He leans forward, and I smell his cologne mixed with tobacco.
"The men are talking, cousin. They say she's got you thinking with your cock instead of your brain."
One captain inhales sharply. Nobody speaks to me like this.
Except family.
I move fast. One second standing, the next slamming Kaz against the wall. My hand wraps around his throat, feeling his pulse race beneath my palm. The impact rattles a painting, one of Mikhail's landscapes.
"Say that again."
Kaz doesn't flinch, just smiles as I crush his windpipe. "Touch a nerve?"
"She's mine to deal with," I snarl. "Mine. Not yours, not anyone else's. Understand?"
"Perfectly." His voice rasps. "But if you can't do what needs to be done, others will. For Mikhail."
The threat is clear. I release him, step back before I do something irreversible.
Kaz straightens his collar slowly. "Think about it, cousin. The longer she lives, the weaker you look. And you know what happens to weak men in our world."
He leaves. The silence feels louder than Artem's screams.
The captains file out wordlessly. I sit alone at the blood-stained table, Kaz's words circling like vultures.
My phone buzzes. Moscow number.
"Alyosha."
Katya sounds thin, stretched like wire about to snap.
"How is she?" I ask.
"Days now, maybe a week." A swallow. "She keeps asking for you. And for Misha."
Always Mikhail.
"I can't come yet."
"The girl. I know." Frustration bleeds through my sister's grief. "Alexei, you've had her for a week. Mama wants to know her son is avenged before she goes. Can you give her that?"
The truth burns: I cannot kill her.
"Soon."
"You keep saying soon." Her voice cracks. "I'm watching her fade. She keeps asking if Misha can rest. What do I tell her?"
"Tell her I'm handling it."
"Are you?"
I end the call. Press my palms against my eyes until I see stars.
What have you done to me, Sofia Rosetti?
The memory of her kneeling floods back, but this time it's different. This time I imagine her in my bed, that defiance turned to desire, those sharp blue eyes soft with want. My cock hardens painfully, and I grip the table edge until the wood groans.
This is why I need her close. Not to watch her. To possess her completely before I destroy us both.
