He absorbs it and moves on. “The boy will do the same arithmetic. He is not a fool.”
“He is cruel and vain. But he is not stupid.” I drum my thumb on the desk, thinking. “He will try to turn them into leverage. Orinto a headline. Or a pair of obituaries, because he will see them as a threat.”
“And the woman?”
“She is the one who has kept them fed for three months while he counted the days and planted a mine. We keep him away from her. Away from them. He does not get to use them against me.”
Fyodor nods once. “And Miss Harbor?”
“Thinking…”
He loves tradition more than I do, but he loves order more than both of us. “Whatever the case, there will be noise. Vitaly blew up a road. Our guys did what they could to patch things up with locals out there, but if he gets bolder, there’s only so much we can cover up.”
“I’ve spent that boy’s entire life covering for his mistakes. I’m done.”
“Worse men than him have turned around. You wanted him to come right by himself. There’s still a chance. Perhaps the title, the responsibility, would weigh down his darker urges.”
“That chance is spent.” I hate that it’s true. But that doesn’t make it less true. “I will not put my house in a boy’s hands because men before me did not know how to say no to their blood.”
He bows his head, the old, small nod. “Then there is another question.”
“Ask it.”
“Do you tell her about any of this? He will likely go after her.”
“She does not need my history. She needs my action.”
“She may not want your help.”
“I am not offering help,” I say with a shrug. “I am recognizing a fact. She bore my sons. That makes her my business.”
I think of the night a year ago. I remember a woman who did not ask for permission to exist in my world. She was bold, fearless. I remember the way she said yes. The way she craved me without knowing me. I didn’t know why then, but it makes sense. She came to Rope on a mission. I should have seen it that night, but I was entranced.
I was a horny fool.
I draw a long breath because I know he will not like what I have to say. “Vitaly will not inherit. Not because I am bored with family tradition. Because he will harm what I am obligated to keep whole.”
His jaw tightens. “This will be a fight.”
“It always is. But it will not be a fight my sons will have amongst themselves. It will remain between me and Vitaly.”
“Understood.” He thinks for a beat, then adds, “Do we tell anyone?”
“Marcus and Tanner. I want them close for now.”
“Do you make this public?” he asks at the door. “The boys. You could keep it quiet. Apartment on another street. Money. Visits on Sundays. Rumors fade.”
“I will not hide my sons. They are not some dirty secret.”
“Business in the morning?”
I nod once.
He leaves. I pour one drink and set it down. I do not touch it. I open my notes and write her name.Mina Harbor.The second line is two names.Alexander and Yuri.I stare at the line until it stops being a sentence and becomes a duty. Then I add a third.
Vitaly—officially disinherit.
I stand at the window. The glass shows my face and the room and the dark beyond. I tell the reflection the thing I tell men before they move.There is no perfect time. There is only the next hour and what you do in it.
