Hotbox (87 page)

“Well, well, well, Ty… You come with a bodyguard and everything, huh? It’s not gonna do much good, you know. Boris is pretty good on the battlefield, but this is a little over his head.”
Roy
stood there with his hands casually in his pockets.

“Your
arrogance is not becoming on you, Mr.
Merrick
,” Boris replied.

Roy
chuckled haughtily. “You’re still good at being politely disrespectful, aren’t you? You’re gonna regret being so loyal to ‘Mr. Huntington.’ You have no idea what you’re doing, Boris.”

“Where is Jayden?” I finally demanded.

Roy’s
eyes left Boris and settled on me. A smile slowly spread across his face. “She’s in t
he back,
wasting the guys at poker.” I might have laughed if the situation
was
different; I’d taught Jayden to be pretty good at cards
and his comment was very believable.
But I couldn’t picture her doing something so casual at a tim
e like this.

“I’m here. Let her go with Boris and tell me what you want.”

He raised his eyebrows. “It’s that easy, huh?”

“It’s that easy.”

He pursed his lips,
pretending to think about
it
. “Hmm… How about…
N
o
. Why don’t
I introduce you to a couple of people first, and then we’ll negotiate
a
real
trade.” Before I could respond he motioned to a guard
on the far side of the room
,
and
the man
left
. Dealing with
Roy
wasn’t so bad, but I knew what was coming next and I wasn’t sure if I was prepared for it yet.

“First of all,”
Roy
contin
ued, “
I don’t work for Olevsky anymore. He’s kind of old news, now. I found a better job.
It pays more.
”

I
shrugged. “
So you’ve shown them you’re worth the pay; you got me here.
Get to the point
.”

He might have been about to, but a grouping of men entered the large, open room. Just their appearance and the formation they made as they came toward us
were
the essence
and
power
of a prestigious mob family
. I could assume that the
oldest
man in the middle was
probably
Lev
Derevenko
; he was maybe close to
sixty
. The
man next to him was most likely Meinikov, and the other three were either bodyguards, or more Derevenkos.

They stopped about fifteen feet in front of us.

“This is he?” Meinikov
asked
, but it was more of a statement. I could tell he was already
intrigued
by the similarities
.

When
Roy
nodded his head with a
smirk, the man looked me over
more intently
.

“So… You’re
Ty
?” He smiled a very pleasant smile, but all I wanted to do was bash his teeth in. Just looking at his chin and nose made me think of my brother.
He continued to look me over and I just knew he was comparing me to Trevor. Finally he said,
“My name is Aleksey. It’s
a pleasure
to meet you. You look a lot different than the last picture I saw of you. Much older.”

He’d connected the dots right away as expected.
Roy’s
expression caught my attention and I could tell he was
confused
.

So far so good on that aspect
,
I thought.

“Hello, Boris,” Aleksey nodded. “It’s a pleasure to see you again
as well
.”

Boris nodded his acknowledgement.

“Still being treated like a servant these days?” he
leered
. “It’s a shame after all these years of service to
Kristof
, and you’re still just a babysitter.”

Boris tipped his head in thought. “It is wel
l. We cannot always be ‘the man
,
’
” he smiled
casually
. “I know my place.”

The older man
in
the middle seemed amused. “Sometimes being ‘the man’ sucks,” he said gruffly. “It’s overrated.” He took a few steps closer to us, particularly looking me o
ver. “So Ty
… T
ell me
what you can do for me
.”

“
I’m only here for Jayden. Other than that,
I don’t know
what you want
.”

Lev was still looking me over, and I could tell that something
finally
clicked. He turned slightly to Meinikov, but his eyes were still on me. “Alek, tell me
what is perplexing me
.”

Aleksey smiled. “You are looking at my son’s half-brother.”

Lev had to chuckle. “Yes, I guess that is so. Then this is
Tyler
.” He shook his head with amusement, still looking me over, and then h
e looked back at
Roy
, who looked slightly ill
. “
Is this some kind of joke,
Merrick
?
You’re honestly telling me the ballplayer is
Kristof’s
successor
?
”

Roy
looked a bit
shaken
at first, but then his cool, even demeanor took control. “This i
s Olevsky’s number one. That’s
what you wanted, right?
I took out his operator, but if y
ou want Olevsky, you get him through Ty. I guarantee it.”

Roy
glanced at Aleksey with what seemed like a silent plea, and I immediately understood the exchange: Meinikov had used him.
He didn’t care about Merrick. Whatever he’d promised him
held
no meaning anymore.

The old man looked me straight in the eye.
“I want to know where Olivia is.”

“You want to know where my mother is?”
I repeated bitterly.
Roy’s
face turned white as a sheet.
I was positive he was just beginning to realize what he’d gotten himself into.
“She doesn’t belong to you. Is that what this is about?”

“You violate
my home and you don’t expect me to be upset?”

Boris began to snicker and on
e glance at him made me have to stifle a laugh as well.

“This is funny?”
Lev
asked
him
.

“Yes, sir, it is,” Boris replied. “Tyler had nothing to do with the extraction of Ms. Olivia. I assure you.
He has only recently discovered that his mother is alive.
”

Derevenko whipped his head to
Roy
. “
What the hell is going on
?”

Boris spoke before
Roy
could respond. “Mr.
Merrick
, you choose not to take credit for such a magnificent feat? Isn’t being boastful one of your strong points?” Boris turned to
Lev
. “Sir, there seems to have been a misunderstanding. Mr.
Merrick
has been dishonest with you. With that in
mind, we would like to have Miss
Jayden released, please. She is innocent to this and deserves to be treated as such.”

Lev
Derevenko was silent, but I could tell he was very angry. Meinikov stepped forward and put a hand on his boss’s shoulder. “This must end.
Kristof
has a debt to pay and this will do. Let’s finish this and go home.” I could almost picture a serpent
’s tongue
slithering out of his vile mouth.

Derevenko turned his attention back to
Roy
. “Is it true? You made your way into my organization just to betray me?”
Roy
was about to protest but Derevenko stopped him. “I can find out for sure in a matter of
seconds
, so don’t you lie to me.”

Roy
stammered with an excuse, but before he could fini
sh it, the boss made a single motion with his hand.
Roy
was knocked backwards with a
dark
hole
to his forehead.
Dax
, who had been silent the entire time, tried to run, but he received the same fate to the back.

I was stunned and hadn’t even realized that Boris was now standing directly in front of me. The whole thing lasted
a few
seconds and I hadn’t even comprehended that two men were just killed
right
before my eyes
.

Derevenko
looked at Boris standing in front of me. “Get the girl,” he told his men behind him.
As one of them left,
Aleksey was at his ear again.

“But
this is not what we’ve decided. I want my son back,” he
snarled
.

“Your
son
?” I exploded. “Are you for real? You rape my mother and you have the nerve to call him your
son
?”

Boris turned around and tried to shut me up as he backed me up a few steps.

“He wants nothing to do with you!
” I shouted.
“
Don’t fathers take pride when their sons respect them
? Trevor has no respect for you!
You kept him as a prisoner his entire life! What makes you think he would ever want to see your face again!”

Meinikov drew his weapon to come at me, but Derevenko stopped him with a single command. Boris was again
standing directly in front of me, but Meinikov was peering around him, staring at me angrily.
He
finally lowered his weapon and said,
“
At least my
son
was raised properly and would never speak to me that way.”

“Yeah, you’re right, I’m sur
e he wouldn’t. But I’m not him.”

Derevenko looked amused. “Then tell me what you think of all this. What should happen now?”

“All I want is to take Jayden with me.”

“Ty!” I heard her call. I saw her coming across the warehouse, trying to hurry, but the man with her kept a hold of her arm. She yanked it loose, only for him to grab her even harder. “Let go of me,” she growled.

I made a start for her but Boris held me back. “Just wait,” he said in a low
voice
.
“Remember what I said.”

“
Yakov
, be gentle with her,” Derevenko ordered.
Yakov
let go of her, but he still wouldn’t allow her to come any further. Another one of Derevenko’s men was now b
locking her way
as well.

I looked her over to make sure she was okay, and from what I could see, she looked
all right
physically. I saw her cast a look across the room at the two dead bodies on the floor
, each now in a pool of blood
, and then she made eye contact with me
.
I knew she was scared, and my heart went out to her.

“I want my son back,” Meinikov said to me.

“Mr. Huntington is not in the position to make that happen,” Boris informed him.

“Then it is only fair that
he trade himself until it happens.”

Before I could open my big mouth and give him a piece of my mind, B
oris was quick to reply. “Mr. Derevenko? What are your wishes at this time?”

He raised his eyebrows at the inquiry. “I am here to settle a debt that is owed me.”

“Which is?”

“Well,
the value is
approximately
twenty
million American dollars.
Plus thirty years’ interest.
”
He glanced at Meinikov, who was giving him an encouraging smile. “
But
…Aleksey would like his son
, so that will do instead
.”

“
And you think he is deserving of such a gift? T
he torment that has been inflicted upon Mr. Olevsky and his organization has not been sufficient? The loss of
his beloved Olivia? Mr. Huntington’s life without a mother?”