“Why?” she finally asks. “Why would you do this?”
Adrian’s composure cracks for just a moment, revealing the obsession underneath. “You destroyed everything I built, Sasha. My career. My reputation. My standing in the art world. Twenty years of work, gone because you decided to play detective.”
“You were laundering money through Christie’s. I had to report it.”
“You had to report it.” Adrian spits the words back at her. “You, the daughter of a Bratva family, suddenly developed a conscience about criminal activity? Please. You reported me because I made the mistake of wanting something real with you, and that terrified you.”
Sasha flinches at the accusation, and I can’t tell if that reaction is genuine or performed.
“I trusted you,” Adrian continues. “I brought you into my world, introduced you to my contacts, shared things with you I’d never shared with anyone. And you used all of it to destroy me.”
“Adrian—”
“No.” He cuts her off with a slash of his hand. “You don’t get to explain. You don’t get to justify. You made your choice two years ago, and now you’re going to live with the consequences.”
He stands from his chair and begins to pace. The guards around the room stand a little straighter, responding to their employer’s agitation.
“I’ve spent two years building something new, Sasha. New contacts. New resources. New allies who understand what your family has cost them.” Adrian stops pacing and turns to face her. “Do you know what a coalition of enemies can accomplish when they work together? Your brothers have made a lot of people very angry over the years. I’ve found a number of former associates who have found themselves on the wrong side of Kozlov ambition.”
Sasha says nothing. She’s watching Adrian with wide, frightened eyes, playing the role of a woman whose world is crumbling around her.
“I’ve united all of them,” Adrian declares. “Every family, every organization, every individual who has reason to want the Kozlovs brought to their knees. And together, we have the resources to make it happen. Your brothers’ empire will burn, Sasha. Every bit of it.”
He moves closer to her chair, looming over her like a predator savoring the moment before the kill.
“Unless you give me what I want.”
Sasha’s voice comes out small and trembling. “What do you want?”
“You.” Adrian’s smile returns, but there’s nothing pleasant about it. “Come back to me, Sasha. Voluntarily. Publicly. Let the world see that you’ve chosen me over your family. Do that, and I’ll dismantle the coalition. Your brothers can keep their empire.Your nieces and nephews can grow up safe. All it costs is your pride.”
He crouches down until his face is level with hers, close enough that I have to fight the urge to rip him away from her.
“Or refuse,” he continues, “and watch everything your family built get destroyed. Your brothers will be killed or imprisoned. Your sisters-in-laws will be widowed. Your nieces and nephews will be orphaned. All because you were too proud to admit you made a mistake when you chose them over me.”
Adrian straightens and steps back, spreading his hands as if presenting a reasonable business proposition.
“The choice is yours, Sasha. Your family’s survival, or your freedom.”
The room falls silent. Every guard watches. Every breath seems amplified in the stillness.
Adrian’s eyes never leave Sasha’s face, hungry for her response.
33
Sasha
Adrian is waiting for me to break.
I can see it in the way he watches my face, hungry for the tears and pleading he’s been imagining for two years. He wants me on my knees, begging him to spare my family, offering myself up as the prize he believes he’s owed.
He’s going to be disappointed.
I let his ultimatum linger in the room for a long moment. The guards stand at attention. Tony sits motionless beside me. Adrian’s smile begins to falter as the seconds tick by without the response he expected.
When I finally speak, my voice comes out steady. “You really believe this will work, don’t you?”
Adrian blinks. “Excuse me?”
