My hand tightens on the phone hard enough that the case cracks. "Watch how you speak about her."
Another pause. Longer this time.
"Bring her to my office," Adrik says finally. "Tomorrow. We need to discuss next steps for drawing out the father. And Renat?"
"Yes."
"Whatever you think you feel for this girl? Kill it. Before it kills you."
He hangs up.
I stand there in the darkness, phone still pressed to my ear, and try to remember the last time I disobeyed a direct order from my brother.
Never. The answer is never.
But the thought of taking Ava to his office, of exposing her to his scrutiny, of sharing her with anyone...
It makes me want to burn down the world.
I pocket the phone and head back to the living room. Ava is right where I left her, standing by the window, but now she's holding something. My laptop, I realize. She must have found it on the coffee table.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
She looks up at me, and there's something calculating in her expression. Something that wasn't there before.
"Researching," she says calmly. "If I'm going to be kept by the Devil, I want to know exactly what that means. So I'm reading about the Korolyov family. Your family."
I wait for anger to rise in me, but it doesn’t. If she were anyone else, I’d have locked her in a room without access to anything… Yet here I am, finding myself impressed.
"And what have you learned?" I ask.
She turns the laptop around to show me. It's open to a news article. The headline reads: KOROLYOV BRATVA SUSPECTED IN DISAPPEARANCE OF RIVAL SYNDICATE MEMBERS.
Then beneath, in small letters: Twelve women rescued from shipping container as trafficking ring eliminated.
"I've learned," she says softly, "that when people cross your family, they don't just die. They disappear. Like they never existed at all."
"Only the ones who deserve to," I mutter.
"And I've learned that you're not just a fixer. You're the fixer. The one they call when the problem needs to be erased completely." Her eyes meet mine. "Is that what you're going to do to my father?"
"That’s my intention."
"And after he's gone? After you don't need me as bait anymore?" Her voice is steady, but I can see her hands shaking. "Do I disappear too?"
I cross the room and take the laptop from her hands, setting it aside. Then I cup her face in both hands, forcing her to look at me.
"Listen to me very carefully, Ava. Your father dies. That's non-negotiable. He killed children. He deserves everything that's coming to him." My thumbs stroke her cheekbones. "But you? You're not disappearing. You're not leverage anymore. You're mine. And I protect what's mine."
"For how long?"
"Forever."
The word shocks me as much as it shocks her. Forever. I've never used that word before. Never even thought it. Forever implies a future, and I've never had a future. Just an endless present of blood and darkness.
"You can't mean that," she breathes.
"I told you. I never say things I don't mean." I lean down until our foreheads touch. "You're mine, Ava. For as long as I'm alive, you're mine. And anyone who tries to take you from me will learn exactly why they call me the Devil."
