Roman Marakov emerged, taking a moment to regard me, smoothing down the front of his suit.

This, also, was habitual. The three-piece suit he wore was his uniform.

I waited until he approached.

He dipped his head in greeting, his security fanning around us. This, also, was routine, but it was an act.

“Clay,” he said.

My first name.

“Roman.”

He grinned. “I’ve been getting regular reports of your team hitting my family locations. You’re doing good work.”

I nodded. “I’m doing what you sent me to do.”

“It was three years ago when I told you to start working for Igor. You’ve proven over and over that you are a worthy fighter for me. I am appreciative of your work.”

Roman never complimented me. I waited because he was working up to something, and fuck, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like it.

He smoothed his suit again, standing as straight as he could. “Having said that, we’re changing our scope. I’m going to step in as the new head of our family’s operations. I’d like you at my side when I do that.”

“What?” No. I did operations in the field.

When he’d sent me in to work for Igor on his behalf, it was a form of mafia undercover work. That’s what I did. I was the guy sent out to kill, to take down. I didn’t do management. I glanced over at Downer, his head of security. I didn’t do that shit.

“Because of your attacks, Estrada’s pulled back his support of Igor,” Roman continued. “Carloni returned to Philadelphia. Your half-brother’s decided a relationship with the Marakov family is not something he’s open to anymore.”

He wasn’t my half-brother. “You sent me down to make a connection.”

“Yes, that’s what I told you, but I really sent you down to test whether Estrada would be a worthy ally. He’s proven that he’s not. Because of this, I’ve decided to stop waiting. I’ll be coming to America permanently. When that happens, I’d like all obstacles for my family eliminated. You’re aware of what I’m saying?”

“You’re ordering the execution of your brothers and their heads of operations?”

That meant Carloni. That meant Bronski, finally. I’d been told yes, but not the ‘when’ it could happen.

That time seemed to be nearing.

“I am. You requested Bronski two months ago, but you never said why. He’s lower on the ladder for my brother. Why did you request him?”

All three Marakov brothers came from a long line of mafia background. They were each powerful, each ruthless, but Roman was the smartest. Him wanting me to “come in” and be at his side was alarming enough, but if I told him about Ash, that would be worse.

“I’ve heard you’ve taken a woman,” he continued. “And that she used to work for Alex Bronski. You care for this woman?”

I looked around, counting the men, noting their locations. I took a tally of their weapons—the ones I could see, the bulges in their coats, and I could guess at the ones they had hidden. To kill them and attack Roman would change everything for me, for the group I now considered my unit. This was why I never took a woman. If she was threatened, there was no line I wouldn’t cross and no person I wouldn’t destroy.

But I didn’t want to start here with this boss. I liked Roman as a person, and I was coming to respect him as a leader.

He respected me in return, or I’d thought he did.

“Stand down, Raize.” Downer shifted, coming forward. He had military training, and he recognized what I was doing. “He’s only asking questions.”

“Uh, yes.”

Roman looked between us, and it was obvious he didn’t know what had triggered me. “We heard that Alex Bronski enjoyed raping the women in his employ,” he continued. “I was alarmed when I heard your woman used to work for him. Is this the reason you requested permission to execute him?”

I hated saying anything, showing anything.

You either killed or you were killed. This, him asking about this, I did not like. I did not want to share anything.

“Clay,” Roman murmured. “After Downer, you are my most prized man. What you can do in the field is unmatched by anyone.”

Downer grunted. “Even me, man. I couldn’t do the shit you do.”

“I sent you to work for my brother. You rose up in the ranks until you got your own territory, and I know what Igor had you doing for him. You shed all of that, cut loose all your employees except for two men and a woman. We’re aware both men had original alliances to Igor, but since they’re both still alive and with you, we’re assuming they’ve officially changed position. Am I correct?”

“Yes.” I gritted my teeth, because fuck all of this. Now he knew about Cavers and Jake.

“You trust them?”

I didn’t respond.

Downer laughed. “He’s not going to open up, Roman. He survives out there, and not showing weakness is part of that shit. Just tell him what you want to say, but he ain’t coming in. He don’t want to come in.”

I stared at Downer. I didn’t know what to make of him.

He seemed to know this as he laughed again, shaking his head and moving back to the car.

Roman sighed. “Is he right? You don’t want to come in?”

I eyed him. “No.”

“You trust your men?”

I didn’t respond, because I didn’t. But I wanted to kill them less.

Roman seemed to move on, his eyes narrowing. “Bronski hurt your woman?”

He knew about her. He knew about Bronski. Why did I have to give the affirmation?

A sort of exhaustion seemed to settle over Roman, and he looked down. “I know your background. I sought you out because anyone who could evade one of Estrada’s death squads, then get him to agree to a treaty is someone worth having on your team. Estrada is threatened by you, that’s the sole reason he wants you dead. If he wasn’t, he never would’ve let you leave working for him.”

Why is he saying all this to me?

This wasn’t what he paid me for. I wasn’t the mastermind of anything, except maybe surviving.

“What Downer said was correct,” he continued. “I’m aware of your qualifications, but I will need you at times to come in.” His voice grew stronger. “I need a more open dialect between us.”

“You want me to talk more?”

Downer snort-laughed from the car.

Roman shot him a glare before turning back. “Yes, Clay.”

Okay… “I don’t like being called Clay.”

Roman’s head moved back an inch. “You don’t?”

“I go by Raize. Only Raize.”

“Told you,” Downer called.

Roman shot him another glare, more pointed. “Maybe you could take lessons from Raize and not be as forthcoming as you are.”

Another snort. “Yeah. Right. You’d be so bored with me then.”

A glimmer of a grin showed on Roman’s face. Then he cleared it away, eyeing me. “You like the unit you have?”

Fuck. I had to talk again. “Yes.”

He nodded again, one eyebrow rising. “Okay. You have your permission and your orders. Take care of them as you see fit, but I need it done within three days.”