Instead of a scowl, he sighs, his lips pressing into a thin line. “What did Katy do now?”
He calls her that—Katy—short for Ekaterina. To me, it’s less of an endearing nickname and more of a sign he’s gotten too old and too tired with her antics to use the full length of her name. But that’s just my guess.
“Other than being her usual self, nothing much.”
He shakes his head. “She’ll want to meet the girl. And so will Mikhail.”
Of course they will. But what he isn’t saying is… they’ll want to have their chance at killing Victoria and messing with my plans. Anything to give Mikhail a shot at claiming my throne. I won’t allow that.
I pin my father down with my stare. “They will. When I decide.”
My father understands his role has changed over the years, especially since I came into the business.
In many ways, I’m the one who steers the ship now, and I have been doing it since before I was of age. It’s what I got for being born with an IQ of 148—that, along with a missed childhood and enough blood on my hands to damn me to hell the moment I take my final breath.
Now, my role is more public since Father appointed me as hissovetnik.Which is exactly what pisses Mikhail and Ekaterina off.
“In other news,” I say, “the Irish head is dead. I just got a call.”
Father drums a finger on the table. “Good. We can get the East territories back.”
Good—no sending prayers or anything like that.
The Rykov Bratva is all about seizing power when the opportunity presents itself, and this time is no different. Which is why I already have a plan for making sure the area he’s talking about ends up in our books.
“Take Mikhail with you,” Father adds, anticipating where I’m going next—to The Hive. The place for making deals and bringing people to your side. The place where many wars have started and ended in a bloodbath. “Give him something to do. You know what he’s like when he gets bored.”
I snort. “Because giving a viper a seat at the table has never backfired before.”
“That was a long time ago, and he was too young to understand his role. Take him. I don’t want to see you two fighting anymore.”
Yeah, right, as if it’s that easy.
His mother made sure to poison him against me when we were kids.
He’s never liked me and taking him with me now isn’t going to change that. I’m surprised he hasn’t tried to kill me yet.
Still, there’s one reason why I’m tempted to do what Father says.
I’d rather Mikhail come with me than remain under the same roof with my soon-to-be wife. And if all I have to do is pretend I care about his involvement in the alliance I plan on making tonight, then fine.
7
VICTORIA
Mountains pierce the forest around the estate, standing tall, guarding in the quiet of the night. Eyes swollen from the hours of incessant ugly crying, I stand perched on the window frame, watching the nothingness that is now my life.
How did I end up here? One moment I was preparing to buy plane tickets for Europe, the next I’m taken like a sack of gold. Not even gold, actually, since no one tried to keep me.
I should’ve let him kill all of us. I can only imagine what his revenge is going to look like from now on. And he’s just getting started.
I know I should be better—Sasha taught me better than to mop in my misery.There’s always a solution to every problem, he used to say, and I used to believe it. God, I used to think I wason top of everything… that I was going to leave this city, this country, and show everyone I can do whatever I set my mind to.
But right now, heartbroken over my family’s betrayal and utterly alone in this monstrous new world, I’m starting to realize just how human Sasha is, like the rest of us. He doesn’t have all the answers… and he still has hope for things that might never come true.
Hope… what a dangerous thing to hold on to.
Pressing the heels of my palms against my closed eyes, I exhale the rest of my energy for tonight. I haven’t even turned on the light since Wolfgang locked me in here. I needed to let the night swallow me, to make it feel like everything was just a bad dream.
