I stood staring off into the distance. My vision had already blurred since I couldn’t bring myself to be present. The whole bratva had come out for Aleksei’s funeral. My breaking point had been Lec’s soft sobs from where he stood a few soldiers down from where I was standing. Keenan was next to me, but he was on duty. Despite that, he had tears streaming down his face as well. Marek and the others were a few rows ahead, the closest family up at the front.

Aleksei didn’t have anyone ...