“She stays because she has to,” Dmitri replies.
I scoff, “Do I?”
Before Lev says, “Start with Gennady.”
Tony looks up. “Vadim’s senior advisor.”
Lev nods once. “He’s running the Moscow push. He directs the hits on your operations while my father stays out of the details.”
“What does he control?”
“Targets, teams, and timing,” Lev answers. “If you want to know what’s coming next, you start with the man who signs off on it.”
Tony nods and starts typing fast, then pulls his phone out. “I’ll make some calls.”
Dmitri doesn’t take his eyes off Lev, and he orders, “You keep talking.”
“Not until I know she’ll be held harmless.”
“Stop talking like I’m not standing right here,” I snap.
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“I can speak for myself,” I fire back.
Dmitri continues as though I haven’t said a word. “You’re not in a position to negotiate, Morozov.”
“I am if you need what I have,” Lev answers.
Dmitri steps closer until only a couple of feet separate them. “You don’t get to decide what I need.”
Lev holds his ground, squaring his shoulders. “Then decide.”
The words bubble up, scorching my throat until I can’t hold them back.
“I’m not going to just stand here and wait for you to decide I’m a problem the way everyone decided my mother was. I did not build my life just to end up in this office asking for protection because I got too close to the wrong man.”
Dmitri’s gaze cuts to me again, and my stomach drops because I know he’s about to twist the knife.
“Let me make something clear: You didn’t become a liability because of him. You became one because you lied to me. You’re family. Your choices land here whether you want them to or not.”
Lev steps in front of me. “I didn’t come here to see her get torn apart by her own family.”
“No, you came here because you created the threat, and now you want credit for fixing it.”
Lev works his jaw, but he doesn’t speak.
Dmitri uses that silence. “Boris.”
Boris straightens. “Yes.”
“Take him to holding.”
My stomach roils again, even though I knew it was coming.
Boris steps toward Lev. “Move.”
Lev looks at Dmitri. “I’ll give you as much as you want. Just don’t let my father get his hands on her.”
