His gaze sharpens slightly. “She turned out to be… significant.”
The mention of Rowan rests between us like a quiet threat. “You had her taken,” I continue.
“I did.” Viktor’s tone remains steady, almost conversational. “I recognized her importance to you the moment I saw the way you looked at her.”
The statement doesn’t surprise me. Viktor always studied people carefully.
“You believed hurting her would weaken my position,” I observe.
“That was the intention.”
Snow continues to fall across the lot, while the silence between us stretches briefly.
“You were wrong.”
Viktor’s expression tightens at that. “Yes,” he admits after a moment. “Unexpected outcomes do occur.”
He glances briefly toward the men standing in the shadows behind me before returning his attention to my face.
“Ivan was supposed to finish what Arkady began,” he continues. “Unfortunately, Ivan lacked patience.”
“You trained him,” I reply.
Viktor inclines his head slightly. “I shaped him.”
The distinction is deliberate.
“Ivan possessed ambition,” Viktor continues. “What he lacked was discipline. Arkady provided the structure necessary to keep the operation functioning.”
“And when Arkady stopped serving you,” I add, “you removed him.”
Viktor’s eyes flash briefly with approval. “You learn quickly.”
I study the man in front of me. The man who once stood beside my father like a brother.
“You spent years building this,” I observe.
“I spent years correcting your father’s mistake.” The answer arrives without apology. “When Nikolai refused to expand the Sovarin empire the way it should have grown, he limited its future. I simply corrected that.”
“You murdered him,” I snap.
“I replaced him.” The calmness in Viktor’s voice reveals how long he has believed that version of events.
“He chose loyalty over power,” Viktor continues. “A leader can’t afford that weakness.”
My fingers tighten briefly at my side. “My father built something that lasted.”
Viktor gives a quiet shrug. “And yet here we are.” There’s a faint challenge in his tone. “Ivan was meant to take control once the structure collapsed,” Viktor adds.
“And then you would step forward,” I note.
“Eventually.”
Viktor studies me again while snow gathers along the ground around our feet. “You figured it out sooner than I expected.”
“I had help,” I answer, Rowan’s name moving through my mind even though I don’t speak it aloud.
Viktor’s eyes narrow. “Your attachment to her remains your greatest vulnerability.”
