He’s right. We really only have each other in this difficult world we live in.
He's my brother, the only real family I have besides Enzo.
Still, there’s something in his demeanor that unsettles me.
"Does this have anything to do with losing the shipment the other night?”
His face tightens. "That's why I need the file. To clear up misunderstandings."
“Or you could be gathering intelligence.”
"Don't be ridiculous." But his denial comes too quickly, too forcefully.
"Pyotr, whose side are you on?"
He slams his cup down. "There are no sides, Katerina! Just survival. The Dantes are weakened. Alessandro doesn't have his father's strength?—"
"So you're hedging your bets? Selling information to save your own skin?"
"I'm protecting us!" He grabs my shoulders. "You think they won't come for you and Enzo when this powder keg explodes? And if you think the Dantes will protect you, you’re delusional.You might be in their home, but you’re Bratva. That’s how they see you?—”
“Especially if I help you.”
His body tenses, his arm rises, and for a moment, I think he might strike me. But then he turns away, taking a deep breath.
When he turns back, he gives me a patronizing smile. “Lorenzo foresaw this issue before he died.”
“He said to hand over Dante secrets?” I wonder if I can get my brother into treatment because he really is going off the deep end.
“It’s not like that.”
But I’m not buying what he’s trying to sell me. I shake my head, stepping back from him. "Lorenzo was good to us and this is how you repay that debt? By betraying his family after his death?"
"Lorenzo is dead," Pyotr hisses. "And his loyalty died with him. Wake up, Kat. The rules have changed."
I stare at my brother, this man I've loved my entire life, and for the first time, I'm afraid of what he might do.
“Lorenzo was good to you, but Alessandro treats you like a gnat. You’re still here because he can’t figure out how to get rid of you without pissing off the Bratva more than he already has.”
He’s not completely wrong. No matter how much I try to show my worth to the Dante family, Alessandro seems disinterested.
"And what about Enzo?" Pyotr's voice drops low. "Your son with a Dante? You think the Bratva will overlook that little detail when they come for blood? Or that the Dantes won’t take the boy from you?"
My blood turns to ice. "Don't you dare bring my son into this."
"He's already in it. A half-Dante, half-Petrov child? He's the very definition of conflicted loyalties. When sides are drawn, where do you think he'll land?"
"He's six years old!” My anger shrieks from me. "He's an innocent child, not a chess piece."
"No one is innocent in this game." Pyotr's eyes harden. "You know that. For both our sakes, for Enzo’s sake, you need to help me get that file.”
Our world is a dangerous one. I know it. But for most of my life I’ve been sheltered from it. So now is the first time I feel terror at what Pyotr is saying.
"Think about what I'm saying, Kat." His tone softens, but the damage is done. "Your loyalty should be to your blood first. Not to a family that will discard you the moment you're no longer useful."
Conflict rages through me.
Am I truly loyal to anyone?
