He chuckled indulgently as he shook his head. "Always so full of questions." He rolled onto his side and stroked his palm against her cheek. As always, it soothed him when she leaned into his touch. They were so attuned to each other that they could feel the joy and pain of the other as if it were their own; so deeply connected that it hurt.
"My father was jealous of me, of my youth, my quick mind – of my mother's affection for me. As I got older it got worse. I was a natural leader and his men began gravitating toward me, taking my lead on jobs. He felt betrayed and hated me, eventually couldn't stand to look at me."
"Instead of asserting his power like a man of strength, he buckled under the pressure. You can't be a leader and be insecure, Ptichka. He started staying out late and, eventually, not coming home at all. He abandoned his family, sometimes gone for months at a time. I became the man of the house. I took care my mother and Vladimira until our mother died, far too young. I began to hear rumors of illegitimate children. I confronted him about it. It was our last conversation. He said I'd never been a son to him and he didn't even think he was my father. In that moment, it was clear why he hated me so much. He'd convinced himself my mother had an affair and I wasn't his.
"He went so far as to tell me I wasn't the rightful heir to the Bratva throne. I'd spent my life preparing to be the Pakhan; no one was going to take that away from me, not even my father. To protect myself I had a DNA test done. When the son of a bitch wouldn't submit to it I kidnapped him and tied his ass to a chair. I tortured him to get what I wanted. I would need proof to do what was necessary to protect the Bratva legacy. I can still remember the night …
"You're no fuckin' son of mine. You're a bastard and your mother's a whore."
"We'll see about that, Daddy dearest. Open your fucking mouth."
"Fuck. You." His words slurred from too much vodka.
My blood boiled at what he was trying to do to me. Being Born Bratva was all I had. It was all I'd ever known and I couldn't let him rob me of the only thing I loved.
I called out to Novak to bring me the blowtorch. He was the only man who had the courage to help me pull off what I was getting ready to do. To go against the Pakhan was certain death. And Novak was willing to die with me if necessary.
In true Novak style, he stood in front of my father turning the blowtorch on and off, waving the flame in his face just to torment him.
"You're dead. You're both fucking dead. I'm fuckin' royalty," he bellowed.
I grabbed the blowtorch. I went for the thing he loved most-his tattoos. I held it down against the ring tattoo on his finger-the meaning: Rely on no one. I burned it off. Next I went for the skull, crossbones, gun, and knife, which signified he was a killer. His screams were music to my ears but he wouldn't allow me to get the sample. It wasn't until he passed out from the pain that I opened his mouth for him and used a swab to get the proof I would need.
"Was he your father?"
"Yes. I knew he was. My mother never would have fucked around on him."
"What happened then?"
"I took over. I stripped him of everything he had spent years building. I methodically took over the entire operation. I reveled in his suffering. I was paying him back for abandoning not only me but my mother. I was making him pay for telling me I wasn't his son. Throwing me out to the wolves because he'd convinced himself I wasn't his son.
"He put me in a dangerous place by forcing me out on my own. The only person who stood beside me was my cousin, Novak. We fought for our lives like wild animals in those beginning days. Now, my father could have gotten a DNA test himself, but he didn't want to love me. He abandoned me emotionally for years and then physically. I felt no guilt for making him pay.
"Each man that had worked for him came to work for me. It had never been done before. No one had ever dared to even speak against a Pakhan, much less take over their organization. We did that. Novak and I did what no one had ever done. We took back what was rightfully mine. In turn, I made Novak my right-hand man. There's nothing we wouldn't do for each other."
"Okay. Those are your past secrets. What are you hiding now?"
Silence, then, "The shooting … we believe it's one of my father's bastards trying to do what I did to my father-take over."
"I didn't know you had a brother."
"I didn't either, but I suspected. I heard rumors but I never paid attention."
"Glazov … this is a nightmare. If that guy thinks he should be the Pakhan, he will do anything to take over. He's already shown us what he's capable of. We've got to find this guy and kill him."