Chapter Three
It was almost dawn before Stephanou came to Yuri’s home office in the penthouse. He handed him a photograph and waited while Yuri viewed it. The photo showed a young man with dark hair. As soon as he saw it, he remembered the young man. It was the same man that had bumped into him when he was going to lunch. He hadn’t thought anything about it as the man immediately apologized and moved away but now, he realized it that was when he lost his wallet. The man had been good, he hadn’t felt a thing, certainly not the man’s hand in his pocket. “So this is the face of a thief.” Yuri looked up at Stephanou.
The face was in profile and the quality wasn’t the best but the side of his face could still be seen clearly enough to identify.
Stephanou nodded. “We ran his face through our recognition files and nothing showed up. He’s either clean with no record or he’s just never been caught.”
“Be discreet but check with the police records, maybe they have something we do not.” Yuri tapped the photo. “Give this man a name and then find him. He has to be somewhere in this city.” Yuri stared hard at his man. “Then when you find him, bring him to me. I want him unharmed. I have questions for him.”
Stephanou nodded and left just as the phone rang.
When Yuri answered the call, it was his day manager. Grabbing the photo and the file on Andria Waterson, he went downstairs for his early meeting.
A few minutes later, he entered his office and saw his day manager June Harrow was already there waiting for him. He went around the corner of his desk and sat down the photo fell to the floor and June bent over to pick it up for him. When she laid it on the table, she glanced at the photo and grinned.
Yuri’s gaze sharpened as he noted her reaction. “Do you know this young man?”
June looked up and nodded. “Sure, he’s Raven’s younger brother. He doesn’t come in very often but she introduced us once. I think his name is Nicky.”
“And who is this Raven person?”
“She’s the hostess of the Tea House,” June informed him.
The Tea House was the restaurant that was part of the hotel Yuri ran as a cover for his business. As soon as she mentioned the hostess, Yuri thought of the small dark haired woman who greeted him each time he entered the restaurant. Usually, he was in too much of a hurry to pay her any mind but suddenly he wanted to know more about her. “How long as she been in this position?”
June’s smile began to fade a bit. “She’s been working for us for about three years now. She started waiting tables and advanced to hostess about a year ago. She’s been very good at her present job.”
“I don’t doubt that,” Yuri commented as he remembered the woman in question. “She always has a smile and a very easy manner about her.”
June nodded. “Everyone has nothing but good things to say about her. She remembers everyone and greets them by name.”
“When does she come to work today?”
“She works the early shift, so she should be here anytime.”
Yuri nodded then picked up his phone to speak to Stephanou. Because he didn’t want June to know what he was saying, he spoke in Russian.
When he hung up the call, June shifted is her seat. “Raven isn’t in trouble is she?”
Yuri smiled. “Not at all. I just need to ask her a question.”
June nodded slowly. “Okay, well she should be here soon.”
“Is everything else going according to schedule?” Yuri asked her. He just wanted to move on and get Raven in his office.
“Yes sir.”
“That will be all.” Yuri dismissed her.
A few minutes later, Yuri got to his feet and went back upstairs. He had asked Stephanou to escort Raven to his office upstairs. He didn’t want to risk anyone bursting in on them down here.
When he settled at his desk, the door opened and Stephanou ushered in a petite dark haired woman. As Yuri observed her, he rose to his feet and noted she was of small stature, her dark hair was pulled back from her elfin face and hung to the lower part of her back.
Her clear green eyes stared back at him. She almost looked like a child but her body was that of a woman. Her breasts were full, round, her waist tiny, while her hips were round and lush. Her work uniform strained slightly against her woman’s body. Her dark shirt was neatly tucked into her skirt. The buttons down the front barely hid her full breasts. The skirt fell about halfway to her knees and her legs were bare under it. With her low heels, she was barely five foot if that. The Tea House crest flashed high on her shoulder. She wore a belt at her narrow waist. The belt didn’t belong with the uniform but looked neat and tidy with its flat long rounded buckle just above where her belly button should be. The silver color of the buckle went well with the rest of the outfit.
Yuri was pleased at her tidy appearance.
Her eyes watched him while he took her in. They studied him intently while giving nothing away.
Yuri knew what that meant and could appreciate where she was coming from. He’d seen that same look in others. Ones who’d been beaten down by the past, as if they were waiting for the other shoe to drop and didn’t know if it were going to kick them or help them. Yuri was curious as to why this young woman would be so haunted. “Please have a seat Miss…?”
She heard the question but didn’t give her last name.
He motioned for her to sit and he waited until she sat down to again sit, behind his desk. Folding his fingers into a steeple, he rested them against his lips and watched as she simply stared at him. “Do you know who I am?”
Raven still looked alert as she answered, “You are Yuri Anatoly.”
Yuri nodded. “I know your first name but not your last name. I could look it up of course, but I’d rather you just told me.”
Raven looked away and the action told Yuri something important. When she looked back at him, he could see the blankness in her eyes. “My name is Raven Casseni.”
He knew she was lying the moment she said the words but he let it pass. After a few minutes, he leaned forward and pushed the photo of her brother toward her. “I’m told you know this young man,” he stated.
Raven took the photo and gazed at it for a long moment before turning her eyes back to her boss. “I might, why what has he done?” Her eyes met his in a steady gaze.
For once in his life, it was Yuri who looked away first. His eyes dropped to the photo and he asked, “Who is this young man?”
“Why? What did he do?” she repeated her earlier question without answering his question.
“I would like to ask him some questions.”
“What sort of questions?”
Yuri stared at her for a moment. Instead of answering her question he asked, “Who is he?”
“He’s just a kid, no one important to you,” Raven argued.
Yuri watched her for a moment then said, “Oh, but he is. I have a feeling he’s going to become very important to me.”
“Why would you think that?” Raven asked her voice hesitant.
“Because you are trying to hide him from me and I don’t like that. If he’s not important, you wouldn’t protect him so well.”
“He didn’t do anything to hurt you or anyone else.”
“Then you won’t mind if I speak to him.” Yuri leaned forward in his chair. As he did, he pushed a small notebook toward her. “Write down your address and I’ll have him brought here for questioning. No one else need know.”
Raven shook her head. “I’m sorry but I won’t do that.”
Yuri sighed. “Fine then, I’ll just get your address from your employment files.”
Raven scoffed. “Good luck with that,” she mumbled under her breath as she got to her feet. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work.”
“You aren’t going anywhere.” Yuri motioned for her to sit back down.
“You can’t hold me here,” she countered.
Yuri barked out a laugh. “You would be surprised at what I can and cannot do.” Getting to his feet, he nodded at Stephanou. “My man will stay with you until you are ready to cooperate with us.”
Raven surged to her feet. “You won’t keep me here.”
“Then tell me what I want to know!” Yuri bellowed as he stomped closer to her. “Who is he and where can I find him?” His huge hands tightened into fists and his chest expanded.
Raven couldn’t help herself, the fear was so ingrained in her, she dropped to her knees and covered her head with her hands almost as a survival reflex.
Yuri stopped where he was and stared down at her. He was stunned by her reaction. He recognized what happened and didn’t like it at all. His jaw tightened as he squatted down to her. Reaching out, he grasped her shoulders and helped her to her feet. “I’m not going to hurt you child.” His voice fell low and the rage of a few minutes earlier was gone.
Raven trembled. She hadn’t had a reaction like this in years. Being a small woman, she was used to men being so much bigger than she was. Yuri had the bulk and when he yelled he did frighten her. The fear she felt then was nothing more than a flashback to the time in her life when she was with Carlos Lopez. Tears rolled down her cheeks but she wouldn’t look at him. “I’m sorry.”
“I realize you don’t know me that well but I would never harm a woman or an innocent,” Yuri told her. “To raise a hand in anger against a woman or child should never be tolerated. Any man that does is not really a man but instead a coward.”
“You’re right I don’t know you.” She sat back down in her chair. “Nor do I wish to. Please let me go. You have no right to hold me here.”
“Oh, but I do,” Yuri assured her as he brushed his fingers down her cheek. When he saw her flinch, his jaw tightened but he didn’t say anything. He stood and said, “Stephanou will be just outside the door until I come back. Please don’t try and leave this room. I’ll only be gone a few minutes.”
Raven watched as both men left the room. When the door closed behind them, she heard the click of the lock and one set of footsteps walking away. She knew she didn’t have a lot of time, so she began looking for a way out of the room.
When she didn’t see any easy exit, she sat back down. With her mind racing, she jumped back up and began pacing the room again. She knew she couldn’t stay here for long. She had to escape and warn Nicky. She also knew they would both have to leave town and start over somewhere new. The only question was where? Where would they be safe from the Russian Bratva?
Yuri told her he would never physically hurt her but she knew firsthand, not every man believed that. Would he continue that even after he found out her secrets? What about Nicky? Would he beat up her brother when he finally got his hands on the boy who robbed him? Would Nicky even survive a beating from a man like Yuri?
Flopping down in the chair behind his desk, she upset a stack of files and they fell to the floor. Raven knelt behind the desk to pick them up and stack them back into a pile. That’s when she found the corner of a particular file. Curious, she pulled it from under a few other files and gasped when she read the name on the tab. Andria Waterson.
Glancing at the locked door, she sat down in Yuri’s chair, opened the file and began reading it. At first, she didn’t understand what she was reading then it all became very clear. Horror washed over her as she read the damning words. As much as she wanted to deny what she was reading, she knew she couldn’t. Suddenly, everything she knew made sense. Little things, things she had long forgotten from her childhood finally made sense. They even had her face in a still photograph from surveillance tapes—a face she knew all too well. Caught in black and white photography. It was a face she hadn’t seen since she was eight years old but she remembered it well.
Raven closed the file carefully. Picking up the entire stack, she put it back on the desk where she’d found it as her mind raced. She had to get out of this office—away from Yuri and his men. She needed to get to her brother before Yuri did. She searched the room again, for any way to escape.
Yuri walked out of his office to the elevator and pressed the down button. One of his brothers was in the office downstairs waiting for him. Normally, he wouldn’t break up a meeting like the one he was having but Sazon said it was important.
The five of them had grown up together. Orphans in the streets of St Petersburg, they had formed a sort of an alliance. They knew they wouldn’t have made it on their own, so by joining forces, they became one person and together, they were strong enough to survive the brutality of Russian winter. Together as a pack of sorts, they hunted the streets for food and shelter.
Yuri had always been a bigger boy and as such, he’d become the leader. But the others had grown up just as tough. Sazon, Roman, Barshan and Mikial, they had all become men before their time as they battled just to survive. And survive they did. They fought for their own little piece of the streets until one man noticed their efforts to survive. Nikoli Silvanic.
Nikoli had been a young Lieutenant in the Russian underground thirty years ago but he was moving up the ranks quickly. He’d seen the solidarity the five of them shared and began working with them. He taught them everything he knew and before long, they had become a force to be reckoned with. When it was time to move from Russia and represent the Russian Bratva here in America, Nikoli brought them with him. Nikoli had stayed in New York and set Yuri and the others up in New Orleans as their base. Just like at home, the five brothers had to fight for what they had but it had been worth the struggle.
Once they had the pecking order in place, each of them had started a business to maintain their cover. Yuri had the hotel-restaurant; Sazon had opened a fighting gym; Roman owned and operated a string of fishing boats and barges that ran goods up and down the Mississippi River. Barshan became a loan shark and a business man with his fingers in a lot of different pies and Mikial had opened a successful Import-Export business.
While they all were busy with their own businesses and such, they had brought together all the factions that made their home in New Orleans and formed a Council. Each group that lived and worked in the city was represented, the Cubans, the Blacks, the Hmong’s, the Mexicans, the Japanize and even the Ukraine’s had a place at the Council. While they all had a place, Yuri led the Council and the others enforced the rules they set.
When he entered his office on the ground floor, Yuri noted with a smile Sazon was pouring a drink. It was barely eight in the morning but Sazon was pouring a vodka.
When he saw Yuri, he poured out a second glass. Handing his brother the shot glass, they clinked them together and downed the liquid.
Sazon gasped slightly then set the glass down and moved over to the desk.
Yuri sat down behind the desk and stared at the man he loved as a brother. “What brings you here at this hour? Don’t you have fighters to train?”
Sazon nodded. “I do but something was brought to my attention that couldn’t wait.” With that, he reached inside his pocket and brought out a crumpled dollar bill. Throwing it on the desk, he waited for Yuri to take up the bill.
Yuri smoothed out the crumpled bill and frowned. It was a dollar bill the one with two zeros after it. It was a hundred dollar bill. He had a feeling he knew where this was going but he had to ask anyway. “This is interesting why?”
“It’s a fake hundred,” Sazon told him. “Mr. Choo brought it over to the gym late last night. He told me it was the fourth one that has shown up in the past few weeks. One of his waitress’s found it in his cash registers at his place of business. He also suggested that this problem be addressed through the Council.”
Yuri sat back in his chair and glared at the bill on his desk. Over the past three weeks, fake hundreds had been popping up in various places all over town. They had all hit different businesses and there was no set pattern yet for the fakes to upset the locals but if the factions started screaming for results, it could plunge the city into chaos and that was something Yuri didn’t want.
For just a nano second, he wondered if the Ukraine’s had anything to do with this. They didn’t like the fact that the Russian Bratva had gotten here first and that they had to take the backseat in the hierarchy of the city. Yuri tried to be fair about it but the Ukrainian mob didn’t like to play fair or take orders from anyone else. “I’ll give Mr. Choo a call later today. We have more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.”
Sazon glanced over at him. “Oh, what would those be? Anything you need my help with?”
“Perhaps, maybe you can help,” Yuri admitted. “My wallet was lifted yesterday on my way to the restaurant.”
“What?” Sazon looked stunned. This sort of thing just didn’t happen, not to them. “Are you serious?”
“Not only that, but late last night, my home was broken into and the wallet was returned. Nothing was even missing from it, except for my cash but my credit cards were still there.” He told the other man. Yuri waited for a moment while Sazon thought about what he told him.
“Did you catch your thief?”
Yuri shook his head. “Gregor placed an extra sensor on the door to the penthouse a few days ago. I thought someone had been in there a few other times. The only strange thing about those times is there was never anything missing then either. The alarm I set activates it when I’m not there. When it tripped last night, I was close to the security room so they knew it wasn’t me entering the apartment. We watched the monitors but didn’t see anyone in the apartment. When Kosta and I went up there, no one was in the penthouse and my wallet was on my dresser. We watched for a long time but no one came out.”
Sazon frowned. “You said this has this happened before? Someone entering your apartment without leaving a trace?”
Yuri shrugged. “I’m not sure now. Once or twice before, I thought things had been moved around maybe but it could have been myself doing it without realizing it. Once I found a shirt lying on the floor that I don’t remember dropping there. Another time, I found a damp soapy washrag in my sink.”
“Maybe you have a ghost?” Sazon hinted jokingly.
Yuri shook his head. “I don’t think it’s a ghost. Whoever it truly is, is very good. Nothing is ever missing that I know of, the items are just moved around.”
“And your wallet? Is anything missing from it?”
Yuri pulled out the wallet. Made of light brown soft leather he flipped it open and began taking stock of the contents. All his credit cards were accounted for, the cash he’d replaced this morning then suddenly he frowned and flipped open a hidden compartment. Yuri shot to his feet and growled immediately. “There is something missing.” He snarled.
“What? What is missing?” Sazon asked alarmed by his friends’ actions.
“I have a small brass key. It’s missing.” Yuri glared at the other man.
“Is this key important?”
“Very important but only to me,” Yuri explained. He stared at Sazon for a moment then smiled. “Come with me I want you to meet someone.”
Sazon got to his feet. “Who am I meeting?”
“Someone who knows a thief. Someone who needs a little help to cooperate.”
Sazon raised an eyebrow. “Someone you can’t intimidate? Color me surprised.”
Yuri shook his head. “She is protecting someone she cares about.”
“She?”
“Definitely a she.” Yuri chuckled. “She appears very young but I think she’s older than she looks. She is a tiny little thing but she shows signs of being abused by someone in her past. My manager tells me the thief may be her brother. I want to speak to him but Raven is protecting her secrets.”
“Raven?”
Yuri nodded. “She claims her name is Raven Casseni but I have a feeling even that is a lie.”
“Why would she lie about her name?”
Yuri shrugged. “I don’t know but I’m going to find out. She intrigues me for some reason. I find I want to learn all her secrets.”
Sazon smiled but didn’t say anything.
Within minutes, they greeted Stephanou and Yuri unlocked the door to his home office. Throwing open the door, all three men walked in.
The office was empty. Raven was gone and the only thing amiss was a stack of files on his desk. The files were messy, almost as if they had been dropped on the floor and picked up again. Yuri marched forward to look them over. He straightened them up and noticed the file for Andria Waterson was on the top. He had placed it in the middle of the stack to hide it from her. He narrowed his eyes and couldn’t help but wonder if she had read the file, then he wondered why it made a difference. Did she know Andria? Could she be the clue that would finally find the other woman? He had to find her and ask or at least find out why she would read through the file. It didn’t make sense to him. Yuri snapped his head at Stephanou and growled, “Where did she go?”
Stephanou swallowed hard. “I don’t know. She didn’t come through the door, it was locked. I haven’t heard a peep out of her.”
“How could she escape a locked room?” Sazon wanted to know.
“I don’t know but I intend to find out.” Yuri glared at his security man. “Search this room very carefully until you find her escape route. In fact, search the entire apartment. If she’s here I want her found, quickly and quietly.” Turning to Sazon, he ordered the other man, “You come with me. Nikoli is coming for his annual visit and we have work to do.”
Sazon shook his head. “I’ll put the word out again, to my contacts but after this long, it’s doubtful we’ll get any new information. She’s been in the wind for too long.”
“She has to be out there somewhere.” Yuri growled. “He can’t give up on his son. Until he finds out what happened to the boy he’ll never stop searching.”
“I don’t blame him,” Sazon stated quietly. “The boy is part of him and all he has left to remember the one person he loved more than life itself. You remember how they were together, don’t you?”
Yuri nodded. “Indeed I do. Someday, I want what they had but I doubt I’ll even find the right woman for me.”
Sazon chuckled. “There have been enough women in our pasts, both good but mostly bad women. Or rather women that we sleep with but someone we wouldn’t take home to meet the parents.”
“Not bad per say, just not the right woman, never the right woman,” Yuri agreed.
“Well my friend, I have to get back to my fighters.” Sazon slapped him on the back. “I’ll get the word out on the streets while you work from here. Let me know when Nikoli gets into town and we’ll have a drink together.”
“And I have to find my missing employee,” Yuri muttered under his breath. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the empty office again. Turning to Stephanou he ordered, “Find her and when you do, bring her to me.”