"What the fuck?" Yuri grumbles under his breath, lowering his weapon slowly.
My gaze shifts from Vivika to the man now climbing out of the car behind her. Luka Kolar straightens his jacket as he steps onto the gravel. His sharp eyes sweep over the property like he's assessing our security, but he has no weapon drawn. He flicks two fingers at the car, and more men pile out, a guard, Rurik, a driver.
I'm as confused as Yuri when I lower my weapon and suck in a breath to squelch the tension in my chest.
"I believe we have business to discuss," Vivika says, and as she does, she nods at Kolar like they're old buddies. "Perhaps we should take this inside."
It's baffling to even see her here in town, but to see her commanding a man known for his ruthlessness as easily as Yuri commands this family is baffling. They begin moving toward the front door and my mind is still reeling.
Yuri recovers faster than I do. He tucks his weapon away and nods, stepping back to allow them entry. "Please. Come in."
Vivika leads Kolar up the steps, and as she passes me, she reaches out and squeezes my hand, just briefly, just long enough to let me know she sees me, and she knows I'm hurt, but she'll explain everything as soon as she can. Then she's past me and into the house, and I'm left standing on the stoop with my wound burning and my head spinning.
Rurik's expression is sour and etched with concern as he mounts the steps. He takes one look at my condition and moves to my side without a word, offering his shoulder as support. I want torefuse, but my legs are threatening to give out and pride isn't worth collapsing on the front steps.
I lean on him and let him guide me back inside, trailing behind Kolar's guard and driver, both heavily armed.
The living room has transformed into an impromptu meeting space by the time we reach it, Yuri and Kolar seated across from each other in leather armchairs while Vivika stands near the window with her arms crossed. Kolar's bodyguard positions himself by the door, as if he's trying to remind everyone in the room how quickly this could turn violent.
Rurik deposits me on a sofa near the fireplace and stands over me, and though I've put the safety on the weapon, I don't hand it over. It lies on my knee. I hate feeling useless, but my body isn't giving me a choice.
"Vivika tells me you have proof," Kolar says, "that Yaros murdered his sister and has been lying to me for months. I'm here because I want to see it."
Yuri's expression slowly softens from cold concern to confidence. Vivika could not convince Kolar she was a real Veche, so she did the next best thing. She convinced him that we could remove the wool from his eyes.
"We have that exact proof," Yuri says, and I watch him fight back a smile. We couldn't get through Yaros to speak with Kolar on our own. The meet we set up was interfered with by Yaros, but Vivika found a way, and the pieces will fall into place seamlessly now.
"Show me."
Yuri rises and moves to a safe concealed behind a landscape painting on the far wall. I watch him enter the combination and retrieve a folder thick with papers, photographs, recordings stored on flash drives. He's been compiling this evidence for weeks, gathering it piece by piece while we ran our operations and trained Vivika to play her role.
This was always the endgame—proving Yaros's guilt to Kolar, so the man could see how evil the entire Veche organization has become. With Ana dead, Kolar's alliance to her is broken. Dealing with the lying sack of shit that Yaros has become doesn't have to be a thing for him.
He hands the folder to Kolar, who opens it and begins examining the contents. Minutes tick past in silence as he reviews document after document, his expression growing darker with each page he turns.
Vivika crosses the room while Kolar reads, moving to stand beside me. She doesn't say anything, but she does reach down and take my hand in hers, lacing our fingers together. Her skin is warm against mine, proof that she's actually here and this isn't another fever dream.
"You were supposed to stay in Moscow," I manage, my voice barely above a whisper.
"I couldn't." She squeezes my hand. "I couldn't hide while you fought alone. I had to come back."
"You could've died." I lift my eyes up to take in the sight of her face, now washed clean and looking more like herself.
"So could you." She meets my eyes with compassion, and I see the way her bottom lip quivers. "Just let me do what you trained me to do."
Yuri's right. This woman is foolish and stupid, and reckless, and mine. All mine, and she came back to help me, not because she wanted to save women from a slave trade, but because she didn't want to leave my side to begin with. How can I fault her for that? Our gazes linger on each other for a moment until Kolar's voice cuts through the moment.
"This is authentic?"
Yuri nods. "Every piece of it. We can provide witnesses who will corroborate the documentation if you need additional verification."
"Witnesses?" Kolar tosses the folder onto the table between them, then scrubs both hands over his face and growls loudly. "You have witnesses who can confirm that Yaros murdered his own sister?"
"We do."
Kolar's silent as he shakes his head, staring at the scattered papers with an expression that promises violence. When he finally speaks, his voice sends chills down my spine. "My alliance with Ana Veche was a strategic positioning of resources toward a specific end…" He locks his eyes on Vivika and glares hard. "The brother is at best an annoyance and at worst the reason the Veche organization should be dismantled.”
Then he turns, meeting Yuri's eyes. "She promised me that she had him under control. And now you're telling me he killed her, and he's been lying to my face for months…"
