CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

THE RUSSIANS

 

Arkadi sat in a corner as he watched Iakov, Derrick, Jim and Vito pour champagne in their mouths from the bottle, each celebrating their recent victory.

Camp Kennedy’s murder.

They were finally able to do something none of them thought was possible…kill a King.

Although they were memorializing their successes inside of their hideout, Arkadi was still bitter. He lost his fiancé and no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn’t move past it. To relieve his pain, he started hitting the bottle harder but lately he moved to something a little stronger...powder cocaine.

As his thoughts swirled, he fixated his stare on his brother. Despite Camp being killed, Arkadi felt that his brother undermined him by not wanting to fight harder to avenge Mellvue’s death. What was one Kennedy dead when there were plenty more alive? He started to believe that Iakov felt as if he were in charge of the Russian Cartel when it was both of their operation.

After laughing it up with the other bosses, Iakov grabbed a half-full bottle of champagne from the ice bucket. He also scooped up two flutes and walked over to Arkadi. Trails of water droplets splashed against the hardwood floor with each step.

“Why are you sitting over here alone, brother?” Iakov yelled in an inebriated state. “Be joyful! After so much time we are realizing what we always knew. That we are the real kings.” He poured champagne in both glasses and gave Arkadi one.

“What makes you think I’m not pleased? Because I don’t laugh it up with a Dago and two niggers?” He gulped all of his champagne and tossed the flute on the floor. It crashed against it, thereby giving him unwanted attention from the bosses.

Realizing his brother was in a worse position than he imagined, Iakov drank the champagne, sat the bottle and glass down and looked at him. “I haven’t forgotten about your woman.”

Arkadi laughed. “I wish I could believe you.”

“It is true. And I’ll show you better than I can tell you.” He placed his hand on his shoulder. “Wait until you see what I have in store for you next. If this doesn’t avenge your woman, I don’t know what will.”