Page 235 of Toxic Temptation
When it does, my throat is dry. It hurts to swallow.
“You’re lying,” I say.
“I have proof.”
“No. No. You’re fucking lying. You’re full of shit.”
He shakes his head slowly. “Doesn’t matter how many times you repeat yourself, boy. Won’t make it any less true.”
He reaches for his desk drawer. All three of us raise our weapons.
“Don’t move!” Osip orders.
Ihor holds up his hands. “I’m trying to offer you proof. Unless you’d rather not see it…?”
Pavel’s voice cracks. “Kovan, we shouldn’t listen to him. He’s a snake who’ll say anything to destroy you.”
“I’m trying to preserve the Krayev name,” Ihor insists. “This Bratva deserves better than you. It deserves someone who understands what power really is. Someone willing to do anything to achieve it. Your father understood that. That’s why, when Thomas Fairfax started having doubts about our operation, Genrikh had to take him out.”
“Bullshit,” I say. “Thomas Fairfax died of liver failure. It had nothing to do with?—”
“He wasoffereda liver. Multiple times. He turned them down. Do you know why?”
“Shut up!” Pavel screams. “Shut the hell up!”
I stop him with a hand on his shoulder. “No. We need to hear this.”
“That’s right, Kovan.” Ihor’s voice turns condescending. “You do need to hear this. You need to know just how strong a leader your father was.”
The chill in my bones spreads, but I refuse to shiver. I won’t let him see a shred of weakness.
“We had been monitoring Thomas for months. He started making excuses to get out of harvesting surgeries. The month before he died, he openly refused to take a kidney he had already prepped. He’d developed aconscience.” Ihor says that as though it’s disgusting. “We knew it was only a matter of time before he went to the cops and blew up our entire business.”
“So you threatened him.”
He presses a hand to his chest, the picture of offended dignity. “Ididn’t do anything.Yourfathergave Thomas his options. Refuse the liver, shut his mouth, and his family would be safe. That was the price. His silence and his life.”
I turn away, my gun arm dropping. “This can’t be true.”
“It is true. No amount of denial will save you from it. Your father is the reason Thomas Fairfax rejected that first liver. Your father is why Thomas declined his daughter’s offer to donate part of hers. That’s why he died. Genrikh killed Thomas.” Ihor pauses. “It’s poetic that you two met. Some would call it karma.”
I storm forward and shove my gun in his face. “I will kill you.”
“You could,” he agrees. “But the moment I’m dead, the truth gets sent to the cops in a neat little package. A copy also goes to your pretty girlfriend. Your life implodes, your woman leaves you, and you lose Luka anyway.” He bares his teeth in a smile. “But if you stay your hand a few more moments, you’ll see I’m offering you a way out. A truce.”
“You want me to keep Vesper from exposing the Keres.”
“Smart man.” Ihor winks. “Keep your girlfriend from interfering and you can keep Luka for good. Both Yana and I will sign over our rights and leave you alone. As long as you stay out of our way.”
Every cell in my body screams to pull the trigger.
“Fuck you,” I snarl.
A smile curls across his lips. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
81
VESPER
