NEW YORK CITY, THE BRONX, A PENTHOUSE APARTMENT BALCONY

Ivan stepped onto the balcony, nodding to the guard who opened the door for him. The man
looked relaxed, which helped Sergey feel a little better at the news he was delivering. When the boss
was in a mood, best not to bother him with any bad news, even if an exception.

The balcony was proof of how far they had all come. Once, this whole city was ruled by the
Maggia. Today, the dons only held Brooklyn as their fiefdom, and one they held only at the kingpin’s
behest. And with the Maggia’s decline, others were allowed to fill the void. And the Odessa Mafia
stepped up, and the Bronx became theirs.

Ivan approached the hot tub, noting Darlene sitting by the edge, roughly massaging the boss’
shoulders. Her face was fixed in cold determination, clearly trying to hide how little give her husband’s
muscles gave under her efforts.

Aleksei himself looked to have fallen asleep, but when Ivan stopped at the hot tub on the
opposite edge, he snorted and rumbled awake.

“Ivan,” Aleksei boomed. “How’d it go.”

Aleksei didn’t really ask questions and said most things like commands. He wasn’t asking how it
went, he was demanding how it went.

“Good boss, good,” Ivan stuttered. “New rents were communicated to everyone in the buildings.
Guys who weren’t there, we tape new contract to doors. Some people weren’t happy, but nothing we
couldn’t deal with.”

Aleksei nodded slowly. “No problems then. They’ll be all out in two weeks.”

“Well… couple people here and then did make big fuss. Said new rent illegal, threatened
lawyers…”

The boss just grinned. “Da. Let them make fuss. They make less fuss once we throw them out of
window.”

Ivan bobbed his head in asset. “We keep eyes on it, boss. Make sure it stay quiet.”

As if in response, Aleksei rose out of the pool suddenly. Darlene jolted away as the mass of
muscle easily pushed her aside. The boss stepped out of the tub, nearly naked as he was born… save for
the small cybernetic implants, small metal circles visible at key spinal points and muscle groups. But even
without those, Aleksei was a behemoth at 6’5, and nearly as wide as he was tall.

Aleksei dropped one hand on Ivan’s shoulder. “Good. Kingpin trust us with this job. I trust this
job with you. So if job go side-south, you make Kingpin unhappy. And I trust you with job because you’re
family, but with kingpin… he bigger than family, da?”

Ivan swallowed. “Da… of course, boss.”