by W. S. Greer
“Okay, now close your eyes,” he said with a bright smile as he stood behind me.
I did as he said, and I heard the sound of the box being opened, and then being closed again and placed on the table in front of me.
“Okay, I guess you can open your eyes now,” Kelvin said.
I opened my eyes and immediately noticed the beautiful silver necklace with round, black stones hanging from it. It almost matched my earrings perfectly, and I knew from the look of it that it must’ve cost a fortune. I watched in the mirror as Kelvin placed it around my neck and clasped the back, and there was something about this moment that seemed to give me strength. Something about that necklace fortified my hope and belief that Kelvin and I were meant to be together. The moment he put it on me, I knew that everything was going to be okay, and all I needed to do to ensure it was stick by him. So, as I looked in the mirror at my gift, it became official that I wasn’t going anywhere, and I wasn’t backing out of this.
“It’s so beautiful, Kelvin,” I said as I stared at the gorgeous jewelry. “This really must’ve cost you a fortune. You didn’t have to.”
“I know. I just wanted to. I’ve had it for a couple of days, but tonight just seemed like the best night to give it to you.”
“Well, I think you have perfect timing,” I replied. “I love it.” I turned around and got up, wrapping my arms around Kelvin’s neck and kissing him softly on the lips, careful not to mess up my lipstick, of course. “I love you, Kelvin.”
“I love you, Lilliana,” Kelvin responded. “So, are you ready?”
I took a deep breath, and then finally answered “Yes. I’m ready.”
It was a part of the plan that Kelvin and I arrive at the restaurant without Mikey, so we took Lauren’s dark gray Jaguar, while Mikey planned to arrive later, more than likely it would be in a car that we’d never seen before, and would probably never see again.
As Kelvin and I drove down the highway, I found comfort in how calm he was. Every now and then he’d look over at me and smile, without saying anything, and it made me feel so much more at ease. We held hands the entire ride, and I took in every second that Kelvin was rubbing my hand and smiling at me, just in case I wasn’t able to see it again for a while after tonight. My comfort, however, went out the window when I saw the bright green lights of the Alinea restaurant.
As usual, Kelvin used the valet, and a sharply dressed white man with a sparkly purple suit took the keys to the Jaguar as Kelvin and I made our way inside.
The clock read nine o’clock on the dot when we walked through the entrance doors, and the placed seemed to be starting to clear out, as there were many seats available and no waiting list.
I short black woman approached Kelvin and I with menus already in hand. “Welcome to Alinea. Just two for tonight?”
“Yes,” Kelvin answered. “Just the two of us.”
“Great. Would you like a table or a booth?”
“A table, please. In fact, how about that table right over there by the window.”
“Sure. Follow me,” the server said as she began leading us over to the empty table.
When we took our seats—and our menus—I looked out the window and noticed that we had a perfect view of the entrance to the restaurant, and it donned on me why Kelvin chose to sit here—he wanted to see it when it happened.
I glanced around the restaurant and I was surprised that I didn’t see Ivan anywhere. So, I scanned the seats and tables thoroughly, but I still couldn’t see him, which sent my nerves into overdrive.
“I don’t understand. I thought he was supposed to be here. I don’t see him anywhere,” I complained to Kelvin, who didn’t even look up from his menu as he answered me.
“He’s here. In the far back corner of the room, away from all the lights. He’s wearing the black suit with the black shirt and tie. His young wife is wearing the tightest red dress I think I’ve ever seen on any human being. She has long blonde hair, and her back is to us, which is the opposite of how I thought they’d sit. I figured he’d be the one to sit with his back to the rest of the restaurant so that he wouldn’t be seen so easily. Then again, he’s probably a paranoid guy and doesn’t want anyone to have the chance to sneak up on him.”
I looked around the room once again, focusing on the corners, and then I noticed him. Just the way Kelvin described it, and I felt my mouth drop when I saw how young Ivan’s wife was. It looked like Ivan was at least twice her age. Maybe more.
“Holy shit! How old is his wife? I take it she’s out enjoying Christmas break like the rest of the elementary school students.”
Kelvin chuckled and took a sip of the complimentary wine that was given to us. “Yeah, she looks a little young.”
“How old is Ivan?” I asked quizzically.
“If I remember correctly, Ivan is fifty-nine,” Kelvin said, laughing once again.
“Damn. There’s no way that woman is over twenty-five. Wow. Mob cradle robber.”
“That’s how some of them do it.”
Our waiter finally made his way over to our table, and took our orders. Kelvin ordered the king crab, and I ordered the scallops for myself. While we waited for the food to be prepared, I found myself glancing over in Ivan’s direction about every five seconds. I couldn’t help it. Just being in the same building as this man sent a chill up my spine, and I wondered how Kelvin could just sit there, knowing that the man in the corner of the room had tried to kill him on numerous occasions. To my surprise, however, Kelvin hadn’t even taken as much as a glimpse in Ivan’s direction. He was acting like he wasn’t even over there, so I figured it was in my best interest to follow suit.
It only took seven or eight minutes for the food to arrive, and Kelvin and I didn’t waste any time to start eating—besides Kelvin’s complimentary delay, while he waited for me to take the first bite of my own dinner, of course. We ate, mostly in silence for about ten minutes, and it was on my fourth scallop that the evening suddenly took a turn for the worse.
As I was raising my hand to my mouth, I unintentionally glanced over at Ivan’s table. When my eyes shifted over to the corner of the room, my heart damn near jumped out of my chest when I realized that he was staring right at me. He was sitting in a very dim part of the room, yet I could see those blue eyes piercing right through me, and his glare was one of the most intimidating I’d ever seen.
I didn’t see him say anything to his wife—because, what the hell was her young ass going to do?—but I immediately turned to Kelvin.
“Umm, Babe?” I said quietly for some reason I wasn’t aware of yet. “He sees us.”
Kelvin looked at me, put his fork down on his plate, and slowly turned his head to stare at Ivan. The look the two of them exchanged seemed intense enough to make the entire restaurant spontaneously combust from the inside out. Neither of them looked away, choosing to stare each other down instead. If looks could kill, they both would’ve died right then and there.
Suddenly, Ivan said something to his wife and stood up. I could tell that she didn’t like whatever he’d said as she gestured with her frail arms, but eventually she got up, Ivan paid, and they both began walking towards the exit. I felt fear taking ahold of me as I watched Ivan take out his cell phone and begin having an obviously heated conversation with whoever was on the other end, all the while staring at Kelvin.
When the two of them made it outside, I felt like my heart would just stop beating from all the nerves, and it only got worse as Kelvin and I watched them from the large window we were sitting next to. Ivan yelled something to the guys at valet, and one of them took off running—I assumed it was to fetch Ivan’s car. Ivan hung the phone up and placed it back in his pocket, and that’s when I saw Mikey walking across the street wearing a black suit with red pinstripes and matching hat that he had pulled down very low, obviously attempting to cover most of his face. I looked behind him and saw the brown, extremely rusty Chevy Spectrum sitting across the street, and I knew that it was the car he’d chos
en to accomplish tonight’s task.
As he approached Ivan, I didn’t think Ivan noticed him at first, and neither did any of the other men standing outside. Nonetheless, it was like I was watching everything in slow motion, and I felt panicked and sick, but I couldn’t pull my eyes away.
Mikey inconspicuously approached Ivan and I held my breath as he reached into his jacket pocket. Then, I saw his eyes shift from Ivan, to something in the middle of the street.
I followed his gaze and heard myself gasp as I saw a black Mercedes slowly creeping up the street, and I immediately knew who it was, and what was about to happen.
“Oh my god,” I said, a little too loudly. “Mikey.”
Kelvin obviously saw what I saw, as he stood up from his seat and I thought for a moment that he was going to try to run outside and save his uncle, but then he stopped, apparently realizing there was nothing he could do. It was already too late.
“Fuck!” Kelvin screamed. “They knew we were here! Uncle Mikey!” Kelvin banged his hands on the window, just as the pale, tattooed hands made their way out the front and back windows of the Mercedes, each of them holding a nine millimeter, and aiming in Mikey’s direction.
“No!” Kelvin blared, but the sound of his voice was cut off by the loud bang of the first shot, and then the countless others that followed.
The glass in the window shattered in front of us and people in the restaurant began to scream and duck for cover. There was so much glass and so many gunshots, Kelvin and I had to cover ourselves as well. Kelvin fell down on top of me and covered both of our heads with his hands as the glass rained down on us.
Then, just like that, there was nothing but silence. No one in the restaurant made a sound for a while, and Kelvin and I stayed down.
I could hear him breathing, and without even looking at him, I knew Kelvin was crying. I felt tears begin to drip onto my face as Kelvin covered us, refusing to look up and see what happened outside.
“We have to get up, Kelvin,” I said, struggling to hold back tears of my own. “We have to help him. We have to try to see if we can help him.”
“I can’t,” Kelvin replied, his voice shaking. “I can’t do it. I can’t see him like that.”
“You have to, Baby. What if he needs our help? Please get up.”
The sound of a woman screaming startled both of us, and Kelvin slowly uncovered his face and got himself to his feet, reaching down and helping me up at the same time.
Kelvin had his back to the window, and I could tell he still refused to look into the street. So, as I brushed glass off of me, I did it for him, and I couldn’t keep the tears from spilling over.
“Oh my god,” I said. “Mikey.”
Kelvin looked over at me, shaking his head. His eyes were bloodshot and filled with tears as he finally forced himself to look into the street.
“Oh my god!” he screamed. Then he took off running towards the exit.
I watched from the window as Kelvin ran outside and over to Mikey.
“What the fuck?” Kelvin said as a crowd began to gather.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Mikey replied with a shocked expression on his face. “I don’t understand. His own people shot him.”
The two of them turned their heads and looked down at Ivan and his wife as they lay dead on the sidewalk in a pool of blood. They both had been obviously shot numerous times, and it was obvious who’d done it. The only question was why.
Yosef and Mark Baskov took their seats at the large dining room table in the center of the room, but made sure not to touch the glass of champagne that was already on the table waiting for them. The large chandelier in the ceiling was extremely bright, and shined down on the members of the Baskov crime family—all of whom were in attendance tonight. The only one who hadn’t shown up yet was the one they all were waiting to see. They all knew that the change they’d all been waiting for had finally taken place. Now, all they needed was Ilia to make it official.
When he walked in, everyone in the room stood up and applauded. Ilia stopped in the doorway and smiled at his family as they clapped, unable to control his joy, even though there was a part of him that was saddened by the change his family had just underwent. Yet, there was a glow about him. His slick, dark brown hair seemed to shine under the lights of the chandelier, and the broad smile on his hairless face seemed bigger than ever.
He’d been waiting for this moment since he was a child. Since the day his older brother, Ivan, began trafficking heroin in the inner city of Chicago when they were just teenagers. Since the day his father killed his mother and himself, and Ivan became his guardian. Since the first time Ivan hit him to assert his dominance over him, and since the rest of his family and friends all started following Ivan’s lead instead of his own. He waited for forty years to be rid of Ivan, and now the time had finally come. It was finally his. He was the boss.
Ilia walked over to the table and nodded at his family—the family he knew he now had full control of—and then grabbed the wooden chair in front of him and sat down. The rest of the family followed his lead, and then quietly waited for him to say his first words as the boss of the family.
Before he spoke, Ilia thought about how long he’d been planning his takeover of the family. He remembered how he spoke to the members of the family and planted seeds in their heads about how clueless Ivan was, and how he wasn’t ambitious enough to lead them anymore. He remembered the day he convinced Abram, Ivan’s son, how killing his father was the right thing to do, because Ivan was abusive to him also. He remembered the journey from nothing, to where he was now, and he couldn’t help but smile.
“We’ve waited for this a long time moya sem’ya (my family),” he said, still grinning from ear to ear. “I’d sat back and watched the direction our family was going in for far too long. I know how many opportunities we’ve missed out on—how much money we could’ve made. I know how much stronger we could’ve been. I’ve seen our potential, and you’ve seen it too. The city of Chicago has been ours for the taking for years now, and yet we’ve only bitten off a tiny section of the enormous pie that’s rightfully ours. For far too long we’ve waited. Now, our time has come.”
Every person in the room stood up and began to applaud as if they were at an award show. Ilia could see the excitement etched on all their faces and it filled him with joy. They were ready for him to lead them in a new direction, and he wouldn’t let them down.
Ilia motioned his hand towards the table and everyone finally sat down. “It’s our time now. It’s time to focus on seizing opportunities, instead of avoiding them. It’s time to branch out. It’s time for new business, it’s time for new connections, and it’s time for new money. But, first, let us toast to nasha padshaya brat (our fallen brother).”
Right on cue, everyone in the room picked up the glasses of champagne that were resting on the table, and then they all stood up and held the glasses towards the center of the table.
“Let us toast to Ivan. He took us as far as he was able to, and he led us with a passionate love that’ll never be duplicated by another. His passing will not be in vain. We’ll remember him and honor his name by progressing. He will never be forgotten. To Ivan. Pokoysya s mirom, brat (rest in peace, brother).”
Everyone in the room repeated Pokoysya s mirom, brat in unison, and then took a sip of their drinks. Surprisingly, none of them seemed saddened by Ivan’s death. They only seemed eager to move past his legacy, onto bigger, greater things.
“Now,” Ilia continued, holding out his glass once again, and smiling as his family did the same. “Let us also toast to a new beginning. To new roads that are waiting to be traveled. To new money that is waiting to be made. To new power that is waiting to be harnessed. To new bonds that have been forged. To new friendships. To new business… and to our new business partner.
The look on Mikey and Kelvin’s faces were still complete shock as the three of us rode the elevator up to the top floor of the Royal Flush. After we lef
t the scene of Ivan’s murder—apparently by the hands of his own brother—we decided to meet at the Royal Flush to see if we could track down Senior and tell him the crazy news.
Kelvin and I drove in utter silence almost the entire ride. We didn’t know what to say to each other. It was true that we wanted Ivan dead so that we could feel safe, but we had no idea that we’d be witnesses to his murder without a Carter pulling the trigger. Deep down, I think we both wanted to feel happiness, but that was being overtaken by our shock and confusion.
When we pulled up to the Royal Flush and saw Mikey standing at the entrance waiting for us, I could tell from the look on his face that he was just as confused as we were. As we approached, he was shaking his head, looking at no one in particular, with a look of bewilderment on his face.
“This is fucking crazy,” he said as we walked up to him and the three of us made our way through the lobby. “I don’t even know what to think. I’m too fucking shocked to be happy about it.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” I replied as Kelvin pressed the button on the elevator. “I think I’ll be happy once we get some more answers.”
“I’m just glad you’re alive, Unc,” Kelvin chimed in. “I thought you were dead, man. I thought they fucking killed you. I was freaking out.”
“Aww,” Mikey mocked, “I love you too, Nephew. Honestly, I thought they got me too. When I saw that car roll up, and I recognized Ilia sitting in the passenger seat, I thought it was a wrap, for sure. I stood there, waiting to die, and knowing that there was nothing I could do about it. Then, all of a sudden, I see them turn the guns on Ivan and his little young wife, and they just started shooting like they thought he was me or something. I couldn’t believe it. And when it was over, they casually drove right past me like I wasn’t even there. Like they were just waiting for him to come out. It’s all just so weird, and it makes no sense, but your dad will be happy to know about Ivan’s death. It’ll be a big weight off his shoulders.”