Where the Sun Hides (Seasons of Betrayal #1)(20)

Kaz took a seat at the bar, unbuttoning his jacket as he did. “I thought it best to make sure they got home safely, as opposed to letting them leave Odessa where we couldn’t guarantee that.”

His father knew what he meant, and that he was right, even if he didn’t voice it. Had they taken a cab home—as Violet was so adamant they should have done—and something were to have happened to them on that trip home, the Markovics would have been blamed. It was their territory after all, and nothing happened without their knowledge.

And for whatever reason, the idea of Violet Gallucci getting hurt didn’t sit well with him.

“Even so, you have created a problem for us.” Vasily poured two fingers, and instead of throwing this one back as well, he sipped. “Alberto Gallucci called me this morning.”

It had been a while since Vasily uttered that name. While the two were more … neutral toward each other than Gavrill and Alberto had been, that didn’t mean the two would ever do business together.

“Oh?”

“Apparently that car of yours was seen leaving a building on Park Avenue.” Vasily gave him a dry look. “I don’t think I have to mention whose building it belonged to, no?”

“Like I said, I made sure the Gallucci girl got home safely. Nothing more.”

“And the other two? Their fathers were not too pleased either.”

Kaz tapped his index finger against the marble. “Ruslan would—”

Vasily made a noise that could be described as a mix between a grunt and a snort, a sneer working its way onto his face.

Kaz, who was doing his best to keep a level head, went from zero to sixty in a moment, that familiar rage he welcomed like an old friend coming to life inside of him. His hand clenched, his body grew tense. There were some things he was willing to put up with from his father.

His need to dominate any room he walked in—Kaz gave him that. He was the Pakhan after all, it was his due.

The snide comments made to and about Kaz—again, Vasily was the boss—but more than anything, Kaz didn’t give a shit.

But one thing that he had never been able to stand was the blatant disrespect Vasily always showed whenever Ruslan’s name was brought up.

“Careful,” Kaz said before he could check the impulse, and even if he’d been able to, he didn’t think he would have restrained himself.

With the command resting between them, Vasily paused—the glass he was bringing to his lips suspended in the air—his gaze moving to Kaz. Even Gerald looked up from his reading, where he was acting as though he was not listening to the conversation.

That was the thing about having one’s father as the boss as well. The lines blurred as to which persona you got. It was one thing for Kaz to speak out of turn to his father. Though still disrespectful, it could be excused. But to speak to a Pakhan as though he were equal, that was an offense not taken lightly. It didn’t matter that Vasily’s vocalized response was one of a father’s feelings toward his son, the discussion at hand was between a boss and his soldier.

Placing his glass back on the counter, Vasily laid both hands down, leaning his weight into them as he narrowed cold eyes on Kaz. His displeasure bled out of him. “What did you say?”

Kaz had a choice, everyone always had a choice, just as he’d told Violet last night. He could repeat himself, risk his father’s wrath, or he could bite his tongue and stay silent. Knowing his mother was still somewhere in the house, Kaz chose the latter.

“Nothing.” It took a lot for him to even voice that—Kaz wasn’t usually one to back down from a fight.

A heartbeat’s time. Two. Then, Vasily’s shoulders relaxed as he straightened. “Finish what you were saying.”

“Ruslan took one home.” Kaz didn’t remember the girl’s name, or had he even bothered to find out? “And Nathaniel took the other to the hospital. Undoubtedly, you already know this. So, instead of wasting time on what we already know, how about you tell me the real reason you called me here.”

Vasily frowned. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why was any of that necessary?” Vasily elaborated. “What happened before this?”

Truthfully, Kaz hadn’t thought much of what had ultimately caused the girls to be in Ruslan’s office. The only thing he remembered hearing was a glass breaking near the bar, and the girls’ cries of alarm from where he’d stood with Ruslan.

While his brother had immediately went to help the women, Kaz had lingered behind, making sure the broken glass was cleaned up and that no one else was hurt, then he went to see if his brother needed any help with them.

“One had too much to drink, I assume. I didn’t see it all.”

That did nothing to placate his father, however. He still looked baffled, and a bit annoyed by it all. “You knew better,” Vasily said again, shaking his head. “How many times have I told you that Brooklyn is off-limits to you? And that you were to never be around the daughter of Gallucci.”

The first he had said so many times that Kaz thought his head would bleed. And the second had been repeated a few times, but not nearly as much as the first. It wasn’t as though Kaz had had any interest in Violet before last night. He had never given the girl a second thought.

“Plenty.”

“Then don’t let it happen again. The last thing I need is Alberto Gallucci giving me shit because you’re making moves on that daughter of his.”