Page 204 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

Matvei stands a few feet away from me. His sharp eyes have been tracking the Yakuza men. He’s looking for weak links.

“Maybe they know more than you do,” I say pointedly.

“Or maybe they just severely overestimated you.”

I grit my teeth but this line of conversation is a dead end. I have too many other questions in need of answering.

“Why take Vitya?” I ask.

Eiko looks distastefully at the partially filled-in grave. “He was useful while he lasted,” he replies. “But unfortunately, he was too broken to be useful for long. I have you to thank for that.”

“Me?” I snap. “Actually, you and your bosses are the ones responsible for that.”

“Are you referring to the dead daughter he couldn’t stop whining about?”

My hands roll into fists. I’d give anything to unleash them on the cocky prick right now. I can feel Matvei’s eyes on the side of my face, though.Calm down,he’s telling me.We’ve got to be smart.

He’s right. I take a deep breath and rein in my temper.

“She had a name.”

“So did my brother.”

“He’d been following my movements for a long time now,” I counter. “I had to answer in kind.”

Eiko’s eyes grow cold. “So it seems. And here I am: answering back.”

“I see,” I say, with a nod. “So it all ends here, is that it?”

“Precisely. I kill two birds with one stone.”

“And which two birds would that be?”

“I take care of an irritant—that would be you. And at the same time, I gain the favor of the men behind the curtain. I prove myself loyal. Useful.”

I laugh. “So this is an initiation to the big boys’ club, then? How nice. Gold star for Eiko. Or does Astra Tyrannis prefer stickers with smiley faces on them?”

Eiko’s eyes narrow into slits. He looks deadly. “Watch yourself, Mr. Kovalyov.”

“While I have you here,” I add, “mind answering a few other questions for me?”

I chance a glance towards Matvei. No one is paying attention to him, and I don’t want to pull their focus. So I keep my eyes trained on Eiko but I have a hard time hiding my smirk.

Because we’ve been brothers-in-arms for so long that I know exactly what he’s doing: the one-button speed dial.

It was a safety precaution we put in place years ago. One button sends a pre-generated text to a pre-programmed hotline—Code Red. Back-up needed urgently—along with a set of GPS coordinates.

It’s monitored constantly by men across my empire. That means fifteen minutes or less until backup arrives.

The only issue with the plan is we have to survive at least that long. Good thing Eiko Sakamoto seems to love the sound of his own voice.

“You have questions?” Eiko asks with amusement. “Let’s see if I can oblige you. The floor is yours, Mr. Kovalyov.”

“How did you know where to find Vitya?” I begin.

Eiko smiles with delight, like a teacher whose student asks precisely the right question. “You still don’t know,” he says in amazement. “I wonder, do you even suspect?”

A sense of dread spreads through my extremities slowly. And my instincts ping with new warnings.

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