Page 76 of The Bratva’s Monster

Alex sighs and looks over to Kostya to answer. He nods. “We’re sure. He’s a shestyorka.”

“Okay, so that’s the lowest rank, right? If he had something special that Stefan could use, then why doesn’t he give him a higher rank?”

“Excuse me,” one of the brigadiers, Davide, says as he turns toward Alex. “Must she be here? She’s an outsider. She doesn’t understand these things.”

“I understand enough,” Liz says before Alex can speak. “I might not be one of you officially, but I know that a man doesn’t pay for someone to come all the way from another country just to be an errand boy unless there’s a reason for that. And I think in this case the reason’s pretty obvious. Stefan cares about Josef, but he must not be fit for any other position.”

Everyone goes quiet. I look carefully around the table at them all trying to wrestle with the fact that an outsider is making some sense.

“That’s valuable information to know,” Alex agrees. “And that’s why I think we can lure Stefan out into the open. Josef will call him and ask to meet up at some neutral spot. That’ll make him drop his guard, make him feel as though he’s in no danger, then when he shows up, we take his fucking head.” He pauses. Maybe for dramatic effect. “Josef’s going to be a worm on a hook for us.”

“That’s why you called Marius to fix him up,” I say, and he nods.

“The story is going to be that he was caught and roughed up, but he managed to get away. But he overheard that we’re struggling and possibly looking for a peaceful end to this war.”

Everyone’s nodding in agreement. It looks like it’s a plan worth doing.

“Are you sure about that?” Liz asks, and everyone goes silent. Shit.

“Is there a problem?” Alex laces his fingers together on the table.

“No, I mean… Is Stefan going to believe that? What if he doesn’t think very much of Josef? He might see right through it.”

“Josef will make him believe it,” I say. “He’s got no choice. We’ll kill him if he doesn’t cooperate and he knows that.”

She nods shortly but doesn’t say anything after that. I can see that she’s still uncertain.

“Does anyone else have anything they want to add? No?” Alex looks around at the rest of them. “Good. Then let’s work this out. I’m going to need all hands on deck if we’re going to get Stefan.”

And the planning starts. All while everyone’s talking, I keep slipping glances down the table at Liz. She’s going along with it all, but she’s not confident about it.

I suppose if I weren’t sure of everyone else’s abilities, I’d be the same way.

Once it’s done, she’ll be glad it’s all over. And she’ll be glad that we did this.

30

LIZ

“Liz, we are not arguing about this right now,” Rikki says as he gets a beer from the refrigerator. “You cannot be there. Under any circumstances.”

I’m standing with my arms crossed, getting increasingly pissed. “Why the hell not? It was my plan.”

“It was Alex’s plan. Your idea. Big difference.”

“Not from where I’m standing.” He rolls his eyes as he opens the bottle, twisting the top easily. “Stefan Kiselev sent his goons after me,” I say. “He had bugs planted all over this house. He’s the reason Gedeon died accused of being a traitor, and I could have been killed for it. I deserve to see him suffer for all that pain he’s caused me.”

“You do,” he says. “But you can’t be there, Liz. Too many things can go wrong. I know that better than anybody.”

I stiffen as he looks at me while taking a swig. He’s right in that. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for both Gedeon and his father to die in the same night, all because of an ambush.

“I know,” I say. “I just… I won’t be able to sleep if I don’t know he’s dead.”

“I’ll bring you his finger.”

I scrunch my nose up at him. “Ew, Rikki.”

“Okay, his head, then. At least that way, you’ll know it’s him.”