“Protect her how?” he demands. “Because from where I’m sitting—”
“Alexi,” I interrupt, holding up a hand. “Before you start interrogating me, let me finish.”
He looks ready to argue, but something in my tone gives him pause.
“Anya is being positioned like a bargaining chip,” I continue calmly. “Marriage as leverage. Power consolidated through her body and her obedience. I won’t allow that.”
Anya’s hand curls into a fist on the table.
“So what’s your plan?” Alexi asks coldly.
I lean back slightly, giving myself room, then lay it out cleanly. “You reclaim your birthright.”
The room goes still.
Dominic’s brow lifts. Anya turns fully toward her brother. Alexi lets out a harsh, incredulous laugh.
“No,” he says immediately. “Absolutely not. We already talked about this. I will not be part of the Bratva. I won’t touch human trafficking. Ever.”
“And you wouldn’t have to,” I say evenly.
“That’s not how it works.”
“That’s exactly how it works—if you’re the one in charge.”
His eyes snap back to mine.
“You think it’s that simple?”
“No,” I reply. “I think it’s brutal. Dangerous. And necessary.”
He shakes his head. “You’re asking me to become the very thing I despise.”
“I’m asking you to become the man who can end it,” I counter. “You’ve seen what your father has built. You know where the rot is. From the outside, you can scream all you want. From the top, you can cut it out.”
“That empire runs on trafficking,” Alexi snaps. “On drugs. On blood.”
“And it doesn’t have to,” I say firmly. “Not all of it. You take control, you dismantle the trafficking networks first. Quietly. Systematically. You redirect operations, starve the pipelines, make it unprofitable. I’ll help you.”
His eyes narrow. “Why?”
“Because I have resources you don’t,” I answer. “And because Anya matters to me. Because you matter to her. And because no one should be forced to wear their father’s sins like chains.”
Anya’s gaze burns into mine—hope and fear tangled together.
“You wouldn’t be alone,” I add, softer now. “Not in the decisions. Not in the fallout. I’ll stand with you. Dominic will. Others, too, once the balance shifts.”
Alexi exhales slowly, running a hand through his hair. “You’re talking about taking on monsters.”
“I know,” I say. “I’ve fought worse.”
Silence stretches across the table. Alexi doesn’t argue this time. Instead, he stares into his untouched coffee, his mind clearly racing. I see it—the hesitation, yes, but also the spark. The possibility.
He’s considering it.
That’s when the knock comes.
Three sharp raps on the door.
