“She can’t even talk right now.” I want to scream at him, but I keep my tone professional.
He opens his mouth, but I hold up a hand to stop him. “If your next question is about when she will be able to talk, God help me.” His icy blue eyes flicker in a way that lets me know he was definitely about to ask that.
I take a deep breath. “Recovering from severe hypothermia is a slow process. Given you’ve hidden her away in this hospital because of her condition, I don’t think you’re going to be happy with a bride who collapses at the altar because she doesn’t have enough energy to walk.”
Everyone else walks on eggshells around this man, but I will not rush this.They’ve given me a patient, and I’m all she has.
The test results showing that she’s pregnant stay in my mind.
When she’s finally well enough for a conversation, I make sure the guards are far out of hearing as I tell her about the baby. I don’t fully understand the expression that passes over her lovely face, but what I do know is, she’s scared.
I’m not going to tell a soul. Not even Art.
What kind of a poisonous world is this to bring a child into?
32
ARTYOM
It was beyond the pale and we both knew it.
If Valentin hadn’t been so stubborn in his refusal to tell me what was going on, I would have never had to play this card.
“You would send me to jail, Tyoma?”
Valentin’s face turned white as I explained what I’d found, laying out every shred of evidence I’ve collected against him. All compiled neatly by my lawyers, ready to be sent to the Justice Department.
I know everything about my cousin. Everything except the reason he’s decided to stab me in the back.
We practically grew up as brothers. Which, of course, means that I know about the one piece of leverage which could bring him down.
The files about the cold case.
A cold case that could become red hot if I provided the information I have to the District Attorney.
It was a decade ago now when Valentin shot him on a dare at a bachelor party.
It was sheer idiocy. We had no reason to pick him out of everyone roaming the streets that late at night.
Turns out, we made the wrong choice. He was wealthy and well-connected enough that Valentin was haunted by the headlines for years. The clean-up job was good, but it was nerve-wracking enough to make him flee the country for a month every time the man’s name was mentioned.
“You don’t want this to come out, Valentin. It would ruin you. Twenty-five years, at least.”
I drawled and reclined in my chair. I knew I had every fine detail pinned down. My sources in the Justice Department were solid. There was no risk.
“Tyoma, don’t do this. I have every right to fight for the Bratva Council position.”
I held my hands up. “I don’t deny it, Valentin. You have every right, but no reason to want it.”
“I don’t need a good reason when I have the same birthright as you.”
“The point is, two months ago you said you’d support me. You said that as long as it wasn’t Polina and Denis, you were happy. I thought we could agree on that much. What changed, cousin?”
He opened his mouth to speak but I held up a hand. “And remember, that file is ready to be sent to the District Attorney if you lie to me.”
He broke down, then. There’s always something you can use asleverage, no matter who you’re dealing with.
“What do you want?”
