Chapter 5 Episode 5

driveway. Before ducking into his own car, he lifts a hand and calls out, “Tell Fedor hi for me.” I give him a nod and get into my car. The prison is twenty minutes away and my weekly hour-longvisit starts in fifteen. Fedor won’t be pleased I’m late, but then again, after the twenty-four hours I’vehad, Fedor can f**k off. “YOU’RE LATE.” Fedor is already sitting at a table, hands folded in front of him, his wrists shackled.Beneath the table, his ankles are shackled, too. The first time I came to see him, he was unshackled, and he jumped over the table and ran for thedoor when another inmate’s wife and kids opened the door to come into the visitation room. He didn’teven make it halfway across the room before three guards were on him, screaming and pinning him tothe floor. Hence, the shackles. “You had only to walk down a hallway to get here,” I say, scraping the metal chair legs across the concrete floor and sitting down. “Outside, there’s such a thing as traffic. Do you remember it?” Fedor lifts his middle finger, the metal chains jangling as he does so. “Did you bring me any “I sent it last week. It should be in your account by now.”“Good. Commissary is tomorrow, and I need a new pair of shower shoes.”It’s strange to hear my brother talk about prison life as though it’s the weather. To hear how normal it has become for him. “Didn’t your lawyer mention you finding a job in here?” Fedor’s face darkens. “You can’t be f*****g serious.”I shrug. “Too busy with your other extracurricular activities?”He snorts, top lip pulled back in a sneer. “I may not have my freedom, but I have my dignity.”“And if you had a job, you’d have money,” I argue.“That’s what you’re for.” He leans back in his chair, crosses his arms, and smiles.Fedor has never had a job. Not once in his entire life. My father pushed me to get a job as soon asI turned sixteen. Even though the plan was always for me to take over the family business, he wantedme to know what it meant to work. Fedor never got those same lessons. By the time Fedor was sixteen, I was already working for the Bratva, and my father knew I’d take over after him. So, why waste time with Fedor? That was his thought, anyway. His children were solely to be used for his own personal gain. Solong as we could help him, we mattered. Fedor, unfortunately, didn’t have much to offer Dad, so Daddidn’t have much to offer him either. Maybe that’s why I have always been the closest thing he has had to a father figure. Maybe it’swhy I’m still the one taking care of him to this day. God knows Dad would not have visited him inprison and given him a monthly allowance for shower slippers and snacks. “How are things?” I ask, trying to change the subject.“Amazing,” he says. “Better than ever. I’m having the time of my life.”I roll my eyes. “If you’re looking for sympathy, you aren’t going to find it here.”He flips me off again, but this time when he looks away, there’s a sadness there. A loneliness thatbrings me back to the dark days after Mom’s funeral. Fedor would look up at me every morning likehe was afraid I was going to disappear too. I see that same kind of desperation in his expression now,and I feel bad for being harsh with him. “Sorry.” The word is clumsy, dusty from disuse.Fedor glances up and then shrugs. “What about you?” he asks. “What are the guys up to?”Planning my overthrow, I think.“Causing trouble,” I say instead. A generic answer. “The usual.”“When is Petr going to get out here to see me?” he asks. “I haven’t seen him at all since I got “You know how he is about prisons.”Fedor nods and then glances around the room as though only now remembering he should be Both of Petr’s older brothers died in prison. They were killed by rivals in a prison attack. It’s oneof the many reasons he’s able to sympathize with the men doubting my leadership. He’s just as afraidof going to prison as they are. “I don’t have any rivals in here,” Fedor says. “Not since you cleared out the Magnani Mafia. Anyone who was loyal to them isn’t anymore. I could probably do some recruiting if you want.” More members with the same penchant for being arrested as my brother? No thank you. Besides, more bodies mean more men to keep loyal. I’m having a hard enough time with that as it is. “Nice offer, but no thanks.”“What? Inmates aren’t good enough for you?” His brows are furrowed, his tone argumentative.I’m spared having to answer by the arrival of Fedor’s lawyer. Kent worked for my father and hasbeen our family’s legal representative for as long as I can remember. He brought us full-size candybars on Halloween and attended our birthday parties, always in a black suit as though he wasperpetually on his way to a funeral. Considering how many criminals he works for, that wouldn’t besurprising. I stand up and hug him. “Good to see you.”“You too,” he says, patting me on the back. Over his bald head, I see the guard against the walleyeballing us. Physical contact between visitors and inmates is forbidden, but any contact at all is metwith scrutiny. The guards are looking for signs that anything illegal is being smuggled in. “Fedor,” Kent says with a nod of his head. “Good to see you, too.”“It would be better to see you if it wasn’t across this table,” Fedor says, getting right to the point. “When am I getting out of here?” “Working on it, working on it,” Kent says in a tone that is impossible to read. There’s a reason hehas been our lawyer for so many years. Then he turns to me. “How have things been going on yourend?” “The witness. George McWhateverTheFuck,” Fedor suddenly says, remembering something.Kent lifts a discreet finger to his lips, but Fedor rolls his eyes and turns back to me.“Did you take care of that issue?” Kent asks.“He did,” Fedor says before I can answer. “Didn’t you? That’s what you were doing when I talked to you last night.” “You two talked?” Kent asks, eyes narrowed.“On the phone,” Fedor explains.Kent shakes his head. “No, no. Limit those conversations. They’re all recorded.” Then his face goes even more pale than usual. “Did you say anything about George?” “No, I’m not a f*****g idiot.”“Agree to disagree,” Fedor snorts, biting back a laugh.I level him with a glare.“But you took care of him?” Kent asks quietly, glancing towards the guard who has diverted hisattention from our table to an amorous couple in front of us who look seconds away from tossing allrules aside and pounding it out on the table. “He’s already given his testimony, but he could bebrought back if we get the charges dropped to involuntary manslaughter.” Fedor growls, clearly displeased with any charges at all, and then turns to me, eyebrows raised. “Yes,” I snap. “I f*****g did it, okay? I’m the responsible one, remember?”Surprise flickers across Fedor’s face, but he masks it with a scowl.Kent just nods, ignoring our brotherly bickering. “Good. That’s good news. One less person for We both turn to Kent at the same time. “What does that mean?” Fedor asks. I was about to propose Kent takes a deep breath, folds his hands in front of him, and looks Fedor directly in the eye in a somber kind of way. “Unfortunately, there’s another witness.” Fedor blinks, and I run a frustrated hand through my hair. “Another witness? Did you kill the man in front of an audience?” “f**k off.”“A witness to a different crime,” Kent says. He glances at Fedor and then looks away, the tops of his cheeks going red. “She was witness to a slightly more intimate crime.” “She?” Fedor says, sounding stunned.“Who is she?”“It doesn’t f*****g matter,” Fedor says, almost shouting. His shock from a moment before hasturned into something frantic. The guard’s attention is back on us, and I lean forward to grab his armand calm him before I remember it’s not allowed. I curl my fingers to fight the urge. “She’s a waitress. The police know of an evening she and Fedor may have spent together a few “Years? Surely that isn’t relevant anymore.”“It sure as f**k isn’t,” Fedor says, pounding a fist on the table. “Are they also going to bring mysecond-grade teacher to the stands? I gave my seatmate a wet willy when I was eight. Next you’regonna tell me that’s a chargeable offense. Goddamn it, this is bullshit!” “It will be fine,” I say, holding out a hand to ease him back down. “We’ve handled witnesses before. If Kent knows who she is, I can scare her out of testifying for whatever it is.” “Kill her,” Fedor says, much too loudly.I lean away from him, trying to distance myself from the word.Kent laughs nervously and matches Fedor’s volume. “You can’t make jokes like that in a place