2. Mentor Duty

 Dimitri

I deadpanned at my eldest brother, searching for any kind of sign that he didn’t mean the words that had left his mouth.

When Nikolai said nothing in return, I pressed even further. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m completely serious,” he began, giving me that stern look he often gave us. “You’ll be mentoring Viktor to give him a better idea of what you do, and how you command our manpower.”

Our cousin, Vik, stood next to Nikolai awkwardly, just as sheepish as I expected him to be. I didn’t have anything against him necessarily, but having a hitchhiker shadow my every move was not what I had in mind today.

I blinked back at Nikolai in disbelief, choosing to ignore Vik and the naïve light in his eyes. “What about his brother? Why can’t Yaro mentor him?”

Nikolai sighed and leaned against the table. “Yaro has already shown him the rundown from his perspective, but he should see the business from another angle. To see how everything is managed, and what we will expect of him. Besides, I am the head of this family and what I say goes. I hope you can remember that fact.”

Sighing, I knew there was nothing else I could say or do to get out of the arrangement. Usually, when Nikolai had his mind set on something, there was nothing I could do to change it.

“Fine,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest. “If I must.”

Immediately, a knowing smile settled on his face, and Nikolai clapped a hand against Vik’s shoulder. The kid jolted forward from the impact, but a relieved expression appeared on his face.

While Vik had the same blue eyes as the rest of us, his hair was a lighter brown, and thicker than ours. He and his older brother Yaro looked similar, but the latter was hardened from working with us. It seemed Vik had some time before the same would happen to him.

“On that note,” Nikolai said, rubbing his hands together before he put one of them on my shoulder too, to my dismay. “Vik is your responsibility now. Take care of him.”

Deflating, I watched as Nikolai pushed past me and left the conference room, taking all chance of me skirting out of this plan with him. The pounding bass from the main room of the club flooded in for a moment, then vanished as the door closed.

Turning to face Vik at last with my reserved expression, I found him looking far too excited about the entire thing.

Rubbing a hand down my face, I scrounged up several loose papers on the table that Nikolai had looked at, and I tucked them into a manila folder. I handed the folder to Vik and held eye contact with him sternly. “If this is going to work, then you need to stay out of my way. Take note of anything and everything. This is not a free pass or a fast track to joining the higher ranks. I might be in charge of you now, but I won’t be there to wipe your nose whenever there’s a problem. Got it?”

Vik blinked back at me, then he nodded, seemingly understanding. He went to flip open the folio, but I snapped, “And don’t put your nose in things it has no business being in.”

He jumped at that, quickly closed it again, and tucked it under his arm. “Got it.”

Sighing, I couldn’t believe I was given babysitting duty. I had half the mind to dump him onto Roman or Valentin, but with their big mouths, I’d never get away with it.

Turning away from him and heading for the door, I called over my shoulder. “Don’t be a nuisance, and don’t make me regret agreeing to this. Let’s go, I have things to take care of.”

Without needing to hear it again, Vik strode behind me with the folio pressed to his body, and he seemed to take my irritation seriously enough.

Even if he was my cousin, seeing how bright-eyed and enthusiastic he was to be joining the family business irked me. He was a good kid, and that was the problem. That light was going to be snuffed out soon enough, and it was only a matter of time before the gritty parts got the better of him.

While he was well-versed in the internal aspects of the job, he wasn’t seasoned by working on the outside. He hadn’t seen bullets flying right at him or his comrades. He didn’t understand the severity of those difficult decisions he’d have to make one day. Vik was green, and a part of me didn’t want to be the one to expose him to the worst parts of this life.

Beyond that, I knew he was likely to get in my way somehow. It was inevitable.

I walked out of the conference room and down the back hall, striding toward the main part of the club. Vik was in tow, questions getting the better of him.

“How do you gather information for planning hits?”

It was going to be a long few weeks. “I have eyes and ears in many places—some even planted within other families that we need to keep our eyes on. But mostly, we’ve tapped sixty percent of the city’s CCTV cameras.”

Vik’s brows pinched in question. “How did you manage that?”

“I work closely with the best in the business. They do what I need, and I pay them.”

“What if they snitch?”

I sighed. “Then they go down too, or I handle them myself.”

Interest sparked within his eyes. “And how have you not been caught tampering with the cameras?”

“We are virtually undetectable. Besides, anybody who might go sniffing has either been paid off already, or they have no idea where to start,” I answered reluctantly.

Even if I didn’t want to be Vik’s mentor, it would benefit him to be knowledgeable. After all, he and the other young ones would take over for us one day.

“The common denominator is money then.”

I nodded and patted Vik on the back while we overlooked the bustling club. “Money drives everything. Everyone has a price.”

Vik nodded, clearly soaking in everything I had to offer him so far. At the very least, he wasn’t apathetic about learning.

“There you are.”

From my left, Roman approached us, looking more worked up than usual. He let out a big breath. “Apparently someone’s waiting outside to talk to Nikolai, but he already left, and my hands are tied. Can you take this one?”

Already prepared to go that way, I nodded. Grabbing the folio from Vik’s grasp, I handed it to Roman. “Sure. Here’s the information you wanted. It wasn’t easy to get, but I did some extra digging.”

A momentary relief moved across his eyes, and Roman sighed. “Great, thanks.” His gaze trailed to Vik, then back to me, and he smirked. “Mentor duty?”

“Obviously.”

My brother snickered. “Try and at least look hopeful about it. He’s the next generation, after all.”

It took everything in me to not sling something harsh at him, remembering that I was in a position of influence. As much as I didn’t want someone constantly hovering, there was importance in what I was doing.

“You’re in good hands, Vik,” Nikolai said to him before sliding past us and disappearing into the back of the building.

“Let’s go then,” I said to him, gesturing toward the front of the club. As ready as ever, Vik followed, not needing to be told again.

“Who do you think it is?” he asked as we pushed our way through groups of club-goers, ignoring the exotic dancers as they came up to us, likely hoping we were in need of some alone time with them. I snapped my fingers at Vik when he stared a moment too long at them.

“Couldn’t tell you,” I huffed, finally reaching the door. “Likely an associate of some kind.”

Once we hit the street, the busy nightlife hit us, and I turned to face whoever decided now was a good time for a chat.

For a brief moment, I hesitated when I saw her.

Standing beneath one of the exterior building lights was the real Maria Esposito. I recognized her from the old photos.

She looked reminiscent of Aria but with a glamorous and sinister edge. I reminded myself to breathe. To steel myself against it.

Her long, brunette hair was pin-straight and resting on her shoulders, nestled beneath a luxurious-looking cap of some kind, almost like a wanna-be tourist in France. Her coat nearly came up to her chin to keep the cool air out. Her hazel eyes fell on me, not bothering to look away. Those long lashes would’ve had me if she wasn’t an Esposito. But even if she was technically the enemy, there was no denying how gorgeous she looked with a light sheen of gloss on her lips.

Blocking that wandering part of my mind, I forced out an apathetic breath.

“What do you want?”

“No hello? I thought you Lanstovs were chivalrous,” Maria chided, wool-clad arms folded. Her gaze was piercing.

When I didn’t say anything in return, she rolled her eyes. “Many things have changed since your brothers killed my father and brother, but I don’t want any bad blood between us. Nothing sours faster than that. I’d like to invite you all to a poker night in good faith.”

I looked at her skeptically, hoping that Vik was at least paying more attention to how I was handling the situation than ogling at the last surviving Esposito. “What’s in it for us.”

“Nothing,” Maria said with a venomous smile. “Except for good company and a few games. Surely you and your brothers aren’t above poker.”

Something didn’t feel right about her innocent offer. There was no way Maria would want a truce after what we did to her family, even if she hadn’t been the brightest of them. There was something else in that proposal.

“Where do you plan to host it?” I asked, testing the waters.

“Enzo’s downtown tomorrow night,” she replied, giving the two of us a small smile. “It’s a neutral place.”

Enzo, as in my buddy Enzo.

I was in good graces with him, but Maria didn’t know that part. Not so neutral after all.

I had caught wind of Maria’s ventures as the new head of her family since the death of her father and brother. There was nothing overly troubling that she was partaking in, but there were rumors that she had been working with a new group—one I hadn’t heard of. Since Roman was nervous about the fallout from Maria being left alive, the two of us had been scrounging up whatever intel we could get our hands on about her activities. We still didn’t have a name for this family, as they’d been covering their tracks better than we anticipated.

Maybe a game of poker was just what I needed to get that information.

Leaning my shoulder against the brick wall, I shrugged. “I’ll try and wrangle my brothers up, but I’m not making any promises.”

Regardless of how empty of an answer it was, Maria looked pleased with herself. “I’ll see you there.”

She said it as if leaving me no other option. She was feeling confident, that was clear. It was in my favor to let her believe in that false confidence.

Before anything else could be said, she turned on her heel, approached one of the blacked-out SUVs parked on the street, and climbed into the backseat. Before long, they pulled away, and Maria was gone as fast as she had arrived.

Vik gave me a perplexed look. “What was that?”

Letting go a deep breath, I scrubbed a hand over my mouth and watched as the SUV disappeared into the sea of traffic. “Trouble. Something is up, and we’re going to find out what.”

It couldn’t be some innocent game of poker as she claimed. There was more to it, and I just needed to get to the bottom of what she thought she had over us.

One way or another, I intended to get information about this other family from her.