Page 12 of Born into Blood

My dad waits for me to follow, taking the rear so he can cover our backs. We’re silent as we step into the alley on our right, guns already out and ready. It’s dark, but enough streetlights are working on the two roads running parallel to the alley for us to see by. We own this area, but that doesn’t mean everyone who lives here is on our side. It just means they have to answer to us if they do something stupid like sell drugs where they’re not supposed to or if they do something really stupid like try and take over our territory.

We stop at the edge of the alley while Max peers around the brick building we’re leaning against.

“Four men on the corner,” he whispers, watching them for a few minutes to make sure no one else arrives. When nothing changes he turns back to face us.

“Timofey and the others are watching from the other side,” my Uncle Vitaly says, reading the text that’s just come in. “They say it’s clear over there. They’re just seeing four men as well.”

Max checks his phone. “My dad said the closest CCTV camera is two streets over, but he’s already looping their footage just in case.”

My Uncle Danil is a computer genius, just like Max’s younger brother, Nikita, and he can break into just about anywhere. I swear if any of us ever did get arrested for a crime, all the evidence would be wiped away before they could even put us in a cell.

“Perfect.” Uncle Vitaly looks at my dad and gives him a wicked grin, the two of them sharing something that goes way beyond this moment, most likely some memory from when they were younger. They may not be brothers by blood, but the bond my dad and uncles share goes way beyond shared DNA. “Let’s go get these little assholes off our streets.”

Val smiles at his dad, who cups the back of his head and pulls him in for a quick hug before we put some distance between us, coming at them from all angles. Timofey and the three men with him are already covering the back, so the four idiots in front of us have nowhere to escape to when they finally look up and see us coming.

“Stay close,” my dad whispers, and I try not to let it annoy me. I know he worries and he’s just being cautious, but I’ve been doing this for a while now, hell, I was raised from birth to do this, and I wish he’d stop worrying so damn much.

“Now why the hell weren’t we invited to the party?”

I look over at the sound of my Uncle Vitaly’s voice. His gun is raised and pointed at the blond guy in the middle, the one responsible for this late-night visit, while the rest of us keep our guns trained on the three men who are slowly backing away, hoping like hell they’ll be able to scurry into the dark and disappear. Timofey kills that dream as soon as he steps out from the shadows with Pavel and Viktor.

“I mean,” my uncle continues, “since these are our streets, it’s kind of rude to not send us an invitation. Don’t you think?”

The guy doesn’t say anything, just looks between us, weighing his options, even though he has to know he doesn’t have any.

“You’re the one they call Ace, right?” my dad asks him, while Max gives a soft laugh at the ridiculous nickname.

Ace looks over at Max, looking very much like he wants to say something but having enough brain cells to know being a smartass isn’t the wisest choice for him to make right now.

“You were warned to not sell here, Ace.” I draw out his nickname, smiling when the guy’s cheeks turn red enough for me to see it beneath the dim streetlamp.

When his hand moves, my instinct is to take a step forward, so I’m partially blocking Val, and my dad’s instinct is to do the same thing but with me. He raises a brow at me while Uncle Vitaly says, “Please tell me you’re not that fucking stupid. I mean, we all know you’re not the brightest bulb if you’re going around calling yourself Ace, but surely you’re not that goddamn stupid.”

“Move your fucking hand,” my dad tells him.

When Ace slowly raises his hands, the others follow his lead and do the same. The one on the right is so pissed he can barely stand still. He glares at Ace and hisses, “You stupid motherfucker. They warned you to stop selling?”

Uncle Vitaly laughs. “Uh-oh, someone’s been keeping secrets.” He looks at Ace’s men and shakes his head. “You can’t trust criminals. They’ll always let you down in the end.”

“And what are you guys?” the guy in the middle asks, running his eyes over the guns and the tattooed hands that are holding them.

“A family,” my dad says.

“A criminal family,” Ace says.

“Still a family, you little fucker,” my uncle says.

“I can’t believe you went against the Melnikovs.” The guy on the right is still pissed and trying to wrap his head around the fact that his supplier just risked his life without so much as a second thought.

“Shut the fuck up, Brian,” Ace yells over his shoulder before turning his attention back to us. “All right, I messed up. I admit it. I was wrong, and I should’ve taken your warning seriously.”

My Uncle Vitaly laughs. “Wow. I feel like I just stepped into a fucking after-school special. Have you really learned your lesson, Ace? Are you a changed man now?” He turns to look at my dad. “What do you think? Can we trust Ace to not sell drugs in our territory?”

My dad doesn’t even have to think about it. “No. We didn’t have to warn you, but we did. You chose to ignore it, which sounds a lot like a giant fuck you to me and my family.”

“We really don’t like to be told to fuck off,” my Uncle Vitaly adds. “It’s disrespectful.”

“Jesus fuck,” one of the guys in the back whimpers. He’s obviously the smartest of the lot, because the others still think there’s a chance they’re getting out of this alive.

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