Page 40 of Unexpected Redemption

“Sure,” Klein and I say at the same time.

“Why does Yuri dislike Lenkov?” She tips her chin at the board where Klein wrote King Minos beside Lenkov’s name. “Wasn’t he in the mafia with them? And he turned on them, right? So wouldn’t Lenkov hate him instead of the other way around? I feel like I’m missing something.”

Shep answers, knowing the past better than any of us. “So back when Yuri was part of the bratva, Nikolai’s father was still the pakhan. Although they were incredibly close, they came to blows many times. Those frequent disagreements are what ultimately allowed us to flip Yuri. He gave up intel to put theeldest Lenkov away, along with many of his generals. For a brief time, the Lenkov Bratva was almost a thing of the past. And thenNikolaiLenkov resurrected it. To my knowledge, they never got along.Ever. No clue why on Yuri’s end, but I’ve always suspected that Nikolai knew Yuri turned on his father, but he couldn’t prove it. However, at that point, Yurishouldhave lost access to what was happening inside the bratva. Yet somehow, he was always in the loop.”

Heads nod around the room as we follow along.

Shep points to Yev’s name on the board. “If we’re right about our new theory, then Yev had to be feeding Yuri intel on Nikolai Lenkov’s activities. Always keep an eye on your enemies, right?”

“Yev’s the only possibility?” Sue asks, a healthy dose of skepticism in her even tone.

Shep’s eyes widen. “If not, he’s certainly the most likely. Mia’s been pulling footage from the men going in and out of Yuri’s strip club and hasn’t found any of Lenkov’s known associates. Except Yev.” He mashes his lips together, his nostrils flaring with a forceful exhale. “Everything Yuri told us last night focused on thepast. I fully believe he knew nothing about what’s been going on since we raided the trafficking house. Incidentally, that’s the night Yev disappeared. Yuri lost his source. He’ll never admit it, of course. Too much pride.”

“Hubris,” Klein tosses, throwing it back to the mythology. A smile overtakes part of his mouth. “Maybe Yuri is Icarus.”

The others in the room, including me, object with some version of no, nah, or no way.

Sue grabs a notepad off the desk and scrawls across it. “What did Yuri say about the hit man they sent after Boss?”

Shep leans against the wall, crossing his feet at the ankles. “Only that he wasn’t surprised considering how much Lenkov hated us after the fallout from the Franco Financial case.”

My windpipe tightens. The same fallout is what got Lettie abducted. “Did Yuri indicate whether he knew their plans for Lettie?”

Klein arches his back for a quick stretch. “I don’t think he had any idea who she was, let alone that they planned to take her. Either Yuri’s concealing his role in it, or Yev kept him entirely in the dark about the trafficking shit.”

From what I recall from Shep’s past dealings with Yuri, he’s always claimed to be anti-trafficking, which made it easier for them to flip him to take down the eldest Lenkov all those years ago.

I face Shep and hold back my irritation as much as possible. “Did you ask him flat out how Yev ended up mixed up in that? It’s one thing to keep your foot in the door to provide intel, but a whole other to seemingly enjoy that level of brutality like Yev did.”

“Yep,” Shep answers, popping thePsound and rocking back on his heels. “No surprise to any of us, but he answered with another riddle. This one was a bit more obvious.”

A throbbing begins in the base of my skull. “I’m almost scared to ask, but what was it?”

Shep roughly scrapes his scalp. “No matter how gifted a chef may be, he cannot make prime rib out of kholodets.”

I’m going to assume Yuri sees himself as the chef in that metaphor, making Yev the disgusting pile of shit he tried to make into a decent human being.

Sue takes a seat at the table, resting her notepad in front of her. “What are kholodets?”

“I asked the same thing,” Klein asks. “It’s meat jelly.”

My gut clenches at the thought.

If outrage had a face, it would be Sue’s. “Jelly? Like what gets served with peanut butter, the world’s most perfect food? With meat in it? That sounds horrific. How could they?”

“It gets better, Sue.” Shep’s face contorts like he’s sucked a lemon. “They usually make it with pig feet, ears, and tails. It’s basically pork-flavored gelatin with bits of meat byproducts jiggling around. Cold.Served cold. Somehow, that makes it far worse, which doesn’t seem possible. Yet it is.”

Sue cups her mouth with her hand, her face blanching. A retching sound emanates from her throat. Mia notices and springs into action, racing over with a trash can.

“I’m okay.” Sue waves her off but takes the wastebasket. “I’ll keep it just in case.”

Mia glares at Shep, striding back to her workstation. “Strike two. Thin ice. That’s what you’re on.”

My toes tap inside my shoes. “Where were we?”

Klein seems to be on the samehurry the fuck uppage as me. “So after that lovely visual, Shep pressed him. Eventually, he admitted Yev was a bad egg. Almost as if he wasn’t surprised he did something to harm women.” Klein turns to Shep. “What was it he said along those lines?”

“Surprisingly, that was as straight an answer as Yuri has given.” Shep glances to the ceiling, “He said, ‘I wanted to kill him myself after he hurt one of my girls. But I cannot hurt my comrade this way.’ And then he lowered his head. Started clamming up after that.”

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