I sigh, keeping a firm hand even though after the signature, everything changes.
But it’s for the better.
Lauren, Timur, and my unborn daughter come first. Everything I have built amounts to nothing if they don’t make it out of this. I couldn’t have asked for a better right-hand man and friend. And Lauren… I’m not sure if I believe in fate and coincidences, but if I didn’t step up to lead the Rogov Bratva, our paths might never have crossed. If I had to step up to lead hundreds of men through Atlanta’s underground, I would do it all over again just to stop her from crashing that goddamn wedding.
Maybe my organization has run its course anyway. Maybe it was always supposed to end this way, me signing away my empire to save a woman who means more to me than my own life.
It was a good run.
But now it’s time to end it with a bang.
Literally.
I know what’s coming after I sign these papers.
Ronan and his thugs are going to blow my brains out and then bury me outside the scrapyard.
What a fine legacy, pridurok.
But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where they bury me as long as I can buy Lauren and Timur’s safety. Maybe I deserve this, after all the terrible things I’ve done in my life. Maybe this is my redemption…
I pause, the pen poised over the dotted line, turning to Aslanov. “One condition.”
“You can’t afford conditions.”
“Just listen.” My other hand clenches into a fist by the chair. A part of me hopes that when his time comes, he’ll have something or someoneto lose. Like I do. Maybe then he’ll learn a lesson. The same lesson I’m learning now. “I want you to let Charles take the fall. You walk away clean.”
He watches me, the smirk fading. He tilts his head.
I continue. “You want my empire? My life? Fine. But you hand Charles over to the feds. You let him take the fall and you walk away clean, unscathed. There will be no ties. No heat on you.”
He arches a brow, suspicious. “Why would you want me to walk away clean? What’s in it for you?”
I exhale. “With Charles at your side, you’re not as untouchable as you think. He might have helped you previously, but he’s getting old. That makes him sloppy. It’s only a matter of time before the feds catch up to him.” I furrow my brow, watching him. “And you don’t strike me as the kind of person that would want to be involved when that happens.”
He studies me carefully. “Since when did you care so much about my life and reputation?”
“I couldn’t give a shit,” I scoff. “But I care about Lauren. As long as Charles is roaming around, she is unsafe.”
He clicks his tongue. “How romantic.” He puts a hand to his chest in mocking. “You surprise me, Niko. Maybe not so predictable, after all. You really have turned over a new leaf.” He laughs. “You should be thanking me that I’m here to save your precious empire and all of the men in it. The Rogov Bratva is nothing with a wet-behind-the-ears leader.”
If that’s how he sees it…
He can think whatever the fuck he wants.
He studies me for a moment longer. “Fine. Charles takes the fall. I walk.”
I don’t look at the man any longer than necessary. Returning to the contract, to the dotted line, I bring pen to paper and begin jotting down my signature. It’s a bruise to the ego. I feel my old self creeping back in. Signing my life’s work away to a human piece of shit like him makes my blood boil. But I force the voice away, pressing on, squiggling out my signature in shorthand as fast as possible before the voices get louder.
For Lauren, for Timur, and for my child.
Three lives for one.
My empire for their freedom.
I place the pen next to the signed contract, shutting the folder and handing it over to Aslanov. He takes it from me, his expression as cold as ice in the harsh flashlight beam. Even when the fucker’s grinning, there is something unnerving about him.
He can have what he wants.
