"Yaros's trafficking operation didn't spring from nowhere. He had sources—people who supplied him with women, networks that funneled victims from across Eastern Europe into his pipeline. Those networks are still operating, even with Yaros in hiding. They've simply shifted their business to other buyers."
Vivika's jaw tightens. "I'll find every one of them."
"I want you to dismantle them." Yuri leans forward, holding her gaze. "You'll work with Rurik and whatever resources the Gravitch-Kolar alliance can provide. Your mandate is simple—identify the source networks, locate their operations, and shut them down permanently. We end this trade for good."
The table has gone quiet, watching Vivika's face for her reaction. This is an enormous responsibility—one that'll put her at the center of our operations. She's being offered a seat at the table in the truest sense, a role that will define her place within the family for years to come.
"Of course I'll do it with pride," she says. I can hardly tell the difference between her confident tone and the act she used to put on as Ana Veche. Vivika has become a powerhouse of her own accord and it makes me so proud to call her mine.
Something shifts in Yuri's expression as he says, "Good. Rurik's already started preliminary intelligence gathering. You'll meet with him tomorrow to review what we know and develop a strategy for moving forward."
"I'll be ready."
The conversation moves on, but I can't stop watching Vivika. The way she's holding herself, the quiet determination in her eyes—this is the woman she was always meant to be. I've never been more proud of anyone.
Dinner winds down over the next hour, and conversation flows from business to family to comfortable small talk. Fyodor tells a story about something that happened during a job in Minsk that has everyone laughing, even Dimitri, whose sense of humor is typically as scarred as his personality. Then Inessa talks about the nursery she and Yuri are preparing, which the ladies eat up.
This is what family looks like. This is what I've been fighting for—these people, this table, this sense of belonging to something larger than myself.
And I want Vivika to be part of it officially.
"If you'll excuse me," I say, pushing back from the table, "I'd like a moment alone with Vivika before dessert."
Fyodor's eyes meet mine, and I see understanding flash across his face. He knows what I'm about to do. He probably knew the moment I asked him for my mother's ring three days ago.
"Take all the time you need," Yuri says, and he nods at me like he knows too. My brother must've told him.
I extend my hand to Vivika and she takes it, her brow furrowing slightly with confusion as I lead her out of the dining room and into the hall that runs along the back of the house. The windows here overlook the gardens, moonlight spilling across the manicured hedges and stone pathways that Yuri's groundskeeper maintains.
"What's going on?" Vivika asks as I guide her to a spot where the light is brightest. "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." I turn to face her, and all I can do is stand there like a fool and gawk at her. She's so beautiful in every way. Little did I know when I snatched a strange woman off the street that she would become my other half. It's incredible the way fate aligns our lives.
"Lev, you're scaring me."
"I don't mean to." I take a breath and reach into my jacket pocket, my fingers closing around the velvet box that's been burning a hole there all evening. "I just need to do this properly."
I lower myself to one knee, and I watch her eyes go wide as understanding dawns.
"Vivika." My voice comes out rough and scratchy as emotion threatens to overwhelm the words I've been rehearsing in my head for days. "When I first dragged you into this mess, you were just a tool and I never planned for any of this to happen.”
"Lev—"
"Let me finish." I open the box to reveal my mother's ring—a simple band of white gold with a single diamond at its center. It's elegant and understated, exactly like the woman who wore it for thirty years. "I was wrong. I was so wrong about everything. You were never just a tool or an asset. From the moment I met you, you were something I never expected to find—you were brave and smart and you took everything I threw at you.” I smile remembering how she was so pliable toward me.
Vivika's eyes are glistening now, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.
"I love you," I continue. "I love who you were when I found you, and I love who you've become. I love your courage and your stubbornness. And I love that you came back for me when you could have run."
I hold up the ring, letting the moonlight catch the diamond.
"This was my mother's. She wore it every day of her marriage, through good times and bad, through everything life threw at her and my father. I've been waiting my whole life to find someone worthy of wearing it." I meet her eyes and let her see everything I'm feeling—the love, the hope, the absolute certainty that this is right. "Vivika Rozhkova, will you marry me?"
Tears stream down her cheeks freely, but she's smiling—that brilliant, radiant smile that transforms her entire face and makes my chest ache with how much I want to spend the rest of my life being the reason she smiles like that.
"Yes." The word comes out choked with emotion, but it's the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. "Yes, Lev. Of course I'll marry you."
I slide the ring onto her finger, and it fits perfectly—as if it was always meant to be there. Then Vivika pulls me to my feet and kisses me, wrapping her arms around my neck and her body pressing against mine. I hold her so tight I'm probably hurting her, but she doesn't seem to care, and neither do I.
