“And now I wait to decide how to bring her here.”
Kazimir is quiet for a moment. "Sergei Kima has been making inquiries."
That makes me tense for an entirely different reason. "What kind of inquiries?"
"About you. About why you've been spending so much time in New York." Kazimir pulls out his phone and shows me a message. "I heard from one of our contacts here. Sergei is asking questions. Why is Sorokov in my territory so often? Is he planning something? Is he making moves I should know about?"
My jaw tightens, the muscle in it ticking. I knew this was a possibility. Sergei is thepakhanof the most powerful Bratva in New York, and we’ve had an uneasy coexistence for years—I stay mostly in Boston and Moscow, he stays in New York. He doesn’t encroach on my territory, and I don’t set foot in his.
But Sergei is ambitious. He’s younger than me by five years, hungry for power, and always looking for opportunities to expand his territory and influence. And he's ruthless enough to exploit any weakness he perceives.
"How much does he know?"
"Not much, from what we can tell. Just that you've been here for longer than in the past, and that you’ve rented property here. He’s on guard. I’m not sure how much he knows about Mara.”
The sound of her name makes my teeth grind together. “If that fuck lays so much as a finger on her…”
“He’ll lose it. I know.” Kazimir sounds tired, more so than usual, and once again I know that should make me reflect on what I’m doing here. But my mind is consumed with Mara, with the kiss, with the feeling of her body and her hands pulling mine against her. TheneedI felt in her, and how I can exploit it to make her mine entirely sooner rather than later.
There’s no room in it for other problems right now, for Svetlana and Sergei and the business that has occupied me for years upon years now. That in and of itself is a problem, but that fact only pings in the corners of my mind, searching for a place to land and not finding one.
Kazimir pockets his phone. "If he thinks you're planning to move into his territory, to challenge his control of New York operations, he'll strike first. And if he thinks you're distracted, weak, focused on something other than business, he'll see it as an opportunity to take what's yours."
I move back to the windows, looking out at the city. Sergei's city, technically. His territory.
"What do you think?" I ask finally.
Kazimir lets out a sharp breath, and I can feel him tensing from across the room. I know I’ve asked him a loaded question.
“I want an answer,” I say after a moment. “The truth. I won’t punish you for it.”
He exhales again, more slowly this time. “ I think you should go back to Boston. Let things cool down. Stop giving Sergei reasons to ask questions." Kazimir moves to stand beside me. "You can’t afford a war right now, Ilya. Especially one that you can’t be certain you’ll win. And with your engagement to Svetlana up in the air?—”
His voice tightens, and he doesn't finish the sentence. He doesn't need to. I can see the scenario clearly enough: a powerful Bratva organization with allies who could come at me from different directions, testing my territories, interceptingmy shipments, targeting my people. A war that could destroy everything I've built. And a marriage that I have no intention of going through with, to a woman who was meant to strengthen me financially.
"You want me to leave.”
“I want you to be the man you are. Smart. Strategic. The way you've always been." Kazimir's voice is careful. "This woman—Mara—she's making you reckless. You're close to breaking a promise to a wealthy man who could finance other organizations against you. You've committed violence that's drawing attention. You've spent all this time in New York when you should be in Boston or Moscow managing your actual business. And now Sergei is noticing."
I blow out a sharp breath through my nose. "I'm aware of the risks."
"Are you? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you're willing to burn down everything you've built for a woman who's terrified of you."
It’s probably the most honest he’s ever been with me. And it’s true. I am willing to burn it all down. I have been since the moment I saw Mara.
Kazimir is silent for a long moment. When he speaks again, his voice is quieter. " Ilya, you need to think about what you're risking. Not just for yourself, but for everyone who depends on you. Your people, your organization, the stability you've spent years building. Is she worth all of that?"
I think about Mara sleeping in her apartment across the street. The way she looked at me in Boston, the way she kissed me tonight, the darkness in her that calls to the darkness in me.
"Yes," I say simply. "She is."
Kazimir sighs. "Then you need to be smarter about this. You can't just keep escalating, drawing attention, giving your enemies ammunition to use against you. You need a plan."
That muscle ticks in my jaw again. "I have a plan."
"What plan?" He snorts, and I glare at him, a warning not to push the grace of speaking freely too far.
"I'm going to make her mine. Completely. Irrevocably. And then I'm going to deal with Svetlana and Sergei and anyone else who thinks they can challenge me." I turn to face him. "In that order."
