
Kathleen was quiet as she considered what her daughter had said. Like any organization, Bratva had its share of groupies, women who used their bodies as currency as they made their way through life. Although her husband was strict in his belief that married men not cheat on their wives, Bratva still had its share of single men who slept around with the women, often sharing them back and forth or, on occasion fucking them at the same time.
Some of the women were successful in their own right; they had simple needs that were met by the men they socialized with. However, some of them were little more than hookers and would do just about anything to be on the arm of a Bratva man. Many of the groupies actually thought they had a chance at scoring the ultimate prize – a wedding ring. What they didn't know was that, although Bratva men might fuck whores, they didn't marry them. Ever.
"Mom … Anastasia and me, we can get this done," Roksana said with a ruthless gleam in her eye. "These girls will do anything to be friends with one of the girls in the family. You know how they are, they're all dying to be in the inner circle. Now, leading them to believe they are insiders and them actually being insiders, those are two different things. Anastasia can keep up with the Intel Dmitriy is working on and we can all come together on what we're gleaning from our men." Her face assumed the same cold expression her father had when he was out for blood. "Then we find the bastards behind the attack and kill them."
"Okay, ladies," Kathleen said as she rose from her seat and started herding the group toward the door. "Let's do this: you and Anastasia subtly -- and I do emphasize the word 'subtly' -- begin acquiring information from the women, and the five of us will meet up here every few days to discuss any clues to the identity of whoever's behind the shooting. When we're sure about the information we have, we'll turn the boys loose on them. Problem solved."