“I needed to know who she was, this woman that you want to stand by your side while you lead this family, Artyom. Whether she could handle this kind of life.”
“That choice was up to me. Not you.”
“I had to be sure. You’ve been so obsessed with her, you couldn’t see the wood for the trees. If she’d jumped off a cliff, you would have too.”
Damn right I would have.
“You wanted me to marry, Babushka. Nina was the only one I was ever going to marry.”
“I wanted to make sure this family had a strong foundation.” She smiles, a look of pride in her watery blue eyes. “Now I know that it does. This family will survive. Our legacy is protected.”
“Protected?” I splutter. “Nina almost died, because of your actions. And now she has blood on her hands, forever.”
Polina’s stab wound was fatal. She could have been saved, if she’d been evacuated from the Basement as quickly as Nina was. I half wonder if Vanya failed to make that arrangement on purpose.
“Nina’s a nice girl, but I didn’t know if she could do what needs to be done. You showed her the glitzy side of the Petrovs. You wanted to impress her. You never showed her the reality of what it means to be in this family.”
“The reality of being in this family is what? Being kidnapped by her own mother in law? Losing so much blood that she could have died? Getting a concussion that will affect her for the restof her life?”
“I never meant for her to get hurt. That was Polina’s doing.”
“Polina was a wreck after Denis’s death. We all knew it. What were you thinking, sending someone so unpredictable after her?”
Vanya purses her lips. “We needed someone… Expendable. Polina has been nothing but trouble since Denis’s death. And given Nina’s reaction, I chose well. Two birds with one stone.”
“None of that justifies almost killing my wife. You used her and Ava in your own twisted game.”
“Mommy’s awake!” Ava tugs at my hand when we see Nina stirring in her hospital bed. “Can we go in now?”
“Yes, let’s go see your mom.” I don’t look back at Vanya. My priority is my wife.
But just as I open the door, she grips my arm with surprising strength.
“You have to understand, Artyom. This seat on the Council has been my life for the past twenty years. I can’t let it slip out of my hands and into the bloodline of someone who’s too weak to hold onto it. I had to be sure.”
Ava wriggles out of my grip and I let her cross the hospital suite to Nina’s bed.
Closing the door so they can’t hear, I step close to Vanya. My babushka looks up at me, no regret on her face.
I have a promise to make her. I don’t think it’s the one she wants to hear, but I don’t care if it sees me cast out of her family for good. I’ve got my own family now.
“Babushka, make no mistake. If you look at my family wrong, ever again, I’m out. I will turn your legacy into dust rather than causeNina or Ava to suffer for another second.”
Lily’s latest update on Nina’s condition lights up my screen.
Occupational therapist says the tests are looking good. Discharge possible for next week.
“Finally,” I mutter to myself, reviewing the files that Lily has sent through.
Do I understand the medical jargon? Hell no. But I want every single detail on Nina’s condition and progress.
A call from an unknown number comes through just when I’m squinting at the indecipherable test results.
“Long time, no talk, Petrov.”
The rasping deep voice is instantly recognizable.
Viktor Zakharov. The new Pakhan of the Bratva. Not exactly a friend, because I don’t think he’s capable of forming friendships, but an ally.
