I keep my face blank.
Inside, my stomach twists.
If Mikhail dies today, the leverage against Landon disappears. No more reason to kill him to send a message. The boy becomes… irrelevant. Safe, maybe.
But Viktor’s next words kill that flicker of hope.
“You’ve been quiet,” Viktor says, still not looking at me. “Too quiet. I don’t like quiet men, Ivan. They tend to have thoughts. And thoughts can be mapped out, pieced together. I guess you forgot that even our burners come with trackers in built.”
Viktor knows I’ve had my doubts over the boy. He must do. Viktor might be a master of the poker face, but right now every instinct I have tells me that he knows I love Landon.
He turns his head slowly.
“I’m going to need you on point for this one,” Viktor growls. “Front door. You lead the entry team. You make sure Mikhail sees your face before he dies. I want him to know exactly who ended him.”
I nod once. “Understood.”
He studies me for a long beat.
“Good.”
The convoy turns onto a side street near Mikhail’s restaurant.
I stare straight ahead.
Viktor is suspicious. I can feel it in the air between us—thick, electric, dangerous. He hasn’t said the words yet, but they’re coming. Once Mikhail is dead, once the message is sent, Viktor will clean house. He’ll tie off every loose end.
Starting with me.
Because he knows.
He always knows.
And when he decides I’m a liability, he won’t hesitate.
The restaurant comes into view.
The SUVs slow and then stop.
Viktor turns to me one last time.
“Show me you’re still my man, Ivan,” Viktor says. “Show me that you are the man of honor I always believed you to be.”
I meet his eyes.
And I nod.
Because right now, there is no other answer.
But inside, I’m already calculating.
Mikhail has to die today.
Landon has to live.
And somehow—somehow—I have to make sure that when the dust settles, I’m still breathing beside him.
It’s time.
