Page 37 of Ruin

“We have an entire list of bullshit to get through, shall we start, gentlemen?” Kyla-Rose calls out, tilting her head around the room to catch everyone’s attention.

Men take their seats, Vito Gambino taking the seat opposite me. Black hair styled back, bright blue eyes already on mine.

“Kazimir,” he nods in greeting.

The Italian Don always so very polite, but I know he has a temper.

“Vito,” I beam in return, toothy grin burning brightly on my face.

Kai Bancroft drops into the seat between him and Kyla-Rose, his eyes bright, pale green and glaring, but there are bags beneath them, dark and sunken. He must have only just flown in from Chicago. Still, a smirk flits across his mouth all the same as he looks to me.

Kyla-Rose begins speaking, my ears buzzing as I zone out, trying not to look past the empty seat beside me tohim.The way he stares everywhere but at me, yet, I can feel his gaze on me all the same. I keep my eyes averted, attention mostly on the ceiling, my head tipped back against the leather chair, cigarette hanging on my bottom lip. I smoke through one after the other, swallowing down my drink, before doing the same with its refills.

I nod at the correct intervals, unbothered by the agreements between others. I don’t need to make fresh deals; I’m having enough problems with the ones I already have in place. It’s the only reason I’m here after all. I wonder if they’ll hang me from the roof of the building and set me on fire.

“Ivanov?” Kyla-Rose’s voice has my head twitching back in her direction.

Lazily rolling my skull across the creaking leather, I drop my gaze onto hers.

“You want to say something?” she asks, lifting a brow, her hands clasped together atop the table.

Charlie shifts, tensing slightly in his seat, and I wish, not for the first time, that I weren’t so fucking in tune with him. He moves, I move. It’s like a ripple effect.

Sickening.

“There have been fuck ups,” I say, sitting up straighter to make it appear like I really do give a fuck. I look Vito in the eye, then Kai, “I know the last runs we had, went…awry,” I sigh, running a hand over my chestnut brown hair. “But I can assure you, I’ve put in extra security measures for the next to make sure nothing like that happens again.”

“So, you’re going to personally see it through, Kazimir?” Kai’s deep voice rumbles expectantly. “I’m down five mil, I can’t see what the fuck you’re gonna do to fix that shit.”

I lick my lips, drop my gaze to the table, my lips curling up. I don’t give a fuck about his money. I don’t give a fuck about my own. I hate doing this fucking shit. If I could walk away from it right now, I would.

“And what of my drugs? Have they been located?” Vito asks, tilting his head to one side, his eerie calm washing over the silent room.

“No, they have not,yet. But I can assure you, I will find whoever it is that stole from us and deal with them accordingly.”

Just the thought of whoever was slick enough to successfully steal tonnes of product from us, make three artic lorries disappear,anddispose of all of our men tasked with the exchange and delivery. All of that happening without a single one of them raising an alarm, has my teeth wanting to grind until they crack.

“I have my men on it also, Kazimir, and we shall deal with the thieves accordingly. Together,” he emphasises that last word, making a small smile tug on my lips.

Flicking my gaze up, smirk evaporating for the sake of a professionalism, I do not have, I clasp my hands together atop the glass.

“I’m going to attend the next exchange personally,” I tell Kai, in answer to his earlier question, my eyes hard. “You’ll get your money back, three-fold.” He nods silently, but there’s disbelief there.

Directing my attention to the rest of the table, I pull in a deep calming breath.

“I know a few things on my part have gone wrong lately-”

Liridon Murati snorts, cutting me off, he smiles, “Wrong? These deals gowrong, as you say, but then the only ones seemingly benefitting from the fuck ups are the Russians,” the Albanian leader cocks his head, narrowing his gaze. “You did not lose money your end when the shipment went missing on its way to The Outfit,” a statement, one that is only partially true. “Correct?”

“And what is your accusation?” I scoff. “Because it sounds as though you’re implying thatIam trying to fuck them over. I lost my fucking men too, Liridon,” I spit, upper lip curling in some semblance of a snarl.

“Perhaps, perhaps not,” he shrugs with a sly grin. “Maybe it is The Bratva.”

“IamThe fucking Bratva,” I bellow, pounding my fist onto the table.

He hums, “Are you sure? There is talk of overthrow within your organisation, Kazimir,” my skin heats with rage at that little nugget of information, these whispers have not met my own ears, and that’s… terrifying. “Should we be concerned with your execution?” Liridon raises his brows, flicking a hand in the air as he drops back heavily in his seat.

Dima shifts closer, his unyielding presence solid at my back. And I hope to God he hasn’t heard these supposed rumours and kept them from me. He’s one of my closest friends and most trusted men.

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