by Laura Gibson
Bill wondered how many men he himself had gored with his horns, how many men had he ruined to maintain his status? Now, he was going to get chewed up by nothing more than a mere boy, barely twenty-five.
“Mister Prescott.” Casimir was serious, his eyes conveying something that Bill could see as empathy, “I’ve looked over your proposal and I found it…” Casimir licked his lips and thought about his next words carefully, “Lacking substance.”
Bill sighed, he was hoping to keep a shred of dignity in this last business deal with the Volkovs, but as it seemed, Casimir had other ideas. And why wouldn’t he? He held all the cards after all. He was the only one who could save Prescott International from filing for bankruptcy. Wouldn’t that just be icing on the cake? Bill ruined his son and his father’s company. Not too many times one man could destroy two generations at once.
“Well, I’m sure we can some adjustments.” Bill forced a smile, trying to match Casimir’s even tone. But he was embarrassed more than anything. He was an old man now, he should have earned the respect he needed for the decay of age not to sully his reputation.
It didn’t help that Casimir was respectable, even when he had Bill over the coals, he managed to make The Bull feel comfortable, liked, acknowledged. As if he was still relevant in all of it.
“Let’s start with a more open contract.” Casimir gave his best relaxed smile, “Our goal here is to make sure Prescott International resides with the family of its namesake.”
Bill felt his lip twitch, Casimir was being too kind. It would put Bill in a terrible position later, something that Casimir was very much aware of. If someone could owe you, take the opportunity. Showing mercy now left more leverage for later. “What were you thinking?”
“Well, Mister Prescott, I’m opening several different accounts in the states and I wanted to be there personally to manage them for the first few months.” Casimir cleared his throat, pretending to be nervous. Pretending like he gave a damn about the aging bull being put out to pasture.
Bill swallowed, he wasn’t worth the time Casimir was giving him. His mercy wasn’t a kindness, it was torture. After all, wolves ate cattle.
December 7th, 2007
Charleston, West Virginia
Anna
Anna wished for the third time that day that she hadn’t picked the four inch heels, but rather more practical one inch kitten heels, the ones she knew wouldn’t leave her with blisters in the morning.
She shifted her weight off one foot and felt the relief course through the whole left side of her body. Four inch heels were off the table from now on. No more. Not worth the pain.
It had been a few months since she had joined Casimir’s business and she was alright with the whole arrangement. She brought in a better paycheck and was even making plans to fix up the parts of the house that had gone neglected in her less prosperous times. She had become the face for Casimir to use when selling cocaine and she was good with it. Even more so, she was good at it.
Everyone knew her as Alice and no one knew her for the girl known as Anna. She was a whisper on their tongues, a secret everyone kept.
“Senator Bronen will see you now.” An older secretary smiled at Anna with the smile of an old crohn. One that neither liked Anna nor trusted her. And Anna had even worn her white blazer today, it made her look more professional. What a shame.
“Thank you.” Anna smiled and walked towards the office door and let herself in. Over the past couple of months she had spent some time in this office, listening, talking, making sure she got the words just right. The words Casimir told her to say, the words Bronen had in response.
The senator was standing, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a scotch, staring out his full length windows at the city scape. He looked shorter than she thought she remembered, but maybe it was just the weight of his decisions weighing on him, pushing him down.
“Alice.” Bronen smiled at the name, knowing she wasn’t who she said she was, but playing along anyway. Whatever got you the goods, right?
“Senator.” Anna removed a small box from her breast pocket, neatly wrapped with a blue bow on top.
She placed the box on the table and saw the envelope waiting for her. Top right hand corner, where it always was.
Casimir had a strict no hands policy. Anna was never allowed to touch any of the clients and they weren’t allowed to touch her. Something about keeping the boundaries up, keeping the worlds separate. Letting people know they weren’t something more than what he wanted them to be.
“Connor’s lucky.” Bronen’s voice had changed as he turned to face the young girl. “He gets to see what else is on the table.”
Anna felt her eyes narrow at the less than subtle advance, “Excuse me?”
Bronen’s face ticked up into a sly grin and Anna stared at him, wondering if this was really coming out of him or if she had accidentally hallucinated the entire encounter.
Maybe she fell and hit her head in the elevator and was still lying there, bleeding from a massive head wound, or better yet, she was already in a coma.
Senator Bronen, a man she had known since she was thirteen years old, sat down at his desk and opened his box of blow. “How much to get you to bring that pretty little ass over here and do some with me?”
Anna swallowed the bile rising in her throat, and tried not to glare too much, “I don’t do drugs.”
“We could do other things.” His lecherous eyes flashed.
“No.” Anna’s voice was firm as one hand found the door knob leading to his waiting room and her exit.
Senator Bronen rolled his eyes but didn’t argue with her to stay. It didn’t really matter to him whether or not she did, but it was unnerving that he had asked all the same. It was disturbing and it was wrong. This was the first time anyone had ever looked at her and thought of her as easy. Was that something that was becoming a thing? Did people think they could get more out of her just because she looked nicer as she sold them drugs?
It made Anna’s stomach turn and she called the one person she knew who could talk to her about it without giving her those judgment eyes.
He finally picked up when her feet hit the inside of the elevator.
“Is everything alright, Alice?” Casimir’s warm accent made Anna feel solid.
“I’m coming over.” She told him as she hit the lobby button before hanging up the phone. This was not a phone conversation. Casimir would know how to sort this out. He always had a plan for everything.
“I can tell you what he wanted!” Anna was shouting, upset that Casimir had the audacity to ask her what had happened between her and the senator of mister feel me up town.
“Calm down, Alice.” Casimir rubbed his eyebrows with two fingers, looking at her, but not really looking at her at the same time. He was avoiding her emotional explosion and she knew why. Passionate, hard-pressed emotions made Casimir Volkov uncomfortable. He was just like Kelly sometimes, cold and unfeeling. Dead inside. Anna thought these things with enough passion and venom as she could muster. She felt violated by the senator’s eyes and actions and now she had to take the feeling out on someone. No one had the right to make her feel less than comfortable in her own skin. No one. Her freedom was her power, take that away and she would be powerless.
Anna swallowed and regarded Casimir with hateful eyes, she knew her cheeks were flushed and she was shaking, but there was nothing she could do to stop it. He had been the one to put her in that situation, to tell her that no matter what, everything would be okay. That she was safe. That no one would make her feel less than human.
“So, you’re saying Senator Bronen asked you to provide services you are not comfortable providing?” Casimir sounded more patient than Anna wanted him to be. She wanted a fight. She wanted someone to be just as mad as she was. Why was he acting so calm, so rational? Wasn’t she just screaming at him a second ago?
“The lech was practically raping me with his eyes.” Anna seethed.
Casimir nodd
ed thoughtfully. For a second it looked like he was going to say something but it was gone before Anna could decipher his feelings on the matter.
“He shouldn’t have done that.” Casimir’s cool, even tone washed over Anna and made her feel less furious. Was he validating her anger? Was he telling her it was okay to feel this way? That wasn’t right. Usually when people told her to calm down, they followed it up with telling her she was wrong.
Anna regarded Casimir suspiciously, waiting for him to continue.
Casimir nodded at a conclusion he drew in his own mind and pulled out his cellphone. Sending a rather lengthy text message, he made Anna wait before he put the phone back.
“You won’t be dealing with the dear Senator anymore.” He smiled at Anna, “I’ll handle everything from here.”
Anna frowned, confusion clouding her face, “But he has an open account with us, I thought he was important.”
Casimir shrugged, “A fly is important to a spider, but ultimately one of many. Remove one fly and the spider never notices.”
Anna swallowed, feeling the anger draining from her, unable to say anything.
Casimir got up from his desk and walked over to her, putting both hands on either of her shoulders, he smiled at her face. The heat from his hands warmed Anna’s skin through her jacket and she felt oddly reassured.
“Sweet Alice.” Casimir whispered, “No one should ever make you feel less than what you are.”
He leaned in closer to her and she inhaled the soft scent of his after shave. His lips brushed her ear, sending a shiver down the length of her arms. He whispered to her, “I will kill anyone who dares to harm you.”
Slowly pulling away from her, Casimir kissed her forehead and stepped back, “You’re precious to me, Alice. Don’t ever think I would let something like that happen to you.”
Anna looked at Casimir and felt the honesty in his words as his blue eyes stared into her own. She nodded, knowing he had always been on her side. He would handle Senator Bronen and she wouldn’t have to worry about it.
But something was nagging at the back of her mind. Casimir really only seemed to care about one thing and that was his own agenda. Sure, he would take care of this pest for now, but what happened later on down the road if she became a pest? Would her fate be sealed in a text message? Would she even know it was coming?
She looked at Casimir. She wanted to trust him. She really did. But for her own sanity she couldn’t. There was something wrong with him.
Kelly
It had been ten months since the conversation with Casimir in Kelly’s driveway. Ten months and neither one of them had broached the subject again.
Kelly tried to tell himself it was because neither one of them knew what to say, but he knew that wasn’t true. Casimir was going to pretend like it didn’t happen and Kelly wasn’t interested in finding out what happened when Cas finally stopped pretending.
Bottom line, Kelly had told Cas he wasn’t afraid of him. Like a child exerting its small will upon a parent, Kelly had thrown a tantrum and Casimir had graciously ignored it. Kelly was a child and was treated like a child. Casimir Volkov was something else entirely. He had people at his disposal Kelly had never met before, a whole network of worker bees that did Casimir’s bidding without so much as batting an eye. They didn’t flinch and recoil at the very thought of something nefarious happening. They just did what they were told and didn’t ask questions. Or that’s what Kelly assumed happened outside of his line of sight.
How long would it be before Casimir decided that Kelly’s antics were too much? How much before he decided Kelly was a liability? And why hadn’t he yet? What made Kelly so special, so set apart from the rest of them?
Kelly exhaled a cloud of smoke from his spot on the bed and stared at the ceiling, pretending as if the entire world wasn’t built just to mock his very existence.
It wasn’t enough to have Jefferson dragged into this fucking mess. No, Casimir had to have Anna too. Because that was his way of coping with the fact that Kelly had done something wrong. That was Kelly’s punishment. Maybe he wasn’t ignoring Kelly, so much as hoping Kelly would get the more subtle message.
Take from Casimir and he takes from you. In Casimir’s eyes, it’s always been an even trade. Always. Everything is fair game in Casimir’s world and everyone was living by his rules.
Kelly’s phone chirped with a noise he had learned to hate with his very being. At his core he felt his soul fighting against the hand that was picking the phone up, flipping it open and reading the words Casimir had sent him.
‘Sen. Bronen made undue advances toward your sister. Please remove him from our cliental.’
Kelly swallowed and put the cigarette out on his pillow case, watching the embers burn away the light blue cloth. This was what he was here for now. Making sure no one was trying to turn his sister into a whore. Making sure no one stepped over the lines Cas drew in the sand.
Making sure everyone understood just exactly where they stood according to Casimir’s rules.
Ryan
Ryan sat in the waiting room opposite Kelly. His knee bounced in anticipation and the heavy feeling of his gun against his lower back made him feel more secure. Sure, everything was going ass up in the world right then and there, but Ryan felt completely fine with it. He had a place now. He knew where he belonged. He wasn’t a businessman like his father and he didn’t care to be. He was the guy that everyone called when they needed something to get done.
Ryan sucked in a cool breath of air and felt his chest swell with pride. He belonged somewhere, which was more than what he could say for Kelly.
Everyone saw the pain on Kelly’s face. The toll of everyday living wore heavily upon the young man and Ryan knew it was only a matter of time before he snapped. Before he went full on postal and started pulling that trigger. The trigger he had never even touched before.
Kelly didn’t move from his seat in the waiting room. He didn’t stir or make a sound. His eyes stayed fixated on a point below the clock and did not stray. Ryan wondered if he had actual thoughts in his head or if he was just waiting for the receptionist to say something. Just waiting for more orders before he had to go in and be scary as fuck.
Ryan shivered. Casimir had made the right call when he put Kelly in charge of whatever this was called. When Kelly had to make something sound convincing even Ryan felt a tiny bit bad for the person on the receiving end.
Kelly’s face wouldn’t burn with anger and he had never shouted a day in his life. But the way he pulled the words out of his throat, the clinical sound of his speech, it made everyone know he wasn’t bluffing.
Bluffing was for people who had something to hide. Kelly had nothing to hide. His message was always simple, ‘Do what we say or we’ll kill you.’
His eyes would stay clear and he never wavered from his mission.
Ryan hadn’t had to shoot anyone since Mikhail and he knew exactly why. The fear this creature sitting across from him could put into someone was more than most could bare.
Finally, the door opened inwards and Senator Bronen was welcoming them into his office.
Ryan took the seat that was offered but Kelly remained standing, his green eyes focused on the old man that had recently attempted something with Anna.
“As I understand it, you have an election coming up.” Kelly said, starting the meeting.
The senator must have known something, or it was just the look on Kelly’s face that tipped him off, because he was sitting down then, the blood draining from his wrinkled skin, pulling away from his jaw and hanging in loose folds.
Kelly held up the file he had brought with him. There was always a file. Always something Casimir had kept as records of what his clients were up to in their spare time.
“These,” Kelly tossed the file on Bronen’s desk, “will be sent to every media outlet in West Virginia.”
Bronen swallowed, “Why?”
“My employer has decided to terminate his relations with you
at this time.” Kelly’s voice was low now, almost a growl, “If there is to be an upset he wants to make sure you understand what you would be losing.”
“Let me remind you, he approached me. Not the other way ’round. I didn’t need him before, I don’t need him now.” Bronen said, his voice hissing through purple lips, his eyes indignant.
“That’s not really my concern here.” Kelly shrugged away the protests, “Your lude behavior concerning Alice has made Mister Volkov aware of the fact that he no longer wants to work with you.”
Bronen nodded, “I knew that little whore was going to be trouble.”
Ryan watched Kelly’s eyes blaze with a new emotion, one he usually kept in check. “You should have been worried more about your poor habits, Senator.”
Ryan was surprised that Kelly kept the even tone he was exhibiting. Even Ryan had gotten a little hot under the collar when Bronen referred to Anna as a whore. He had known her his whole life, she was family. Ryan glared at him.
“Senator Bronen,” Kelly leaned over the desk, his face a foot away from the older man’s, his hands pressing down on the papers scattered across the mahogany, “As for your top supporters in your campaign, they’ve also been made aware of the fact that you’re no longer a person they want to be seen in business with.”
Ryan looked at Kelly. That wasn’t part of the plan. Scare the Senator into never contacting Alice again, while still reminding him that Cas owned him, in a matter of speaking. But this, this was ruining his life. This was taking every missile Casimir had against the man and setting them to detonate.
“I’ve also arranged for some people to have a conversation with your wife.” Kelly was continuing, “Once you’re out of a job, no longer able to soak up the tax payers’ money, you’ll have to rely on her, won’t you? Only, wasn’t there a clause in the prenup?” Kelly smiled.
Ryan felt the shiver grip his spine and he tried to hold it there, afraid it would violently shake his shoulders if he let it go. It would do no good now if he started trembling. But Kelly was relentless. He wasn’t listening to the plan. He wasn’t obeying orders. He was destroying a man and it looked like he was enjoying it.