Sasha: Chapter 10

I had left California barely twenty-four hours ago and already managed to piss off my big brother. Of course, it didn’t take much. Fumes emanated from my big brother sitting behind his desk.

I leaned in his office chair, back in New Orleans. The city was our home. We frequently traveled back and forth between Russia and Louisiana, but it didn’t take long before we considered New Orleans our home. Father took up residence here and started his business. Vasili took over that business and expanded it by tenfold. And he also set up a number of legitimate businesses.

Vasili was better at it than Father ever was.

I swirled my glass of whiskey. Ice clinked against the crystal and cigar smoke hung in the air. But I kept my cool.

“Why in the fuck did you take a job for Maxim?” Vasili gave me a hard look. “I don’t like it. Dealing with the Konstantins always brings problems.”

“This won’t,” I told him confidently.

“Sasha, Ilias is Pakhan. Everything connected with him brings trouble. Not to mention that the old Konstantin was a crazy motherfucker. I’d rather keep both those fuckers as far away from Tatiana as possible. She’s a single woman and I don’t want her around men like that.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Even if she was promised in an arranged marriage, Tatiana would first kill you, then claw her eyes out before agreeing to marry anyone, never mind Ilias Konstantin.”

Vasili’s expression darkened at the thought of our little sister marrying the older twin.

“No more dealings with the Konstantins,” he gritted.

I sipped on my drink, leaning back and forth in the chair. Vasili’s jaw ticked, and I knew he was ready to blow a gasket.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t we agree it’s my choice and decision who I do business with?” I reminded him.

His jaw tightened, his vein throbbing. I always did a good job of pissing him off. Both Tatiana and I did. He was the responsible one, my sister and I were the reckless ones. Alexei was, well, Alexei.

“We agreed to it if your choice doesn’t impact our family,” he said dryly.

I ran a thumb across my jaw. “This doesn’t impact our family. Just me. I took the job and it’s done now.”

“Tatiana said you had lunch with her and the Konstantin brothers.” He switched subjects, the furious expression still lingering in his eyes. “Why in the fuck would you ever have lunch with them? And with our sister?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I was having lunch with my sister. The Konstantin brothers showed up and Tatiana extended them the courtesy of joining us. Neither one of us expected them to accept it.”

“Of course they accepted it,” Vasili grumbled, his tone dry. “Our sister has a way of making men look at her twice.”

I rolled my eyes. “If you say so,” I retorted dryly.

“Did you finish the job for Maxim successfully?” My brother was trying to throw me off my game. Sneaky fucker.

The whole job still left a bitter taste in my mouth. “His woman was already dead,” I said, hiding how much the whole thing fucking bothered me. “I’m going to kill the old Russo.”

“The fuck you will.”

“Yes, I will.” I swore the tips of Vasili’s hair looked fucking red. It was just too goddamn easy to rile up my brother. “Do you have gum?” I asked casually.

His fist came down on the table, rattling every single thing on it. Not that there was much there. But sure as fuck, a People magazine was there. The latest edition too. I had yet to understand Vasili’s fascination with People.

“Fuck the goddamn chewing gum,” he roared. “I swear to God, Sasha, if you cost us our family I’ll end you myself.”

I grinned. We both knew he’d rather claw his eyes out than hurt me. “Be my guest.”

“If you kill him, Alessio Russo will come after us,” he reasoned. “After Tatiana. Is that what you want?”

I shrugged. “We can protect our little sister.”

“No, I’ve been protecting her.” His voice was dark. “I’ve been protecting both of you, and fuck, if I’d let something happen to either one of you now.”

I rocked back in my chair. “I’ll put extra men on her. The old Russo is a scumbag. He’s not worthy of walking this earth.”

“You’re hardly one to judge,” Vasili hissed. “And you’re not impartial. Your relationship with his eldest daughter made you biased in anything Russo related.”

Animosity lingered on my tongue and danced in the air.

“Fuck you. And fuck impartial,” I growled.

Thick silence filled the room. I was perfectly content to just sit in it. Unfortunately, so was Vasili. I had my own glass with ice in it and I swirled it, each clink of the cube like a gong banging through the air.

A clock ticked.

Vasili finally let out a sardonic breath, shaking his head.

“Why are you checking up on Branka Russo?” Vasili’s question shattered the silence and brought in a new kind of tension. “Wasn’t her sister enough?”

My jaw ticked. His comment rubbed me the wrong way, but not as much as his control over everything I do. I shouldn’t be surprised he was checking up on me, but it pissed me the fuck off.

“Who says I’m checking up on her?”

“Don’t fuck with me, Sasha.”

“Brother, you’re the last person on this planet I’d want to fuck with.” I stared at him with indifference.

“Answer my question,” Vasili demanded.

I watched my big brother. He had given up a lot to keep our family together. To keep us safe. I appreciated him. I really did, but at this point in our lives, he really needed to stop acting like our father and just start being our brother.

“I made a promise to Mia Russo before she died.” I settled with an answer that would give him a half-truth. Vasili lifted a questioning brow. “That I’d keep an eye on her brother and sister,” I explained.

“Alessio Russo doesn’t need babysitting,” Vasili retorted dryly. “And if he finds out you’re watching his baby sister, he’ll dig your eyeballs out.”

I shrugged. “He can try and he’ll fail.”

“One day shit will catch up to you, Sasha.” He was probably right but you had nothing if you didn’t have confidence. And I was one of the best, trained by good old taxpayers’ money.

“Promise me you won’t approach the girl.” When I didn’t answer, his gaze narrowed as he took a sip of whiskey. He kept waiting for that promise.

Too fucking late because I’d been seeing the girl almost daily for the past three months. The most platonic relationship I had ever experienced, and I felt a deeper connection with her than women I’d fucked in the past.

I’d never particularly cared about conversing with women. My sister was the exception. But with Branka, I found myself wanting to know everything about her.

“Promise me,” Vasili demanded.

“I made a promise to a dying woman that I’d keep an eye on them,” I replied. “To keep them safe. You’re asking me to break that promise.”

He shook his head.

“I’m asking you to promise me not to approach the girl.” The cold bit into my chest at the thought of not seeing or talking to Branka again. I was just teaching her self-defense and our conversations were merely around generic subjects. She didn’t even know my name for fuck’s sake. “That kid gets hurt, Alessio will find someone to blame,” he added.

I got up, finished with this conversation and buttoned my jacket, then turned to leave.

“If not for your own safety or for me, do it for Tatiana,” he said as my hand came to rest on the door handle. “We’re fighting enemies on all sides, Sasha. If we are not careful, it will cost Tatiana her life. Woman for a woman is the way men in our world think. Branka’s father is trying to pick a war with the Konstantins. And we don’t want to bring Konstantin’s attention our way. For Tatiana’s sake.”

He got me there. There was nothing I wouldn’t do for my baby sister.

“I promise,” I replied before walking out.

Ominous silence and consequences followed me out the door.