The soldiers erupt into more laughter. They start shouting disgusting jokes about Alexei and making graphic threats about what they would do to me if they ever caught me again. My stomach twists violently, and I fight the sudden urge to throw up.
"But that works out perfectly for our plans," Levan shouts over the noise. "Let her run away. Let Romanov waste his time chasing after her. While he is distracted by his personal drama, we will launch our attack."
The whole room bursts into loud cheers of agreement.
Levan waits patiently for the cheering to die down. "As many of you know, the world believes I am dead. I have been hiding for ten long years since I destroyed the peace treaty." He pauses to let the heavy statement sink in. "Some of you might secretly hate me for assassinating the former Russian boss. You might blame me for the terrible retaliation that endangered your families and caused so much destruction in our community."
The whole place goes quiet.
"I stepped up to support the victims of Alexei's revenge," Levan promises the crowd, holding his hands out like a savior. "I sent money to the widows. I backed the men who lost their families. I swear to you, we will put him in the ground. But we need to keep our heads, because an all-out war is coming fast. Tonight, we plan our next move."
Turning his attention to the wide maps covering the table, he leans in. "Our first move is stripping away his government protection. Alexei controls the city by tossing heavy bribes to the judges and local politicians. If we want to destroy him, we just offer those same officials a bigger paycheck to switch sides."
A broad man with a thick beard raises his hand from the second row. "I have a question about that plan, sir," the man calls out.
Levan gestures for him to speak. "Go ahead and ask.”
The polite exchange feels strange in a room full of dangerous criminals. I might have laughed at the odd politeness if I were not so focused on hiding my panicked breathing.
"We simply do not have the cash to outbid Alexei," the bearded man points out. "He has billions of dollars moving through his system right now. Besides the money issue, we do not even know the names of his government contacts because he keeps his network highly secretive."
"Valid concern," Levan says, his chest puffing out just a bit as he smiles. He loves holding all the answers. "But the solution is gold. We bring them raw, solid gold."
He pauses briefly to let the greedy men process the idea.
"During my years in hiding, I connected with wealthy partners in Saudi Arabia. These powerful men desperately want access to the Russian drug markets. Alexei stubbornly refuses to do any business with them and keeps the borders entirely sealed against their operations."
The men nod as they follow his logic.
"These foreign partners have been searching for a new path into the country. Since we are offering them a perfect opening, they have agreed to fully fund our war. They are sending us incredible wealth to use. We can bypass cash entirely and hand heavy gold bars directly to the corrupt officials. Greed has absolutely no loyalty, so the politicians will eagerly switch sides for a larger payout."
Excited murmurs of agreement spread quickly through the rows of folding chairs.
"Once we buy his contacts, we take over his entire intelligence network," Levan explains proudly. His facesuddenly turns dark with anger. "This process would have been much easier if we had secured inside information from that bitch, but his stubborn wife completely ruined that shortcut."
He glares out at the audience. "To make matters worse, the enemy has captured my young nephew Stanislav."
Shocked gasps and angry whispers immediately fill the warehouse. I quickly force out a fake gasp to blend in with the surprised crowd, so nobody suspects me.
Levan holds up his hand to restore order. "It is true that Romanov holds Stanislav hostage. Unfortunately, my nephew is an incredibly weak person. He will eventually break under pressure and reveal all of our secrets. Because of his capture, we must assume our original schedule is ruined."
He turns to Dato for the next part of the presentation. Dato steps forward to address the crowd. "We are speeding up the invasion," he announces loudly. "The original attack was planned for next month, but we are moving the launch date to next week."
The sudden news makes the men shift uncomfortably in their seats.
"We are handing out the firearms immediately," Dato continues. "We are short on some weapons because Romanov married the daughter of our previous supplier. The massive arms supply we expected from Koval is now heavily protected by the Russian guards. We completely lost that important advantage."
Levan steps back in to reassure the nervous men. "Do not worry about the missing guns. Our rich partners are buying enough weapons to cover the shortage. The new shipment will arrive in just a few days, and we will launch our war next week."
The older boss walks to the very edge of the platform to look directly down at his loyal soldiers. "I fully understand the massive sacrifice I am demanding from you. Many of you willnot survive the upcoming violence. However, I promise that any man who dies in battle will have his family generously protected. We will pay for your children to go to school and ensure your wives never go hungry."
He stands tall with immense pride. "You will all be heroes in our history books. You are the brave soldiers who will destroy the Romanov Empire and free Moscow from a terrible tyrant. The world will remember you as the powerful foundation of our glorious new world." He slams his heavy fist down onto the wooden table. "Long live our powerful family!"
The room instantly erupts into chaos. Thirty men shove their chairs backward to jump to their feet and punch the air. They scream matching chants about destroying the Russian organization and murdering Alexei Romanov.
Levan raises his hands to encourage their violent energy. "We will completely erase their entire existence!" he roars over the crowd. "We will destroy their homes and wipe out their bloodlines until absolutely nothing remains of their legacy."
The thugs yell horrible threats about killing the Russian wives. They loudly promise to leave the young children without parents. The terrifying chanting swells higher as thirty radical men scream out brutal promises to murder anyone connected to my husband.