Bound by blood

Chapter three

Roman’s POV

When you’re gone for too long, people assume that you’ve lost your touch for power so they start to disrespect you and begin to play all sorts of dirty games behind your back. I tightened my grip on the cane at the thought of someone thinking they could overthrow me as the head of the Russian bratva.

“I need you to arrange a meeting with the other families” I lean back on my chair, looking at Mikael who was occupying a seat at the other side of my desk. “Don’t you think it is too early to start showing up at meetings?” Mikael asked. My gaze focused on him longer than expected, “no time is too early, no time is too soon and it is either now or they finally come up with creative ways to get me out of the way.”

“You just started walking and you can barely stand for an hour long, I think you should fully recover first before setting up a meeting” Mikael said again trying to sound convincing but all I could hear is a bunch of bullcrap that isn’t making sense. “…and then at my wedding, what would happen?” I cracked my knuckles “would a replacement be there to put on my suit and act as Pakhan over me since you do not want me showing up at events with my cane?” Mikael’s lips curved in a smirk “you don’t even want to get married, so we can skip all that till when you’re fully on your feet” Mikael is right, I haven’t thought about getting married since Collete left. I am not sure if anyone would want to put up with a man like me, considering my one foot situation and the fact that my world revolves around danger. I knew Collete was going to leave; it was just matter of when and why? She loved the luxury and everything that came with it, so it was not much of a surprise when she pulled it together for two years acting like the typical mafia wife, spending lavishly and accompanying me to events. I would say she was meant to live like that but the life wasn’t meant for her because she had turned her back the moment I got trapped in a wheelchair. “I don’t want to,” I admitted, “but it is a necessity. Let us not act as though you do not know why I need to get married” I responded. I feel a slight twitch in my leg causing me pain, “s**t, they are never enough drugs for this pain” I groaned “Let me go get more for you” Mikael stood up heading straight for the exit.“Call for the meeting while you are at it” I ordered.

**********

I arrived with Mikael at the private club. Nothing has changed, still the same stench of alcohol and cigarettes polluting the air. The other members of the table had already arrived. “I am not going to waste much of your time” I said, my voice cutting through the silence and even piercing through their thoughts. I took my seat at the edge of the table while Mikael held on to my cane. “I have been hearing things” I began “things I do not like and would want to address now” My eyes caught that of Diego’s and I could see the small smirk spreading across his face “the last shipment meant for my warehouse was hijacked by some Italian rogues” I said pointedly at Diego who was the oldest at the table and also the one overseeing the shipment at that time.“Do you by any chance have an idea who led that attack, Diego?” I asked “Things like this happen all the time, Roman” he said loosely, discarding my tittle. I nodded my head in agreement, acknowledging his point. Diego wasn’t wrong at all but since I became Pakhan this will be the first time my personal shipment will be hijacked. “Maybe since you know so much about how things are done then you can briefly explain how my shipment got hijacked” I cracked my knuckles, staring at Diego dead in the eye.

“Erm…. Em Pakhan” Grey drew my attention to him. Diego shot him a sharp look, but I gestured for him to continue. “The mercenaries have been out lately. They have been crossing boundaries, bombing warehouses and even hijacking the trucks being shipped to us” Grey said. I took a glance at Mikael, he stared at me pointedly and then I shifted my gaze back to the men at the table. “So why has nothing been done? More importantly, why was I not informed” my voice raised a little bit causing some tension at the table.“You were gone for six months” Lawrence answered “your condition and everything that surrounded it, prevented us from actually coming to you with this minor setback. Plus, we had to look for a way on our own”

“Way on your own” I mimicked “but still, my shipment got hijacked and I almost lost some of my men” my voice raised again as the last sentence rolled out my tongue. I feel Mikael’s hands on my shoulder but I brushed it away trying to contain my anger. I had no intention to talk about the shipment but it was brought to my notice just few minutes before I arrived at the meeting. So, it was only normal that I brought it up. I took a deep breath in, letting go of the built up anger so I could address the main purpose of the meeting.

“Diego” I called out, playing with the rings on my fingers “before I became Pakhan, my father ruled. He held records of those who mined the Sicils gold and surprisingly your name was amongst those names…”I paused watching his action to see if he would catch on to what I am about to ask “there was never a record of you returning the mined golds, where are they?” I asked, ignoring the sudden murmuring going on at the table. He should have known that a day like this would come. The greedy, corny bastard never returned the mined goods.