Angel trudged from the car to the familiar run down apartment that she swore lost more and more roof shingles every time she came back, and dragged herself up the stairs to the flat she now shared with her crew.

  Not bothering to see who was home or say hello, she tossed her things aside and went to the bathroom for a shower. The place wasn’t much cleaner than when she had first been forced there against her will, but she no longer feared getting some sort of disease from walking around bare foot. Nothing about any part of the situation was ideal, but moving in with her guys was an easier option by far. Not only could she keep an eye on them and monitor any business in the area, it was also double the size of her old place and half the rent. Sure, she had to crash on the couch, but she’d had much worse.

  After standing under the scalding water, imagining that if would somehow be hot enough to burn away all of her problems, Beau decided to let himself in.

  “What the fuck?!” Angel shrieked as she heard him come in. “Get the fuck outta here, this isn’t some locker room! What in God’s name is wrong with you?!”

  “I’m just grabbin’ some aspirin,” Beau said defensively as he opened the medicine cabinet. “What’s the big deal? You take your clothes off everyday for a livin’.”

  “Unless your broke ass is going to throw some cash in here, you can fuck off and park it out there. And find Dima, I need to talk to you both.”

  “No one’s forcin’ you to stay here. If I bother you so much, go back to your own dump.”

  “Hey, the fridge is full of food and I got your gas turned back on, don’t bitch.”

  Beau grumbled to himself and stomped out to the living room like a petulant child. She really needed to invest in getting new locks for the place. Once she finished rinsing off, she wrapped a towel around her body and another around her hair and went out to find some clean clothes. She was in a rush after being held up for so long at the cafe and she needed to get ready.a few moments of rummaging around the bag she’d yet to unpack, she pulled out a plain black mini-skirt and blouse. The shirt was low cut and both sparkled but it was the best she could do. Beau had brought out Dima, who once again averted his eyes at the sight of her mostly exposed body, and both waited on the couch.

  Leaving the bathroom door cracked open as she got dressed, she cut to the chase.

  “I finally had my sit down with Matvey,” she told them. “He extends his thanks for your work and returning me, and, just as I suspected, he wants your little coke operation on hold until further notice.”

  “Does he have somethin’ against the stuff?” Beau asked.

  “Not personally, but he wants to keep it under control. Smuggling is his primary operation under the table, that parking garage we were in is a part of his new import firm. After all the shit that went down back home, I’m not surprised he’d move his operation, but I didn’t think he’d come to the states of all places.”

  “So what’re we supposed to do ‘til then?”

  “He wants me to get back together with Nikolai and start working with him again. Basically, you’ll be doing whatever it is we’re doing, I’m not entirely sure what all it’ll be though. I can imagine the list of things we’re allowed to handle is a bit longer since we’ve grown up. Don’t worry, it’s steady work and I’ll make sure the pay is worth it.”

  “You seem awfully calm about this,” Dima said. “Compared to before anyway.”

  “I don’t know,” Angel said as she began fixing her makeup. She didn’t know who she was trying to impress, but for the sake of maintaining an already shaky routine, she did it anyway. “As childish as it sounds, now that I know he’s not mad at me or about what happened, I feel so relieved. I’ve only seen the man truly angry a few times before and that’s something I’d like to avoid being on the receiving end of.”

  There was no time to finish her hair, so air drying would have to suffice. Slipping her glasses on, she grabbed her bag and coat to leave again and made a trip to the rusty vent to get her gun. Perhaps it was paranoia after everything that happened, but better safe than sorry.

  “You just got back. Where could you be going now?”

  “Yeah, you actually look classy for a change, what gives?” Beau asked. Angel had gotten used to his digs and knew that ignoring him would only egg him on. Besides his attitude and overall hot-mess persona that he seemed to be forcing on the rest of the flat, he wasn’t that bad a roommate.

  “I need to go talk to my brother, Luka,” she said, tucking the pistol into the waistband of her skirt. “Dumbass probably won’t listen, but now that I know Matvey has a long term investment here, I need to warn him. You’re welcome to tag along if you want.”

  “Wait a minute, your brother’s here? I thought you two weren’t even on speakin’ terms.”

  “I said we barely speak. I tend to do most of the talking-”

  “I can believe that.”

  “Whatever! He doesn’t have to speak, he just has to listen… I wish he’d speak. Sanctimonious prick.”

  “You still care about him,” Dima said as they walked out together. It wasn’t a question and judging by the soft fondness in his tone, he was speaking from the heart, from experience.

  “Of course I do. You have any brothers or sisters, big guy?”

  “Haha! Yes, many,” he laughed and pulled up a picture on his phone. There were an even dozen children on the screen, ranging from five years old to around Dima’s age in their early twenties.

  “Oh my god! These are all your siblings? How do you deal?”

  It was unfathomable to her. She only had the one brother and even though she barely saw him, he still drove her nuts.

  “We get by. I’m the oldest, so I used to take care of them when I was growing up.”

  Angel had to laugh herself. Dima was far too wholesome for his own good. Especially for the line of work he’d chosen.

  “What about you, Beau?” she asked. “Any family?”

  If they were going to be stuck together, they may as well try to get to know each other.

  “Nope, just me, myself, and I,” he grumbled. “Dima’s the family man.”

  Angel caught the odd look Dima gave him, but didn’t press. Beau had to be the most hard headed man she’d ever met and she doubted he’d tell her anything about his personal life. Which she considered a little unfair, but given that he knew more about her than she was comfortable with anyone knowing, she respected that he wanted to keep his book closed.

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  “Do you want to take the car?” Dima asked.

  “I don’t want to get in a car with you guys for a while,” Angel said. “Or anyone for that matter. It’s not too far to walk.”

  Dima couldn’t blame her for that, he was still embarrassed about how things went down when they first met. Beau, on the other hand, thought she was being a drama queen, but hey knew better than to argue with her at this point, no matter how much fun it was to push her buttons.

  Angel led them a few blocks away to a modest church tucked between a soup kitchen and a children’s shelter. The boys never pegged her for the church going type and after what she’d told them, they couldn’t imagine the rest of her family would be either. This seemed to be a great week for surprising.

  “I don’t usually come during evening mass, but that means I should be able to catch him off guard.”

  “Sorry, I have a hard time picturin’ you as a good Christian girl,” Beau said as they walked in.

  “I’d tell you to go you-know-what yourself, but we’re in a church. Have a little decorum and behave yourselves.”

  She dipped her fingers in the humble fountain of holy water at the entrance, Beau followed suit and Dima politely abstained. Service had already began, so as inconspicuously as the could manage, especially with someone Dima’s size, they crept in and took their seats in the very back pew. Angel immediately slouched down in the hard wooden seat to keep out of sight as she watched.

  “Sorry to make you guys wait, but I have to corner him after the service. Try to keep low, I don’t want to tip him off.”

  “Are you sure he’s here?” Dima asked. “Do you see him?”

  Angel bit her lip, stifling a chuckle, and nodded up to the altar where a young priest was delivering the sermon in a soft voice that barely carried back to them. They looked back and forth between him and Angel, if it weren’t for Angel’s dyed hair the two could’ve been twins, right down to the glasses on their faces.

  “There’s no way...”Dima whispered, gobsmacked.

  “You’ve gotta be shittin’ me!” Beau hissed, earning a shush from two older ladies sitting a few rows ahead. “You’re brother ran away to be a priest? Were things so bad back home that he had to leave and find Jesus?”

  “He’s just a holier than thou prick, who’s always had a chip on his shoulder about our family’s lifestyle,” Angel mumbled, glaring at the altar.

  “So much for bein’ in a chur- ow!” Angel elbowed him in the ribs.

  “Yeah, yeah, now zip it until it’s over.”

  She signed the cross and mentally recited what she remembered of a Hail Mary in a half-hearted atonement.

  The rest of the mass passed easily, they elected to skip communion and hid in the back as the rest of the parishioners filed out. Once Luka was alone and cleaning up, Angel snuck up while his back was turned.

  “Hey stupid, I need to talk to you,” she said their customary greeting.

  Luka’s stick strait posture fell into an exasperated slouch as he dropped his head and groaned.

  “Lord, give me patience,” he muttered. “What do you want now? I’m busy.”

  Seven whole words, they were off to a great start.

  “Uncle Matvey is in the city.”

  Luka whipped his head around so fast it nearly knocked his glasses off. He looked around nervously, worried about anyone who could be overhearing them. Angel was surprised to he didn’t brush her off and leave her hanging.

  “Do you have somewhere we can talk?” she asked. This was already the most words they had exchanged in one go since they were little.

  With a bereaved sigh, Luka motioned for her to follow, but stopped when he saw Beau and Dima coming as well.

  “Relax, they’re with me.”

  “You finally made some friends and this is the best you could do?” he scoffed.

  “Apparently that sunshine persona is genetic,” Beau grumbled.

  “Be nice,” Dima said, bumping his shoulder against his friend’s.

  “Why, just ‘cause he’s a priest? Tell me Padre, ain’t there something’ in that book of yours that says ‘judge not lest somethin’-somethin’’?”

  “He’s a jerk and a hypocrite,” Angel grouched, “but that’s how God made him apparently.”

  Luka looked ready to snap, but took several deep breaths and began mumbling scripture to himself as he led them out of the church and to the back of the shelter next door. The hot temper was a family trait as well and a cross he struggled to bear whenever his sister came knocking.

  The shelter was a plain and sterile building that, while it wasn’t in poor shape per say, it had definitely seen better days. Beds crowded several rooms with barely any room to move between them and water stains were forming on the ceiling, though it was unclear if it was because of a leaky pipe or a leaky roof. But it was also warm, bright and clean, and Angel knew Luka had put his blood, sweat and tears into keeping it afloat. He mentioned many times when he was raising funds that he sought refuge there himself when he first arrived in the states, it was home to him and he wanted it to be home for anyone else who needed it. She’d never say it to his face since she knew he’d never believe her, but she was proud of her big brother. He’d always been a jackass when they were kids, but he was good man. And since he never let her volunteer there, after many snide remarks about how such vulgar woman couldn’t step foot on sacred ground, she donated whenever she could swing it. She also got a sadistic satisfaction from putting the money she earned from her “vulgar” work in the collection plate.

  “If you’re going to be here, make yourselves useful and help me clean up in here.”

  He sent Beau and Dima off to sweep and mop the sleeping areas while he took Angel out to the shady courtyard out in the back. A bunch of kids ere already out there running around on the brown dead grass and playing on a rusty old jungle gym that was ready to crumble beneath them with one wrong move. Some were homeless and stayed at the shelter day and night, others came from bad homes and came for hot food during the day. A sanctuary for wayward youths.

  Luka pulled out a box of cigarettes, his only worldly vice, from his robes pocket and held it out to Angel. They’d never made it this far before and even a small gesture like that told her just how serious he was taking all of this. They each lit one, took a long drag and tried to avoid any unnecessary eye contact.

  “So, did the old man really track you down all the way out here?” Luka asked. Angel shook her head.

  “No, it was just rotten luck that I ran into him,” she said, sparing him the details on the off chance that he actually cared. “Turns out he might be here to stay. You know that big high rise that’s going up in Brooklyn, that’s his.”

  Closing his eyes and take another deep breath from his smoke, Luka growled a few expletives unbefitting of a man of the cloth. He’d been out a lot longer than her and had found peace in his new life, turning his back completely on his past. It was when Angel showed up in New York that he’d been forced to look back, so he avoided her, shut her out and continued moving forward. And now, all of his hard work was slipping through his fingers like sand.

  “I don’t think he knows you’re here yet and I won’t tell him. But it may only be a matter of time, so I didn’t want you to be blindsided like I was.”

  “…are you okay?”

  Angel shrugged.

  “I guess. There’s nothing I can do about it now.”

  “You’re already back on the street, what’s the hustle with those guys?”

  “No hustle. I haven’t been with them for that long.”

  “Don’t give me that, I know their kind. I see them everyday… there they are now.”

  Luka nodded to the street at the end of the lot. At the chainlink fence that separated the yard from the side walk, a couple of kids were clustered together on the grass while a few men stood on the other side. They did bear a strong resemblance to her boys, at least in terms of looks. Tattoos, unkept appearances, but these bastards had mean mugs and shifty eyes and Angel didn’t like they way they were talking to the kids.

  “Are those freaks really here that often?”

  “I said everyday. These punks come and they’re either selling meth to these children or trying to pull them into their gangs.”

  There were two young boys who had started talking to them. One was an older, scraggly teenager with a hollow face and bruising track marks on his hands that Angel could see all the way from where she was standing, an easy mark for gangs, but the other couldn’t have been older than thirteen. The sandy haired boy was wearing second hand clothes that were three sizes too big and was in desperate need of a bath, it was hard to tell if it was freckles on his face or dirt. They were pulling them in younger and younger these days. Then again, she was in no place to judge. She’d sat on her father’s knee through all sorts of dirty dealing since she was small. By the time she was that boy’s age, she knew where to get drugs and guns out on the street, as well as how to use and sell them.

  “Hey!” Luka shouted. “This is private property, leave this place at once!”

  His pompous formality when he spoke made Angel want to smack him, so she couldn’t blame the scumbags at the fence for not taking him seriously. It was cause for concern, though. One of these days those assholes would get tired of laughing and flipping him off and her brother was going to get his high and mighty ass kicked.

  But that right was reserved for her as a little sister.

  “You heard him,” she said calmly, barely raising her voice enough to be heard as she approached the fence. “Back off.”

  “Go fuck yourself bitch,” one sneered.

  “Excuse me? That’s no way to speak in front of children.”

  Angel kept her voice scarily even and her expression blank ash she pulled her coat back just enough to show off the handle of her beretta. A bold move considering that she had no idea if these guys were strapped themselves or not, but she now represented the Kuznetsov family again. She never took shit like that on principle and now it wasn’t just her pride on the line anymore. They stood their ground, calling her “bluff”, but when she moved to draw they got the message and stalked off. The two kids saw her threat too, their faces pale as they eyed the gun. Angel quickly pulled her coat back over it, hoping she hadn’t scared them too bad.

  “Uh... see what happens when you get rude and mouth off,” she improvised, which was filthy rich coming from her, but she didn’t feel any guilt about the hypocrisy. “Never talk to a lady like that. Now go play or whatever, and stay outta trouble.”

  The kids scurried back inside, making sure to put plenty of distance between them and her when they passed. She caught the sour look on Luka’s face as she watched them go in and it made her tempting fate so worth it.

  “Was that really necessary?” he asked, glaring.

  “A ‘thank you’ would be appreciated. You know what kind of power I have again, I can take care of stuff like this for you. I can certainly make sure those assholes don’t come by anymore.”

  “I don’t want that kind of help and especially not from my baby sister!”

  Angel snorted at how shrill his voice cracked towards the end of his little rant.

  “What the hell was that? Your balls still haven’t dropped yet?”

  “Oh my-”

  “Ah, be careful how you finish that sentence, Father.”

  “Can you please just leave already. I appreciate the warning, thanks, but please leave me and my Parrish alone. By the way, it wouldn’t kill you to say a few “Our Father”s on your way out.”

  Angel laughed, dropped her cigarette, stomped it out, and since she was on holy ground, she picked it up to throw out inside. She also didn’t want to add leaving a cigarette on the ground where small children could find it onto her mile long list of wrong doings.

  “See you around, Padre,” she said, “but seriously, you can call me if you need anything. You know that right?”

  Luka grunted noncommittally and went back to finishing his smoke. This had to have been the smoothest conversation they’d ever had and that was enough to satisfy Angel.

  She found her boys still cleaning the sleeping room floor, pleasantly surprised that actually went ahead and did it, and told them it was time to hit the road. She wanted to take a look around the neighborhood and see what kind of action was going on. When she lived in Moscow, Matvey had control over the city and everything that went down on the streets. It wouldn’t be long until he began to expand his empire here too. If she found him an easy mark it would help garner favor with the crew and they needed to start racking it up if they wanted to get ahead. Not to mention she’d sleep better at night if she could keep her brother’s church under her thumb where she could make sure it was safe.