I take a large sip of the scotch, feeling the burn through my throat and into my empty stomach. It’s good. This pain is good.
Instinctively, I turn my gaze to the archway, seeing Mikhail come in. Thank fuck I covered Victoria up.
“You look like shit,” he says.
He’s wearing a four-piece suit today—a steep difference from how miserably I must look with this bloody bandage around my shoulder. But it’s alright. We may have our differences, but I’m always glad to see him step into the man he’s meant to be.
“Rough night, huh?”
“If you wake her up, I’ll kill you,” I murmur.
His brows rise, surprised. Then he takes a seat and looks at me.
“What the fuck happened? Heard you started a killing spree. Mind filling me in?”
I shrug. “We were attacked—I shot back. What do you want me to say?”
“You had men with you. There was no need to go on a suicide trip. That was dumb.”
“Keep your fucking voice down.”
He’s right. Though I wasn’t trying to die. I just… I needed an escape.
We sit in silence, with only my wife’s soft breathing filling the air. And maybe it’s exactly her softness that keeps us civil right now. I realize this is the only time my brother and I have sat in the same room without fighting.
“How long are you going to keep this on for?” he asks.
I gulp the rest of my drink. “You’ll have to be more specific.”
“She’s your wife. You wanted her.”
“What do you want from me, Mikhail?”
He crosses an ankle over his knee and looks away. A moment of silence stretches between us.
“I want you to take the reins from me. I don’t want them.”
My jaw clenches. I don’t fucking want to talk to him about that.
“I just wanted to have a shot,” he says. “No, don’t look at me like that, because we both know I never stood a chance against you and that… fucking brain of yours.”
“It doesn’t matter how smart I am if I have to fight against windmills every day of my life. You and Ekaterina made sure of that.”
He sighs. “Maybe. But that’s exactly why you’ve earned it.”
I look at him, not quite sure what to say to that. Isn’t this what I’ve always wanted? Their stamp of fucking approval? I never even knew why. It just felt like the missing piece of my life. Until…
I look at my wife, and last night’s events run through my mind.
The missing piece was her…She has been… all along.
Still, for Mikhail to say these things to me now… The memories come back to me in pieces—how he and Ekaterina fought that day, in the garden, how shocked he looked when Father made himPakhan.How he comforted Victoria when I left her in my office… Corinne told me.
“It was hard for me too, you know? Being in your shadow from the moment I was born.”
“What?” I hold my breath.
“What, you think I had a perfect childhood? My mother is a fucking bitch. She never looks at me like I’m enough. And let’s be honest, you’ve always been Father’s favorite.” He scoffs, sounding bittersweet.
