Becoming Carter (The Carter Series) (Volume 2) (28 page)

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 left 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.”

The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open, revealing the same hallway I’d grown accustomed to seeing over the past couple of weeks. It seemed like we were walking much faster than usual. The adrenaline was still pumping, and we all were hoping that Senior could provide us with some closure on this whole thing.

When we pushed the doors open, all of us were surprised to see that every member of The Family was already sitting at the conference table. Senior was standing at the far end, and he extended his arms in welcome as we entered the room.

“Well, look who’s here. I was wondering if you were gonna show up tonight,” he said with a mischievous grin. “Come on in and have a seat. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”

There were two empty chairs at the end of the table nearest to us, and Kelvin and I walked over and sat down, while Mikey took his place in the vacant seat next to Senior. We were all still just as confused as ever.

“Alright, now that we’ve got everybody here, how about we get down to business,” Senior began. “As you all know, I’ve been working on something on the down low for a little while now. I’ve been on my grind trying to make sure that certain things fall into place, knowing all along that if they did fall into place the way I envisioned them, everything would change for us. The only problem was, of course, the other family.”

Suddenly, Mikey raised his hand like one of my students, and then stood up. “Wait. Before you go any further, Senior, I think there’s something you should know. It’s something that’s really important, and I think it’ll have an impact on everything you’re about to say.”

Senior looked up at his brother, and then nodded for him to continue.

“Something big happened at the Alinea restaurant tonight. Ivan Baskov and his wife were both shot to death. Ivan’s dead.”

Everyone in the room started to look around at each other, and their eyes all seemed to bulge at the same time.

“What?” Ant said, staring at his big brother. “Shot to death? What the hell?
Who
the hell?”

“It happened outside the restaurant while the two of them were getting ready to leave. As they were waiting for the valet to bring them their car, I saw another car come driving up the road like they were outside staking the place out and waiting for them to leave. Then, I saw two guns come out the front and back passenger windows, and they just started shooting. They emptied both clips on them. They had no intention of giving them even the slightest chance of survival.”

“That’s fucking unbelievable!” Ant bellowed. “And you just happened to be at the same restaurant as Ivan Baskov?”

“Well,” Kelvin interjected. “A lot has happened that you all don’t know about. The truth is that the three of us were there to kill Ivan ourselves.”

“What the fuck?
You
were gonna try to kill Ivan? And you didn’t tell us? What the hell is the matter with you? Why would you think you could do that without us?” Ant yelled as he stood up.

“Because they tried to kill me!” Kelvin snapped in response. “Just a few days ago, the Russians put out a hit on me, and they tried to carry it out
twice
! The first time it was just one guy. The second and most recent time, they pulled up next to us while we were at a stoplight, and they shot up my fucking car. I got hit three times in my left arm, and almost bled out. So, yeah, I took matters into my own hands and I went to handle the shit myself.”

“Junior, why the fuck didn’t you call any of us? We had no idea about this,” Ant continued.

“I know. I only called Uncle Mikey. He took me to his house and helped to get me back on my feet. It was there that we decided that we had to get rid of Ivan if Lilliana and me were ever gonna be safe.”