Free Anatoly Medlov by Latrivia S. Nelson

want from us?” Anatoly asked, rolling his eyes.
     
    Gabriel could see that the only thing keeping the young man civil was his father’s hidden grip. He could feel the repression from across the room. It was as if Dmitry was standing behind his son with hands on his shoulders cooling his hot heels, but in fact, the man controlled the environment from afar. Dmitry sat relaxed in his chair, dressed in a new suit and visibly intrigued by Gabriel’s presence.
     
    “I’ve made a name for myself now. And I felt like it was time to introduce myself. I’ve been waiting in the wings long enough, gentlemen. Imagine growing up your whole life knowing that you had a family that you had been kept from just because ,” Gabriel said, looking at Anatoly.
     
    “Now with sob stories...”Anatoly gaffed.
     
    “We are only recently accustomed to sympathy, my boy. Your story might be lost on us,” Dmitry said, wanting the man to skip the theatrics.
     
    “My father was a methodical man,” Gabriel explained. “I’m sure he had some reason for keeping me away. Whatever reason it was, it wasn’t my fault or my choice.”
     
    “Your father was a raving lunatic,” Anatoly interrupted. “He had to be put down like mad dog.”
     
    Dmitry looked over at his chair at his son but did not admonish him. Instead, he turned and smiled at Gabriel. In a gentle manner, he lifted his long hands and put his fingers together. “As you were saying,” he urged.
     
    “He kept me out of the way for a long time,” Gabriel continued without looking at Anatoly. He locked eyes with his uncle. “He was a good father most of the time, although very absent. He took very good care of me from a far financially. After college, I wanted to get into the business. It took a lot of persuasion and even a few hundred thousand dollars of bribe money. That’s when he started to give me a little work. It was tough, but once I proved myself, I started to pull together my own men, and he left a portion of his New York business to me when he came to Memphis.”
     
    “That’s a lot to sum up in a few sentences,” Anatoly said unconvinced. “That still tells us nothing about you.”
     
    “What would you like to know?” Gabriel asked, opened to the discussion and the confrontation looming between him and the young boss.
     
    “Any kids? Wife? Other family? How distant was Ivan? Why? What kind of work did he throw your way? Why did he hide you? I could go on.” Anatoly ran his hand down the windowsill and lifted it to look at the dirt. “You call this a suite, papa? This place is filthy.”
     
    Dmitry didn’t bother to respond to his son. He kept his eyes on Gabriel. His gentle manner was slowly changing. His bright blue eyes narrowed. Like a predator, he locked on to Gabriel’s every cryptic word as they fumbled out of the man’s mouth. He was looking for just one untruth, because while he and his men dealt in secrecy and guns, they did not deal in lies.
     
    “Let’s do one something first,” Dmitry said, motioning at the door.
     
    An older man with a black bag appeared from the hall. He was short and balding, dressed in a three-piece black suit and limping slightly. Slowly, he walked over to the table beside Gabriel and placed his bag down. Then reaching inside the leather satchel, he pulled out a small vial and separated it to reveal a long, slender white object.
     
    “He’s going to swab your mouth. Open wide,” Dmitry said, uncrossing his legs. “Then you can continue with your story.”
     
    All eyes were on the doctor as the old man approached Gabriel with a buccal swab in his shaking, glove-covered hands. Lifting his head, Gabriel opened his mouth obediently, and the man slipped his thumb inside his jaw and clenched it with his index finger to pull it away from his teeth.
     
    Swabbing the inside of his jaw, the man looked Gabriel in his eyes with a unreadable frown then pulled the swab out and placed it inside of the container.