Page 3 of Sergei
They continued talking about this and that, and I found myself thinking back to the day Nikolai came to me about bringing Preacher and his boys into the family fold. I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea.
We had our own people. Bog, Conrad, Maki, and Jenson were just a few of the men who’d stepped up and proven their loyalty to me and my brothers. They put their lives on the line to follow us from New York, and they’d had our backs at every turn. But we’d hit a wall. We were busting our asses to get the Black Crown up and running, and things weren’t going well.
And that was putting it lightly.
There was a bit of bad blood surrounding the purchase of the property. We wanted riverfront property, which meant crossing some lines and giving some a steady push to walk away from their homes and businesses. A few of the unavoidable casualties were looking for a taste of revenge and were doing what they could to slow down construction.
Most of it was petty shit like stealing tools and equipment, but then, the random fires started, and that was a significant concern. I was already on edge, and my boys and I were ready to show these rednecks what it meant to mess with the Volkovs when Nikolai strolled into my office and announced,“We need to partner with Satan’s Fury.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“A partnership with Fury. I’ve already spoken with Preacher, and he’s agreed to a meet.”
We were still relatively new to the area, but I’d already heard the name numerous times. They were a group ofroughneck bikers who thought they owned the fucking city, and I was biding my time for a moment when I could prove them wrong. Needless to say, I wasn’t keen on the idea.
In fact, I was totally against it.
“Have you lost your goddamn mind?”
“They could help get us out of this hole we’ve found ourselves in.” He actually sounded proud of himself as he told me, “I’ve been watching them. I’ve seen how they run things, and…”
“You’ve been watching them? What the fuck, Nikolai?”
“You’re not hearing me. They have a way about them, Sergei. You have to see it to understand.”
“A way about them? What the hell are you thinking with this?” I had to fight the urge to strangle him as I shouted, "You’re too damn impulsive, Nikolai. You’re always letting your emotions get in the way, and one day, it’s going to cost us."
He gave me one of his looks and shook his head. “You have all these big plans, Sergei, but you don’t have the backing you need to see them through.”
“I have the Volkov name! That’s all I need!”
"If that’s true, then why did someone set that fire at the construction site last week?”
Nikolai kept his voice low and steady.
That was him.
He was full of emotion, but he kept it reigned in.
Nikolai’s the youngest, and he was tall like Viktor and me, with the same dark hair and intense eyes that never missed a thing. He was covered in ink—symbols and words that spoke of the family and the life we’d led, and they only seemed to add to his intensity.
He saw the world in colors that we were all blind to. Mother said it made him an artful soul. I thought it made him hard to deal with. His nature didn’t make him vulnerable or soft. Thekid had a spine of steel, so I wasn’t surprised when he kept pushing, “And why are our tools and equipment constantly being stolen?”
“That sort of thing just happens.”
“It shouldn’t. Not if the Volkov name has the power you think it does. If it did, then no one would dare to fuck with us or our construction site.”
I sounded like our father when I snarled, “Maybe it’s time I remind them what happens when you cross a Volkov.”
“You would just make matters worse,” Nikolai argued. “We need these guys, Sergei.Satan’s Fury has built something here. They’ve made a name for themselves, and people don’t just fear them. They respect them, and that’s what makes them different. It’s one of the many reasons the Vault has done as well as it has.”
“They’re a goddamn biker club.”
“Maybe so, but they have something we don’t.” Nikolai crossed his arms and glared at me with resolve. “They have a reputation that supersedes them. No one crosses them, and no one questions them.”
“Volkovs have the same reputation!”
“No. We don’t,” he argued. “People fear us. No doubt about that, but that’s not how we will bring people into the casino. If anything, it will keep them away.”
