SASHA
Why did I do that? Why did I agree to that? What in the name of everloving fuck was going through my mind when I said yeah, sure, you can be in on the plan? Adrenaline? Raw fucking testosterone? That shit does fucking numbers on me weekly but not enough to make that bad of a decision.
There's a list in front of me, sitting out on the table in my apartment, a list of things I need before turning over Laughlin Avery to my Dad. The hard way, find every piece out individually, and the Starikov family way which involves dragging him into my basement and beating the shit out of him until he speaks.
I'm pretty sure you can guess which one I'm going with.
So I have to individually find out every component from this stupid scratched out list on the back of an old menu that I wrote down as fast as I could as my Dad was ranting information at me about a month ago.
Laughlin Avery, dead or alive
But my father is definitely depending on, if not betting on, me bringing him alive. He has plans, I'm sure of it.
His wife
For some reason
A full list of companies that he is invested in and who is in control of those stocks and how he changes around that money
This one I understand, but why my father wouldn't just have one of the soldiers google all that information, I have no idea.
Who would be in charge of the company in case of his death
Understandable. My father plans to kill him. My father also plans to remain in control of Avery and Co.
Where he stores all the cocaine he brings into Boston, exact locations and amounts
Money. My father is after money. Drugs and addictive substances are among the best ways of getting that money. This is proudly displayed with Great Britain's opium trade in history, and also drug cartels, and every mafia ever, and big pharma, and the exploitation of third world countries, and big tobacco and a hundred million other things. If you get someone addicted to something only you have, they'll give you anything you want.
Where he stores all the heroin he brings into Boston, exact locations and amounts
Same thing as the last bullet, addictive substances are raw fucking gold in the illegal world.
Who controls said drug stores
Again. Addictive substances.
Who he funnels money into and why. Aka: politicians, public officials, private officials, other companies.
This is important because the more politicians my Dad can get in on, the safer he is. Politics is a sham, entirely a sham, and it protects those who are influential enough to control it.
That's all I have but I don't doubt he'll come up with more information later on that I need to wiggle out of this man before someone will ultimately put a slug through his head.
Uncle Ilya takes that time to call me, my phone going off next to my plate on the table.
"Hi, Uncle Ilya," I sigh, staring down at my list of things and my list of ideas.
"How's Avery coming?"
I sit back in my chair, drumming my fingers on the old wood table, "fine, it's coming along fine. I made a stupid mistake today but that's about it."
"What stupid mistake?" He sounds beyond concerned, it's comforting, at least, that he's supportive.
"I let the girl, you know her, the mechanic, be further in on this than I had previously wanted. I needed it to be a just-me type of deal and she's an unknown-"
"Go for it," Ilya cuts me off.
"What?"
"She could be helpful, she's an in with Avery, she sounds trustable enough, plus, what's not disposable about a random mechanic?"
What the hell. "Huh?"
"Give her a trial run, if she messes it up, she's disposable. Have one of your father's men do it if you don't want to."
"What the hell do you mean she's disposable? Like I could just kill her if she messes up?"
"Exactly what I mean. Do you have a problem with that?"
"Ilya, she's a person, like a living breathing person, not some little game piece that I can just push off the board when I don't need it anymore."
Ilya stays quiet for a moment, breathing out into his end of the line, clearly a little distraught. "You really weren't cut out for the mob, Aleksandr, just like my brother."
"Your brother?"
"Nikita wasn't as strong willed as the rest of us."
"Okay, listen, just because I'm not willing to kill someone for fucking up just a little bit doesn't mean I'm not strong willed. I'm fine. I just don't like the idea of ending someone's time here because they displeased me."
Ilya lets out a little soft laugh at that, for some reason, "it's alright, Sasha, once you get out you can be at peace from this. So why do you think she's going to be a bad idea?"
"Not reliable. I don't know her. I don't know anything about her. I know where she went to college but almost nothing more. She's good at being a passenger on a motorcycle-"
"Not too distracting?"
"Far too distracting."
"Are you sure that's not why you made the decision to bring her in?" Ilya muses.
"What do you mean?"
"When did you ask her to be a part of the plan?"
I stop and think about it, think about his implication, "we'd just gotten to her house, I was dropping her off, about a twenty minute ride of getting to know her and she had grown on me somewhat, so I let her convince me."
"So she wants to be apart of this?"
"Said it would be entertaining. I said that was stupid."
"Sasha, I think you let her in on it while not in the right state of mind," he's almost laughing, "how often do you take passengers?"
"Never."
"And do you find her attractive?"
"Moderately." Extremely, but that's not my problem right now.
"I'll take that as a yes. So how muddled do you think you were when you got off the bike with this attractive girl at her house after giving her a ride home?"
"Not muddled."
"I'd say very muddled, Sasha," my hands knit together on the wood, listening to him chastise me in a teasing manner. "You're twenty four. Twenty-four year olds still succumb to needs that a man older than you would be able to ignore."
"I wasn't aroused by it." I was, but not enough to fuck with my processing.
"You weren't?"
"No."
"Sasha," his voice is still teasing, not scolding.
"Fine, a little."
"A little?"
"Yeah, okay, it was attractive and you know how I get when people can talk to me about motorcycles and stuff. It was a lot to take in."
Ilya chuckles, "then there's your answer. You were foggy in your decision making because you wanted her in that moment. Maybe not permanently, not enough to seek after a relationship, but enough to make a bad decision to get the headrush of being around her again."
"I'm not someone who makes stupid decisions like that."
"When was the last time you had sex, Sasha?"
Of course he's someone that just asks that, "I dunno, a few months?"
"You're proving my point."
"I didn't wanna take her and lay her down right there, that's not how that-"
"But you viewed her, in that moment, like a sexual prospect, so, your brain made decisions for you so that you could keep chasing. Instinct isn't something you can control, Sasha."
"So you're telling me that my inner being or whatever desperately wants to rail her?" I wouldn't be opposed, I just don't think that I'm close enough to her to even breach the subject.
"Was there enough chemistry to support it?"
"What, sex?"
"Yes, Sasha."
"Sure, I guess, it would be awkward and I'd need to be at least a few drinks in for it to come naturally but sure."
"Getting to know someone decreases the amount of alcohol needed to have sex with them comfortably."
I wince, "or increases it."
"Or that."
"So I made a dumb decision because my brain thinks that if I get to know her better, I'll get laid?"
"Yes."
"That's annoying."