Chapter 10
Dmitry had ordered Anatoly to take Ivan and his men
to the basement of the restaurant. They waited there now
unarmed for the boss while more of Dmitry‟s own men
flooded into the basement with them.
Anatoly watched them carefully, never speaking a word,
only occasionally looking at his Patek watch. He knew what
was keeping his father. Royal. The question was had he
managed in all of this to keep her. He would know as soon
as he arrived, based upon the body count.
There had been many horrifying stories of the great
Dmitry Medlov, as cruel as he was beautiful, as cold as he
was cunning. The men had whispered about him the entire
trip down to Memphis. There were many stories about the
infamous crime boss all over the states, the UK and Moscow.
But one could easily mistake his kindness for weakness
because of his charisma and his ever graceful
demeanor.
Then there was his brother, Ivan Medlov. The story in
New York and in Moscow was that Dmitry had raised Ivan,
but since he was a boy, he had been a hot head. The
brothers had fought back and forth over the years about
many things.
One night, after a deal went bad because of Ivan‟s antics,
to make a point, Dmitry cut his brother‟s throat just
enough to leave him in the hospital, but promised to finish
the job if he ever crossed him again.
Dmitry left New York while Ivan was yet in the hospital
and moved to Memphis in search of another new start. The
only way that Ivan gained control over the Bronx was
because Dmitry left it for him. However, since Dmitry had
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been away from New York, Ivan had gained the favoritism
of the decision makers there and had proven himself to be
nearly as formidable.
The door finally opened, and Dmitry stormed in and
slammed it behind him. His men looked over at their
general, watched the perspiration on his forehead, heard his
hurried breath, and watched his twitching eye. He had
walked from the boutique. A sure sign of danger. It was
subtle anger that they knew to worry about, subtle anger like
this. A man like Dmitry never was irate. His coldness was
only reflected in the manner in which he destroyed.
Dmitry instantly made eye contact with Ivan, who was
even quiet now. He walked over to Anatoly and said
something under his breath, then walked over to the head
of the table where he sat down. He leaned his long body
forward under the large light and grinded his teeth together.
"Before I even get to how badly you have already
fucked up Ivan, I want to skip to finding out who the hell
these men are," he said, placing his elbows on the table and
crossing his fingers.
"These are my men," Ivan said, still somewhat smug.
He turned around and gave the men a big smile, then
turned to his brother again. "Consider them value added."
"As in extra value to me, brother?" Dmitry smiled.
"Dah." Ivan smiled.
Dmitry smirked. "Many of you in this room don‟t
know but my brother is psychopath." He over enunciated
the words as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "When he
was young man, I had him evaluated by woman I was seeing
who was doctor. She told me that men like him have no
feelings or remorse. They are very callous creatures."
"That bitch was just upset because I did not find her
attractive," Ivan said conversely.
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Dmitry sighed. "However, one thing that he does understand
is loss of assets. He learned value of dollar much
earlier in life than he learned appreciation for human life.
So, he would covet an object so much until, he would start
to love it, but he could never love person. This was true
even in grade school for him."
"Ah…there was one I loved, brother," Ivan corrected
softly.
"Dah, another psychopath." Their eyes locked. Dmitry
smiled and then continued as the men listened on carefully
unsure of why the boss was revealing such deep intimate
secrets about his only next of kin to them – peons.
"Anyway, I said all that to say that you follow him
blindly, and all the way to Memphis not knowing that he
does not give damn about you. He never will. He only
covets something that it will require you to take from
someone else. He will not pay you what you are worth to
keep you.
"He does not care if one or all of you are injured just so
long as someone can replace you. You are not Vor, so he
has no oath to you. This is why he calls you value added.
You all have come as a bonus, nearly free of charge to him.
And none of you, regardless of whose womb you slid out
of, matter here."
Ivan‟s men looked at Ivan and each other curiously, but
did not change their protective stance behind him. Dmitry
shook his head and Ivan smirked, not denying any part of
what his brother had just divulged.
"Plus, he put you in a very precarious situation. Because
you are not Vor, I don‟t know you. You could be
spies, cops…Brighton Beach." Dmitry shrugged his
shoulders. "And you come down here and create problem
for me with someone that can‟t be fixed very easily."
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Deviously, he looked at Anatoly and hunched his large
shoulders. "It is unnerving. My anger is nearly beyond
control and someone has to pay." His voice was calm.
"One thing I forgot to tell the men was how you love to
give long lectures," Ivan said sarcastically. "Next time, I‟ll
tell them to bring notebooks."
Dmitry stood back up with his hands behind his back
and walked midway of the long table and leaned against it.
He ignored Ivan‟s smug comment, understanding that it
was his way of dealing with discomfort.
"No smart men would come into their boss‟ boss' place
with guns and present a problem unless they were only loyal
to the latter. And I can‟t have that. Can I? My men are
only loyal to me. And you have proven that you are only
loyal to him. And you have proven that you can piss me off
quicker than you can tell me your names, which by the way,
I don‟t even know. And don‟t want to know."
The men started to fidget, realizing the grave error that
Ivan had caused them to make. Dmitry‟s men spread
further across the room in attack position. Ivan‟s men
started to step back into the room, while he only rolled his
eyes.
"I guess what I‟m saying gentlemen," Dmitry pulled his
arm from around his back and pointed the gun with the
silencer at Ivan, "…is that I don‟t need value added."
He pulled the trigger slightly away from his brother‟s
face and shot each of the three men in the head quicker
than they could start to flee. Their bodies fell quietly as the
blood splattered across the walls.
Ivan did not blink. He swallowed hard and a sighed and
he looked behind him again. He shook his head in utter
disgust. The smug smile was gone.
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"I just paid them thousands of dollars. You could have
at least given me until next month – until they worked it
off," Ivan said hastily. He turned around from the dead
bodies pissed. "You have cost me large sum of money,
brother." His anger was sincere. His tone much different
now. It seemed his loss pained him. "I don‟t have their
account numbers. It will take me weeks to track the money
down, if it‟s not already spent."
Dmitry looked at the bodies and his little brother and
sighed. He turned around and looked at his men all staring
in bewilderment at the strange turn of events.
"Like I told you…a fucking psychopath," Dmitry said,
passing the gun to Anatoly. "You all get rid of the bodies,"
he said to the men. "Anatoly…Ivan…you both come with
me."