Cruel Paradise - A Mafia Romance Chapter 165

RUSLAN

Vadim Oryolov.

The traitor. The spy. The rat is… Vadim?

It doesn’t make any fucking sense. Family is everything to my uncle. It’s the reason he endured being passed over as pahkan. It’s the reason he played the dutiful brother, the supportive uncle. It’s the reason he showed up every day even after Fyodor had checked out.

Family is everything.

Those are his words, not mine.

Of course, Adrik could be lying. But I know that’s my denial talking. My instincts are screaming a whole different story. They have been since the moment Adrik blurted out the person who’s been scheming with him to bring me down.

I had him confined to the smallest room in the cellar. It’s cold down here, but if he is looking to me for a blanket or a sweater or a fire, he can keep fucking looking. I’ve offered him none. Let the bastard freeze his balls off for all I care.

I drag a chair into the cellar room and twist it around to straddle it. Adrik looks up at me from the corner of his thin mattress. He’s got his arms wrapped around his legs in an upright fetal position. The moment he stops baring his teeth at me, they start chattering.

He growls furiously and sinks deeper into his corner. “What do you want to know?”

“I want to know why.”

“You’ll have to ask him.”

“I’m asking you.”

Adrik looks away from me. Is this loyalty I’m seeing? I didn’t think Adrik knew the meaning of the word. “Maybe he thought I deserve what you have.”

“What claim do you have?”

“You’d be surprised.”

I roll my eyes. “I never pegged you for one of those annoying cryptic types, Adrik. It doesn’t suit you.”

“Fuck off, Ruslan.”

I inch the chair closer. “Did you approach him or was it the other way around?”

Adrik laughs bitterly. “The betrayal’s really stinging, huh, brother?”

It takes some effort to keep my hands from closing into fists. But I don’t want this piece of shit thinking he’s getting to me. “Betrayal is an inevitable part of this life.”

“But not from your inner circle,” he suggests, rubbing salt in the wound. “Not from family. So much for blood being thicker than water, huh?”

I lean in, resting my elbows on my knees. “Answer the question or you’re gonna have a lot more than just a broken nose. Who approached who?”

Adrik sighs wearily, like he’s too exhausted with this shit to even bother lying anymore. “He came to me.”

I have no idea if he’s full of shit or not so I just keep going. “He was the one who told you about Venera?”

He nods. “He didn’t think it would work at first. He was convinced that it would die an early death. But then initial testing was so positive, he realized that you’d created yourself a goldmine.”

I frown. Something about this is not making sense. Vadim would have earned a fortune off Venera, too. I always make sure that my vors receive generous cuts of whatever profit we make on any Bratva venture. So why move against me? His motivation can’t have just been financial.

Which means—

“It’s personal,” I mutter to myself.

Adrik flinches. “What?”

I focus on him. “He was the one who tampered with the Venera samples the night of the launch.”

Adrik doesn’t even have to nod. At this point, all the puzzle pieces are coming together. Sergey’s abduction, the botched launch, inside information leaking at every turn… Of course it had to be someone close.

So close that I couldn’t fucking see it.

I clamber out of my chair and back out of the cellar. Adrik’s eyes go wide as he scrabbles toward me on the mattress. “How long are you gonna keep me here?”

“You should be thanking me. You’re under my protection now. The moment I release you, the Wolves will come after you.”

“I can take care of myself.”

I loft my brow condescendingly. “From where I’m standing, it doesn’t seem like it.”

Then I slam the cellar door closed and throw the lock. The sound echoes against the spartan cement walls. When I turn around, Kirill is standing against the opposite pillar, eyeing me cautiously. “Everything okay?”

I glance towards the door and gesture for him to follow me upstairs. We exit the shed that serves as the front for the cellar and all the gruesome secrets it’s hidden over the years. I can see the bright lights lighting up the facade of the main house, behind which Emma and the kids are sleeping.

That thought—that they’re here, that they’re safe—is the only thing that comforts me right now.

“Adrik gave up the name of the rat.”

Kirill stops short. “Who is it?”

“Vadim.”

“Yeah, right.” He snorts and slugs me in the shoulder. “Okay, seriously, who is it?”

I don’t crack a smile. I don’t break eye contact. I stare at Kirill and repeat the name. “Vadim.”

Kirill’s smile dies slowly. “Y-you’re sure?”

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? How else could Adrik have known so much so early? How could he have known about Venera or Sergey or Emma or any of it? The night of the launch, it was Vadim who fucked with the samples. He was the one working with Adrik to take me down.”

Kirill looks like his head is about to explode. I know the fucking feeling.

“But… why?” Kirill murmurs. “He’s your uncle. He’s always been loyal to the Oryolov Bratva. And you are the Oryolov Bratva.”

“He’s always resented my position. He’s always hated that he was passed over.”

“Still—”

“I need to go.”

Kirill races after me as I pick up speed. “Where are you going?”

“To deal with this.”

He puts his hand on my shoulder. “Brother—” I flinch away from his touch and he backs off with his hands raised. “I just wonder if confronting him now is the right move.”

“What would you do?”