“Would you move over?” Illayana growled.
“And where would you like me to go?” Nikolai snapped back. “Incase you haven’t noticed, there’s no more room on this bloody couch.”
Sitting peaceful in her own armchair, Tatiana rubbed her growing belly with one hand, watching on with amusement in her eyes.
On Illayana’s other side sat Aleksandr, his shoulders hunched inwards to try and save room, but it wasn’t really making much of a difference.
It was a three seater couch, but the size of my sons meant Illayana was squashed in the middle between them. Drea was sitting in the only other armchair available, which meant Lukyan and Arturo were left to stand. It was a tight fit, all of us crammed into my office at the family house. In retrospect, it probably would have been smarter to have the meeting in the lounge room or dining area. Even the kitchen would have been a better spot. But I held all of my meetings in my office, and that was a hard habit to break.
I was standing behind my desk, Autumn by my side, just her presence calming my soul despite the yelling going back and forth between my children.
“I don’t care where you go, just move! You’re on my hair,” Illayana griped.
Nikolai shoved her with his shoulder. “Tie it up, then.”
“Argh! You’re so annoying!”
“You’re the youngest,” Aleksandr cut in. “You move.”
“Ever heard of chivalry?” she snapped.
I rubbed my temples. “Enough,” I bit out.
They either didn’t hear me or just chose not to listen. Illayana, Nikolai and Aleksandr started shoving and pushing, their voices raised in frustration as they yelled at each other.
My gaze flicked to Lukyan, who stood quietly, not joining in on the usual squabble with his siblings. It wasn’t lost on me how odd his behaviour was. How lost and down he seemed.
I knew it was all my fault.
No matter what I said or did to try and fix it, nothing worked. I was hoping that, after that day, things might go back to normal. I had a plan to show him how much I valued him. I was hoping it worked.
I was about to snap at them all to shut the fuck up when a loud, ear-piercing whistle cut through the room. Just like that, all the noise ceased. Beside me, Autumn removed her fingers from her mouth and threw me a wink.
My heart exploded. God, I loved that woman.
My children straightened with a grumble, getting in a few more begrudging shoves before settling down.
“Okay,” I began, moving to the front of my desk. “I’ve called you all here because we have something very important to discuss. It’s about your grandfather.”
“Is he dead?” Aleksandr asked bluntly.
“No.”
“Pity,” he grunted.
Ain’t that the truth.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “As you all know, your grandfather hired Autumn to kill me.” Seven sets of eyes cut to Autumn.
She smiled awkwardly. “What? Obviously, I didn’t go through with it.”
“Yes, and we’re all immensely grateful,” I said, patting her hand. “As I was saying, your grandfather has officially made a move against me. As much as the man values his legacy, he values obedience more, which he no longer gets from me. After Autumn refused to do what he wanted, he put out an open contract on me.”
Illayana gasped. Aleksandr and Nikolai growled. Lukyan’s face turned grim.
“Last night, a seven-person team of highly trained, highly skilled assassins broke into our townhouse while we were sleeping and tried to kill me.”
“What?!” Illayana screamed.
Aleksandr snarled in outrage. “That’s it. You’re getting a guard detail.”
“I don’t need one.”
“Don’t be foolish, Father.” A stern look crossed Nikolai’s face. “You need someone to watch your back.”
“You misunderstand me. I don’t need one because I already have one.” I looked at Autumn.
She wiggled her fingers through the air.
My children said nothing else on the matter. They’d all seen her in action. Her skills spoke for themselves.
Illayana leant forward, shoving her brothers with her shoulders as she went. “How do you know there’s an open contract? Were you able to question one of the assassins before you killed them?”
Autumn managed to expertly avoid answering that last question by showing the group her phone. “Because of this.”
Everyone moved closer.
“This is an exclusive website that only very select people have access to. Me being one of them. It’s a safe and secure place for people to upload open contracts that every assassin around the world can see.”
Autumn had shown me the website the night before, after we’d dealt with the bodies. I deduced it must be quite a tight-lipped secret among the assassin community, because I’d never heard of anything like it before. It’d been a damn shock to my system when she not only showed me the website, but also my contract.
As Pakhan of the Bratva—well, former—I should have known about something like that, and yet, I’d had no idea.
It pissed me off. I didn’t like feeling so unprepared.
“Open contracts are tricky,” Autumn continued as they all flicked through the website, looking it over with interest. “It means it’s open for anyone to take, and therefore can result in multiple people trying to claim the same bounty. The higher the sum, the more interest.”
Illayana’s eyes flicked upwards. “How much did Grandfather put down?”
“Ten million. The second-highest sum I’ve ever seen.”
“Second?” I questioned with a frown, feeling slightly offended. “Who was the first?”
“Doesn’t matter,” she shrugged. “He’s long dead.”
“Who got that kill?” Lukyan asked, speaking for the first time.
Autumn smiled wickedly. “I did.”
“Now I have to know how much it was.” Illayana pursed her lips in thought. “Fifteen mil?”
“Twenty?” Lukyan asked next.
“Twenty-five?” Illayana returned.
“Thirty?” We all stared at Aleksandr in surprise. “What?” he grunted, looking around the room. “I’m curious now. Fucking sue me.”
“I think we’re getting off topic,” Autumn chuckled.
It warmed my heart to see everyone getting along. I’ll admit, I’d feared things might get a little awkward and uncomfortable when I officially brought Autumn to the family home, but it was the complete opposite. My children had been nothing but nice, welcoming and hospitable.
“As I was saying,” she continued, flipping her long red hair over her shoulder. “With open contracts, anyone can try to claim the bounty. With a sum like ten million on the line, I suspect a lot of people will be vying for it. This can be both good and bad. Good, because more people means more competition. They’re likely to kill each other to try to stop anyone else from claiming the cash first. And bad, because in some cases, they can decide to team up. Kill the target together and split the reward evenly between them when they’re done, like the team from last night. As of now, there are twenty-seven people interested in taking Dimitri’s contract.”
“Where can you see that information?” Arturo asked, his blue-green eyes deadly and focused.
Autumn flicked through the website until she found it. She showed it to them. “People lodge their interest for several different reasons, but the main one is to try to deter others. If a contract has an abundance of interest, some might decide not to even bother trying. Another reason is that when certain assassins put their name to a contract, it can scare others off because they don’t want to risk facing them out in the open. Like this.” She scrolled through until she got to a button that said “LODGE INTEREST”. Once she pressed it, her name appeared beneath the contract, along with the others.
It looked like social media for assassins. She had a username, which was The Crimson Death, and a profile picture of a dagger covered in blood.
After attaching her name to the contract, five names withdrew almost instantly.
Drea blew out a low whistle. “You’re kind of a badass, aren’t you?”
Autumn gave her a sly smile, but said nothing.
“Can you shut the site down?” Tatiana asked, concern ringing in her voice.
“Some have tried, but it’s protected behind mountains of firewalls. The people who run it have the best of the best working for them to protect and maintain the site.”
I adjusted my tie, clearing my throat. “Right now, we have the upperhand. Autumn knows everyone on that site, which means she knows how they operate. But something needs to be done. This cannot be allowed to stand.”
Aleksandr frowned. “What does that mean?”
I took a deep breath in, letting the air fill my lungs. “We’re going to kill your grandfather,” I said, running my eyes over my children, one by one. I stopped when I reached my youngest son, holding his gaze. “And Lukyan is going to be the one to do it.”
Lukyan’s mouth dropped open. Silence reigned over the room, everyone too stunned to speak.
Then, Aleksandr and Nikolai burst into action, jumping to their feet.
“Are you insane?!” Aleksandr shouted at the same time Nikolai yelled, “You can’t be serious!”
I straightened my spine, standing tall, staring them down. “I’m deadly serious.”
“Father, be reasonable,” Aleksandr chastised. “Grandfather is far too dangerous. I’m sorry, Lukyan,” he quickly added, apologising to his younger brother before continuing, “but he can’t handle something like this. He’s not serious enough. He treats everything like it’s a goddamn joke. He’ll end up getting himself killed!”
“Aleksandr’s right,” Nikolai joined in. “I love you, Lukyan, and I just want to protect you. Grandfather is too big of an adversary for you to take on.”
Lukyan seemed to shrivel right before my eyes, the harsh words falling from Aleksandr and Nikolai’s lips making him feel small. I could see it in the way his body folded forward. The way his head hung down. They didn’t have the same confidence in him that I did, and that hurt him.
“Enough,” I snarled, glaring them down. “Your brother is more than capable of doing this, and you want to know why? Because he’s strong. He’s smart. He’s cunning. He has the drive and determination to fulfill any task he sets his mind to. And because he has a carefree attitude, he’ll be the last person on Earth your grandfather will ever suspect of something nefarious. Sergei will let his guard down around Lukyan because, like the two of you, he underestimates him. I don’t.”
Lukyan’s eyes widened.
“He will leave for Russia in a few weeks for his arranged marriage to Anya Tarasov, which will be the perfect opportunity for him to kill Sergei.”
Aleksandr looked like he wanted to pull his hair out. “I’ll repeat, are you insane?! You not only want him to kill one of the most dangerous and powerful men in the world, but you want him to do it on his own fucking turf? With no backup?”
“He’ll have backup. Autumn and I will be there.”
Aleksandr’s mouth clicked open and shut. He looked at Nikolai with an almost flabbergasted expression.
“I can see you’re struggling to understand, so I’ll explain. Your grandfather knows I don’t approve of this arranged marriage, and he knows I would never allow Lukyan to travel to Russia alone. If I don’t go, it will cause suspicion.”
“What about the fact that he’s trying to have you killed?” Illayana asked.
“This deal with Tarasov is more important than Sergei is letting on. It’s vital to the continuation of his trade. Without access to their supply routes, he’s in serious trouble of being unable to fulfill orders. He needs this deal to go through without any complications. Having people try to kill me in the middle of the wedding would be a complication.”
Something clicked on Arturo’s face. “You think it might get him to pull the contract?”
“Pull it? No,” I said, shaking my head. “But put it on hold? Yes.”
Autumn stepped forward. “With any contract, you can impose conditions that must be followed. Our hope is to get Sergei to put a blackout period on the contract, meaning no one can attempt to claim the bounty during that time.”
“Once your grandfather realises I’m accompanying Lukyan to Russia, he’ll put the contract on hold. I’m sure of it. He can’t risk something happening at the wedding and the deal not being finalised. Because Autumn will be coming with me, Sergei will know I know what he’s trying to do. That he’s trying to have me killed. He’ll be paranoid and on guard around me… But Lukyan?”
All eyes landed on him. He stood taller under their gaze, shoulders back, spine straight, head held high.
“Lukyan will be able to slip in completely under the radar. He’s the one with the best chance of killing Sergei, and once he does, I’ll assume command. Make sure the men don’t do anything in retaliation.”
Tatiana shifted her in chair. “Will they listen to you? You would have just orchestrated the killing of their leader. What if they want revenge?”
“Some most likely will,” I shrugged uncaringly. “But I’ve been planning a move on Sergei for years. Over time, I’ve been slowly integrating myself into his ranks and turning his men. More than half have agreed to a change in leadership. That’s all I need. One show of power will be enough to force the others to bend.”
I could see by the looks on Aleksandr and Nikolai’s faces that they still didn’t agree with the plan. They were both concerned for the safety of their brother. They loved him. They didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.
But they needed to have the same faith in him that I did. Lukyan was more than capable of doing it. He just needed to be given a chance to prove himself. To show his siblings he wasn’t the joke they thought he was.
I locked eyes with Lukyan. “What do you say, son?” I asked. “You up for it?”
A dark, evil smirk curled his lips. “Fuck yeah.”
