Ryan Renewed: New York Ruthless: Book 5

I lean back in against the leather bench in the booth of the Black Bear. It’s a small, rundown bar in Newark and it’s the place where Hayden says he was told of Jessie’s existence. It only opened up again a few days ago after the cops closed it down. I have a feeling its renaissance is going to be short-lived. Picking up my glass of Scotch, I swirl the ice and amber liquid around my glass.

“They sure look like they’re having fun,” Jakob Mikhailov laughs. He is Vlad’s oldest son and Conor and I have been working with him and his younger brother, Rudolf, to find the brotherhood.

I look around and smile at the carnage unfolding as Conor and Rudolf embark on a violent rampage through the bar.

“You think we should give them a hand?” he asks with a flash of his eyebrows.

I look again as Conor is using one guy’s head as a weapon to beat another guy senseless, while Rudolf has someone crushed under his boot while he punches another in the face.

“Nah. I think they got it,” I say as someone is thrown toward our table and lands in a crumpled, unconscious heap.

“They are kindred spirits, our brothers? No?” Jakob laughs and I nod my agreement as I take a sip of my whiskey.

“You know much about this brotherhood?” I ask him. “Because it sounds all kinds of weird and fucked up to me.”

Jakob laughs softly. “They aren’t as mysterious as they sound. They are like a branch of an army.”

“But they haven’t operated for years?” I frown at him. “At least not for the Bratva?”

“No.” Jakob shakes his head. “But they come from a proud line of soldiers. You don’t just become a member of the brotherhood. You are born into it. The strongest son from every family must give his life to the order. They take it very seriously.”

“But why do they still exist if they don’t work for the Bratva?”

“Ah.” Jakob runs a hand over his beard. “It is complicated but I will try to explain. They first fell out of favor when Alexei’s father, Viktor, was in charge. They failed him and he demanded they all be hunted and killed so they went underground. When Alexei came to power, he liked the idea of his own army of elite assassins, so he found them again and reinstated them.”

“And he sent them to search for his missing daughter?”

“Yes. But they had been out of practice for some years by this time. They did some mercenary work across Europe but it was easy money and nothing that honed their skills the same way.”

“They got lazy?” I ask.

“And fat,” he says in his thick Russian accent before he starts to laugh.

“So they failed Alexei too?”

“Yes, and so they were forced underground again and we didn’t hear of them for many years.”

“Until recently?”

“Yes. Shortly after my father became the new head of the Bratva we discovered they had resurfaced. It seems they do not approve of his appointment.”

“Why not though?”

Jakob downs his vodka in one and smacks his lips together. “Because my family are not Russian royalty like the Ivanovs. My great grandfather was a poor farmer and my grandfather was a lowly Bratva foot-soldier.”

“But why the fuck does that matter?”

“It matters when there are true Ivanov heirs alive,” he says with a tilt of his head. “The brotherhood can claim the throne for themselves if they have an heir.”

“So you think they want Jessie alive?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “I think they want her dead.”

His words are like a knife slicing through my heart. “She’s too headstrong and smart for them to manipulate.”

“Precisely. She would no doubt disagree, but she is a lot like her father.”

“Yeah, well I won’t tell her you ever said that.”

“But the kid…” Jakob tilts his head again.

“The perfect puppet,” I say with a sigh right before another body comes crashing into our table.

“Otva`li!” Jakob snarls as he pushes the intruder away with his boot.

I down the last of my cheap Scotch. “Maybe it’s time to give them a hand before there’s nobody left alive to give us any information?” I suggest.

“Yes.” He laughs and together we head into the carnage.