Chapter 483: The Snow Falls As The Wind Blows

[SERGEI]

Rastenkin had insisted.

Much to Sergei’s dismay, not that he would go back and keep grumbling again. It was the one thing he knew he would get swatted at by Anya’s chanclas. And he wasn’t exactly trying to die at the hands of his parents now, was he?

"What if you guys roam the city? We can always meet up later," Sergei tried.

When Anya had insisted Sergei take his secretaries along with him wherever he went, Sergei had not been too thrilled at the idea.

He knew they were worried about him, not necessarily for his safety, but to be the people who could bring him back to the present if he ever crossed a little too far into the threshold and couldn’t come out by himself.

These two had worked with him the longest. Rahim had been serving Sergei for eleven years now, while Volkov had been beside the grumpy man for over nineteen years.

He knew Sergei. Every little habit the man had, everything that determined what he would do next.

Volkov knew it.

"Miss Anya said she would use my intestines to strangle the life out of me and then frame it like I took my own life, so no thanks," Volkov said casually.

"Rahim, surely you have more sense than this old man," Sergei tried, and Rahim just chuckled.

"Rastenkin said I would study all the capillaries in my feet if I left your side. I am not exactly intelligent in matters of science, so I cannot risk leaving your side. Besides, it won’t be that bad," Rahim argued.

Sergei sighed exaggeratedly.

As a matter of fact, they were currently making the corner to the presidential palace. Their boss had been complaining about their presence the entire walk here.

They were supposed to drive, but then Sergei started complaining about how he was haunted by Anya’s chanclas even as an adult and how Rastenkin was a fucking traitor because he couldn’t even stop the chanclas from hitting Sergei.

The man had complained so much that by the time they realized they had not taken the car; they were halfway into the city.

And decided to walk the rest of the way to the presidential palace.

"If it’s any comfort, Mr. Katya said he would make you all the pizzas in the world if you didn’t spend the day complaining.

"You are currently at complaint number seventy-nine," Volkov shrugged and Sergei glared.

His secretaries were really something else.

But at the same time, it was just like before, only that this time, they were being watched by two elderly people who belonged in retirement homes yet didn’t look a day over sixty.

Not to mention the fact that the said elderly could actually kill him if he didn’t report back that he was alive.

So there was that, too.

"Can we forget about me complaining? I’ll be a nicer boss," Sergei bargained, not even bothered by the fact that the security personnel at the palace had long spotted them and they were slowly being surrounded.

"At least you will give us a quick death compared to them," Volkov shrugged like that was way better an option for both of them than having to die with Anya and Rastenkin.

"Wow, my snipers are mean," Sergei grumbled as they came to a stop.

"Bribes usually work the other way around. You just don’t make promises like you being a nice boss. You’re already an excellent boss, so that’s nothing new.

"Maybe buy us food, and we might reconsider," Volkov added as he pulled out his handguns from their sheaths in his combat wear and turned the safety off, ready to empty them into someone; anyone who stepped out first.

"I would beg to differ. Bribes are not a show of honesty," Sergei said, unsheathing his katana and getting ready for whatever attacks were headed their way.

"Says the one who tried to bribe us into leaving him," Rahim sighed, her blades a beautiful sight under the sun.

It had been a good morning, and they were hoping this would end well too, but then it was like the three of them exactly inspired confidence in the presidential palace after all, right?

While Hercules was committing atrocities on the other side of the city, eliminating people Sergei deemed useless, the snipers and Sergei had been on their little adventure, ruining even more lives in the present, Frolo.

They didn’t even hide for it, which was why, as they stood there waiting for the attacks, they were not even the least bit bothered.

Perhaps by Anya’s chanclas.

But other than that, there was nothing.

Absolutely nothing that inspired shit for them.

"If it isn’t the barbarian on a murder spree across the city... are you here to surrender?" Zhenya greeted.

He had been called by the president to deal with Sergei, which was a tad interesting given they were on the same side, but no one needed to know that beyond those who mattered to both of them, right?

"Hello, Zhenya. You look good for someone I intend to slash with my katana," Sergei greeted a little too enthusiastically, and his snipers stood in position.

All scars of the little battles they had been having were gone, and in their place were warriors hardened by the war their boss had begun ages ago.

They looked ready to attack.

"What do you want?" Zhenya asked, not even bothering with the formalities.

"Tell your boss to come out, and we won’t kill anyone here today," Sergei said calmly, too composed, almost like he was lying.

If he had come for peace, he wouldn’t have come with a katana.

He wouldn’t have had his warriors carry weapons too, but that didn’t matter, did it?

Maybe if they had a good chat with Boris, there would be nothing left to fight for, and Sergei would go back home and spend the rest of his days with Katya and maybe their kids if Katya wanted some, no?

"The president is running the nation. Surely you must know that, or maybe you forgot about it when you abandoned your empire, no?" Zhenya stated.

The soldiers who had surrounded Sergei and the snipers held their weapons a little tighter, like they knew what was about to go down.

Nothing had been the same in this damn city for a while, and it was really not the greatest of ideas to challenge a very unstable Sergei Moskowsky.

But was Sergei unstable this time?

Was he a threat to everything he interacted with again?

Was he in the kind of position that people feared what they would see him with, or was he just here for a chat?

A real chat with Boris and then leave?

He couldn’t be trusted.

He had long established that, but gods, he dreamed of this being another joke for the man who had the fate of everyone hanging in the balance right now.

"The president is in a meeting for a few things happening in the palace, and he will not be available. If you want to talk, come another day.

"If not, you can start fighting with our warriors, but I must assure you, you will not get in here," Zhenya sighed, and Sergei smiled at him.

He knew what that meant.

He understood it so well, because it was just another formal statement of the president not feeling a little chatty today and that Sergei would have to reconsider.

And Sergei, he stared at Zhenya.

Really stared like he was trying to figure out what he needed to do with the man.

They were allied, no doubt, but here and now they were publicly standing on the opposite sides of something Sergei had worked really hard for.

It was not easy being here right now, and away from Katya too, as he was determined to clear out every little thing that had ruined his Solnyshka’s life.

He had fucked up Aleksandr’s doctor and given Alek reprieve for it. For a few days, he didn’t attack the Bratva; he didn’t even knock in their direction.

In fact, as a show of his restraint, Sergei had gone to the football bar with Katya and their three football friends.

It had been quite the reunion since Katya had returned, and they had had a lot of fun then.

But this was also another reminder for Sergei to finish his work and come home.

To make sure things were done the right way, because at the end of the day that was what he was protecting.

Normalcy.

Everything that Boris and the other people were a nuisance to. Not even a great nuisance was what Sergei considered them.

Which was why, as he stood there with his katana piercing the ground, Sergei did like the answer. But perhaps being civil with Zhenya wasn’t too bad a stretch, right?

After all, they had to fight this one way or the other, no?

"As I said, we came for Boris. If he is not here, then this is not going to be fun. We will just have to wait," Sergei said to Zhenya.

He was willing to wait... right?

Then he turned to Rahim and Volkov...

"Looks like our work here is going to have to wait another day. Let’s go back home," Sergei said in the calmest of tones, making Zhenya let out a sigh of relief.

Today wasn’t meant to be a cruel day. And the Devil of Frolo was already turning to leave with his snipers.

Until RPGs hit the presidential palace.

"Little Sergio!! I figured out how to use this shit!!"

Rastenkin had arrived.

Along with him were The Myrtles.

Fantastic.

"We finished our task fast and came to help flatten the palace," Meera said casually when she noticed the surprise on Sergei’s face.

"And I was the one stuck with two human decency guards... Me!!" the alpha threw his hands up.