She didn’t slow. It’s like when she heard me, it prompted her to move faster.
I reached the front door just in time to see her jogging down the estate steps, keys already in hand. She didn’t even look back. Not once. Had she joined the track team while I was away?
I’ll admit that she’d lost weight since I saw her last, but it didn’t dawn on me that she’d be so. Toned? Yeah? Stacked even more? Fuck yes. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her. However, it wasn’t supposed to aid her in getting away from me. Only bring us closer.
Then her car door slammed, engine roared, and she shot down the long driveway like her life depended on it. When did she suddenly become a NASCAR driver? I stood on the top step, breathing hard, jaw tight enough to crack bone. It’s like the workouts I’d done in jail were nothing compared to how fast she got out of here. What the fuck had just happened?
She ran. From me. Again.Good. Running meant feeling. Feeling meant I wasn’t done. That I’d gotten under her soft ass skin.
The front door creaked behind me. I exhaled, aware that somebody I didn’t want to talk to was about to piss me off even more than I already was. If they weren’t coming to say that somebody caught her down the block, I didn’t really give a fuck about what they were about to interrupt me to say.
“Dmitri,” my father said, voice low. “Inside. Now.”
I didn’t turn immediately. I watched the taillights vanish beyond the trees before I finally headed in, shutting the door behind me. He didn’t take me to the dining room.
He guided me straight down the hall to his office—dark wood, leather chairs, the same room he used to scold us in as kids. I didn’t have time for this shit.
He shut the door. Then he turned, face set like carved granite.
“We have a problem,” he said.
Come on... Myjaw flexed. “If this is about me leaving the table?—”
“It isn’t.” He sat behind his desk. “It’s about Cori.”
My brows pulled together. What could he possibly have to tell me about my brother?
“Your brother isn’t running things the way they need to be for the family. He’s softening the business. Making concessions I would never allow. Fucking up deals. I’m positive he’s on that shit.” He shook his head and folded his hands. “The family is slipping.”
I felt a cold shift in the room. Cori knew better than to touch drugs. What the fuck was going on? “Cori is doing his best.” I tried to convince him, but even I know my words didn’t sound like they held any weight.
“His best isn’t enough.” My father’s voice sharpened. “You ran half of my operations from a prison cell more efficiently than he has with full freedom. How’s that for truth?”
I didn’t flinch. I knew it was true. I’d heard such things while I was away. Even when I spoke to him on my burner, he sounded unsure of himself. I’d had to check him about deliveries and why I’d received less product than I should have. He never seemed to know who was doing what or when. So, I made those calls, set up systems, and made sure that things would be undetected. He always seemed relieved that I did. I couldn’t imagine what Pops was experiencing out here.
“Your loyalty, your resourcefulness, the respect you command—those are the qualities this family needs.” He leaned forward. “I want you to take over as head of the Volkov’s. I… I’m getting older,moy syn. ”
My pulse stilled. He’d gotten sentimental. That’s the only time that he fell back to his native tongue–my son, he’d called me. Behind the shock, something old and familiar moved—purpose. Direction. It wasn’t about if Icoulddo this. It wasfiguring out if Iwantedto do this. Two different things. I’d been locked away for seven years. Freedom sounded so much better than looking over my shoulder every day because either somebody wanted my spot or if the police finally caught on. I don’t know.
“But there’s a condition,” he added.
Of course there was. Always was. I exhaled through my nose. “What?”
“You marry Natasha. Quickly. Publicly. Firmly. The Volkov legacy requires stability, a united front, and…” He searched for the word. “…soft power. She provides that. She humanizes you. And everyone already believes she is yours. It’s not like you didn’t claim her before you went to prison. Everybody either saw or heard about the way you kissed and proposed to her.”
My stomach tightened—not in dread. In something hotter. Sharper. Natasha.
He wanted me to marryNatasha.He didn’t need to twist my arm. But if she got wind of this, she’d think me wanting to marry her was about the dynasty. The empire. Not because she’d been mine for years and didn’t know it. I’d lusted over that damn girl, even before I told her. She’d spent a lot of time with Cori. When I figured out that they weren’t together and neither of them were interested in each other romantically, my attraction grew. She’d just run out of the house like I was a fire she couldn’t get near.
My father watched my silence.
“Cori knows,” he said quietly. “He understands this is what’s necessary. He’ll step aside the moment you announce the engagement. Then I can get him the help that he needs.”
Needs… Whathappened, Cori?
Engagement. The word slammed into my ribs like a fist. For years I’d promised myself I’d get Natasha to myself. But I never expected the entire empire to hinge on it.
My father studied me. “Can you handle that responsibility, Dmitri?”
