Curses blended as they all reacted to that.
“Of all men to dispose of so quickly,” Alek growled. “There would have been a long line for that piece of shit had he ended up on Maks’s wall.”
“If you see her again, keep your distance,” Vasily instructed, hurting for the girl. “No good will come from pressuring her. But if there’s anything you can do for her, do it. Without her knowledge, of course. And I don’t want any of you mentioning this to Maksim. He wouldn’t take it well. He feels responsible enough as it is.”
Alek’s mouth tightened as Yuri said goodbye.
“It isn’t good to keep shit from him. He’ll be insulted if he finds out he wasn’t told because you didn’t think he could handle it.”
As if Vasily wasn’t aware of that. “It isn’t that he can’t handle it, it’s more that he doesn’t need to feel this any deeper than he already is. Maksim doesn’t process and then move on the way ordinary people do. He absorbs the tragedy and holds it in, like a sponge. It sounds cruel, but I’m glad Tegan isn’t around him during this. He would take in everything she’s going through and internalize it until…fuck. Who knows where it would come out?”
Even though he was still reluctant, Alek nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” When he saw Vasily watching him, his pale eyes that were so like his father’s skipped away.
Vasily frowned and reached out to slap an expensively clad thigh with his gloves. “What did you do?”
“Nothin’.”
Vasily had heard that same word spoken in the same evasive tone since Alek was five years old. “Alekzander…”
“Seriously. It was just a drive by. Didn’t see her, so she has no idea her wishes aren’t being honored. Her place looked closed up. As if she hadn’t been there in a while.”
“And you saw this from the car as you drove by?” he said dryly. He got nothing but a shrug and more of the back of his nephew’s head. Vasily whacked him with the gloves again.
“Okay. Okay. Gabriel and I went by last week.” His hands came up in a helpless gesture when Vasily scowled at him. “We can’t just walk away from her, Vasya. She’s one of us.”
Ah, love and loyalty. It was at times like this that Vasily saw why he loved these boys as deeply as he did.
FIVE
“That’s your plan?”
“I thought it best to keep it simple,” Sacha said, trying not to sound defensive as she turned from staring out the second-floor window at the Tarasov soldiers down below. Justin and Steve were gawking at her, and Lekzi was asleep in her bassinet next to the desk Angela used when she brought work home; she was a crisis counselor at a women’s center.
“Simple is smart.” Angela came from the kitchen, giving Sacha an apologetic smile as she handed over a cup of tea.
“Or it’s just simple,” Steve countered. He and Justin worked together.
Angela turned on her husband with her head tipped to convey annoyance in that way only a regal-looking black woman could. Her tight afro glistened in the light—it appeared every single one in the apartment was turned on.
“You’re gonna hold tight to that crime-novel opinion until we hear a little more of what our girl has to say. Right, Steve? Just like we discussed behind her back before she got here. Right, Steve?”
Steve, looking properly admonished, sliced a hand through his sandy hair and looked at Sacha. “Sorry. She’s right. We did discuss keeping an open mind and not freaking you out with our suspicions—”
“Your,” his wife cut in.
“Fine. My suspicions and fears over the fact that there is now a dangerous crew of Russian mobsters surrounding our building where our son lays his innocent head every night.”
“Steve,” Angela ground out with a swap to his bicep. “Something you don’t seem to understand is that we’re probably safer with Sacha mobsters surrounding us than we’ve ever been.”
“She’s right.” Justin looked at the TV where the security cameras Angela’s father had installed a few months ago perfectly highlighted Anton and two other men he’d introduced as Grigori and Lucas. Grigori had immediately slipped into a pocket in Sacha’s heart because he shared her beloved father’s name. “If Sacha’s as important to Tarasov as he made it seem, these guys are here to protect her from any and all things. They won’t back down for shit.”
“See? Justin gets it,” Angela said at her husband who exchanged an extended look with his friend before dropping his eyes with a guilty flush to his cheeks. His wife frowned at that and Sacha would bet all that she owned he would be questioned about it once he and his wife were alone.