13
LEV
"It's working." Fyodor tosses a folder onto Yuri's desk and settles into one of the wingback chairs, a satisfied grin spreading across his face. Dimitri paces near the window with his hands shoved in his pockets while Yuri picks up the folder and starts flipping through the pages inside, his gray eyes scanning the contents.
"The Veche family's in chaos," Fyodor continues. "Our sources inside their organization say Yaros can't contain it. His own people are demanding answers about why Ana would align herself with the Gravitches, and he's got nothing to tell them."
I stand near the fireplace with my arms crossed over my chest, listening. This is exactly what we planned for when we grabbed Vivika off that street corner and turned her into a weapon.
"What kind of chaos?" Yuri asks, still reading. His eyes flick back and forth over the pages while I stand stewing.
"The kind that's making their allies nervous." Fyodor leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and folds his fingers. "Three of Yaros's captains have already reached out to ourpeople quietly, asking questions about the Donna's return. They wanna know if it's true and she's really working with us now. They're trying to figure out which way the wind is blowing before they pick a side because they haven't heard from her in five and a half months now."
Dimitri lets out a low whistle. "Three captains… that's significant."
"It's more than significant," Fyodor says. "It's the beginning of a civil war. These men have been loyal to the Veche family for decades, and now they're hedging their bets. They're looking at Yaros and wondering if maybe they backed the wrong horse."
"And Yaros's response?" Yuri asks. His eyes rise from the documents to look at me first, then at my brother who continues.
"That's the interesting part." Fyodor's grin widens. "He's telling his inner circle that we've found an imposter, a lookalike we're using to destabilize his position. But here's the thing—his own people don't believe him. They've seen the woman at the bank, at the Mariinsky. They've heard the whispers spreading through every back channel in the city. And they're asking themselves why Yaros would lie about his own sister. Why he can't just produce her and put an end to all of this."
"Because he can't produce her," I say quietly, turning to walk toward the men clustered closer to the boss's desk. I really need a drink. This whole thing has my system in a funk. If I hadn't had to lock Vivika up for the backlash she threw at me, maybe I'd feel better.
"Exactly." Fyodor points at me. "That's what his people are starting to realize. If Ana were alive and well and just traveling like Yaros claims, she'd be back by now, standing in front of hercaptains and telling them to ignore the Gravitch propaganda. But instead, all they're getting is Yaros making excuses and denials. He can't even produce a phone call or a video from her."
Dimitri stops pacing and turns to face us. "If they don't believe him, that means the con is working better than we expected."
"It means something's off," I say, and everyone turns to look at me. "Yaros should be able to produce his sister if she's really alive. He should be able to put her in front of his captains and prove we're running a con. But he hasn't done that. He's just… denying."
Yuri sets down the folder and steeples his fingers beneath his chin. "You think she's dead?"
"I think it's possible." Glowering, I stalk toward the side table and pour myself a drink, downing it before turning to continue. "Ana disappeared five months ago. Yaros has been making excuses ever since—family visits, business abroad, all the usual bullshit. But if she were alive, he'd bring her back now to shut us down. The fact that he can't…"
"The fact that he can't means he might've done something to her," Fyodor finishes my sentence, and Yuri's eyes wax an inky black. He knows I'm right. We're not just taunting a man who locked his sister up. We're staring down a murder. We just don’t have proof yet.
Yaros Veche killing his own sister to take control of the family is the kind of move that would destroy him if it ever came out, the kind of betrayal that even the most hardened criminals wouldn't forgive. A man who kills his own blood to seize power is a man nobody can trust. But it would also explain everything—his defensiveness, his desperate insistence that we're running a conwhen the simplest solution would be to bring her forward and prove it.
"We can't prove anything," Dimitri says. "It's all speculation at this point."
"We don't need to prove it," Yuri replies, a cold smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "We just need his people to suspect it. And right now, they're already asking questions he can't answer. Every day that passes without Ana appearing in the flesh is another day his captains wonder what really happened to her."
Fyodor pulls out his tablet and swipes through a few screens. "There's more…" His brow furrows as he continues reading. Then he looks up at me with concern etched on his face. "New intel that came in an hour ago about the shooting at the Mariinsky."
My jaw tightens at the memory. I've lived through a million scenarios just like that. It's like my nervous system has been immunized to it so it no longer affects me, but it fucked Vivika up. I'll never forget the fear in her eyes and the way she clung to me.
"We assumed it was an attempt on Lev's life," Fyodor says. "An effort to take out the handler so they could grab the woman. But our sources are saying otherwise."
"Meaning what?" I ask.
Fyodor looks up from his tablet, meeting my eyes. "The target was the woman. They hired heavy hitters out of the Ukraine. Yaros gave the order himself—he wants her dead."
The anger bubbling beneath the surface is going to come out and when it does, I won't be able to control it. The idea that thatsick fuck wanted to kill Vivika is the only proof I need that he's already gone and killed his sister. And he dares to even think that he can touch something that's mine. I won’t stand for it.
"Why would he want her dead?" Dimitri asks. "Taking her out doesn't help him."
"It helps him if she's exposing a lie he can't afford to have exposed," I say, and I pour myself another drink so I can think straight. "Think about it. As long as our Ana is alive, his own family's going to keep asking questions. But if she's dead—and he blames it on us?—"
"Then the questions stop," Yuri says. "The threat disappears. He goes back to his story about Ana traveling abroad, and nobody can challenge him." Every man in this room is getting the point now and the knowledge is sinking like a brick in murky water. We've not only pressed the wrong button, but we're creeping in on territory Yaros hoped no one would ever touch.
