I should go to her even though I know I shouldn’t. I stand in the corridor debating joining Alina. She’s still in my bedroom, sleeping finally. I expected her to burst out when she heard us, but I’m glad she’s resting up for what comes next.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I answer since a call is better than another unexpected visit from him.
“Little brother,” Gavriil says, and he makes it sound like a slur. “You have him.”
The way he says it tells me he knows because he always knows. There are eyes we pay and eyes whose debt is older than money. Not even I know who all are on his payroll.
“Yes,” I say.
“Kill him.” He orders like it’s a simple request, no different from the way he would tell a man to close the door on his way out.
We both know he already has the guns and most of the money. Killing Archer isn’t about business anymore; it’s about obedience.
I picture Alina looking at me like she looked at Gavriil—wary, calculating, afraid. The thought makes my stomach twist.
I don’t breathe for a second because if I do, I’ll say no, and that will be a kind of war we don’t have enough bullets for today. All I can do is think of the way Alina would look at me if I did as I’m told.
The silence stretches enough for my brother to test its edges. “Did you hear me?”
“I heard you,” I say.
How many of his orders have I followed from when we were just children until now? How many times did he fix me with a hard stare or shove me against the nearest wall until I succumbed? Until I fell into line?
But he’s still not the worst monster either of us have faced.
“Then do it now,” he says. “Before she makes you do something you can’t afford to do.”
“Understood,” I say. The word tastes like rust in my mouth.
“Don’t force me to show you what betrayal looks like up close, little brother.” A breath. “If you can’t kill him and bring me the money by noon then bring her to me instead. But you will have to make a decision now, little brother. No more delays. I’m done waiting.”
The line clicks. I stare at the black of the screen a few seconds before I walk back into the side room. Viktor straightens. Petrov moves out of the doorway and lets me pass. Archer looks up, defiant as a dog in a trap that still thinks he can escape. “Get it over with,” it sounds like he says, trying and failing to make himself sound brave.
“Not here,” I say as I jerk the gag down so we can have a conversation. “I won’t make her home into something that I can’t make right again.”
If I kill him now, it’s Gavriil’s win. If I keep him breathing, the next move is mine, not his. But every second Archer stays alive also keeps a gun pointed at Alina’s future.
“What the fuck does that mean?” He jerks his hands and the cuffs sing. “You going to take me out to the river and make me confess? You going to make Alina kiss your ring first, make her beg to take mercy on me?”
“You don’t talk about her,” I say.
“She’s my sister! I’ll talk about her whenever I want.” Archer leans forward, chain clinking with defiance. “You know she could never love someone like you.” He wants his words to hurt me. He wants to make me unsteady enough to take the wrong step. “She loves me. She’s always loved me. I’m her blood. You can’t buy that kind of loyalty from her.”
“I don’t plan to buy it,” I say. “I’ll earn it.”
He blinks like I slapped him from across the room. He swallows and then repeats himself. “She’ll choose me, and she’ll never forgive you.”
“Maybe,” I say, and it surprises us both that I mean it. “Maybe she will. She deserves to at least have the choice.”
Archer freezes. He doesn’t understand a man laying his weapons down on purpose. He doesn’t understand what it means for a man like me to open a door when he could easily lock it.
“Viktor,” I say without looking away from Archer as I put the gag back in place, infuriating him even more.
“Here,” he says quietly from the hallway.
“Add two safehouses to the list. Pull six passports. Burner phones. Cash in numbers that make cashiers sigh,” I order.
“Yes, sir, but…”
