The silence settles heavily. In this family, it never means anything good.
My mother walks over to my father. She puts her hands on his face, leans in, and says something low and soft. He shakes his head and tries to look away, but she pushes his chin toward her and says it again, firmer this time. He nods once, and she walks off to sit beside me. Her perfume hits me hard. She smells exactly like she did when I was a kid. She’s never changed it once in all these years.
Servers start coming in with our plates, setting them in front of us one by one without making eye contact, then disappear as quickly as they came. The room goes dead silent again except for the soft clink of silverware.
I glance at Mikhail. Great, he’s completely wasted. This is going to be a fucking shitshow. He and Yulian can’t be in a room together without someone getting hit. Actually, none of us are good at family gatherings. This whole family can’t be in one place without it turning into a disaster. Fighting, yelling, someone storming out, or getting almost killed. It’s a miracle we’re still alive considering how we operate.
“Can we please stop behaving like we’re at a funeral? Let’s talk and eat,” my mother says, cutting through the tension with her usual directness.
My father looks up from his plate, and his eyes sweep across all of us slowly.
Yulian scoffs and leans back in his chair. “Yeah, let’s talk. Hey, Mikhail, how’s life? Still a complete disaster, or did something change?”
Mikhail pushes his plate away hard enough that it scrapes loudly across the table. “Don’t fucking start with me today.”
Yulian grins. “Why not? It’s family lunch. We’re supposed to bond.”
“We could bond over how much of a dick you are.”
“Original. Did that take you all morning to come up with?”
I rub at my temple while they bicker and let out a deep sigh.
“No, it came naturally. Just like how being insufferable comes naturally to you.”
Yulian smiles coldly. “I’d rather be insufferable than whatever mess you are.”
“At least I’m an interesting mess. You’re just boring.”
“Boring? I’m the only one in this family honest enough to actually call out your drug problem instead of pretending it doesn’t exist. Someone has to have the balls to say it.”
Mikhail scoffs. “Stop pretending to care.”
“I don’t want you dead, Mikhail. Believe it or not, I’d prefer if you stuck around,” Yulian snaps.
“Enough,” Father shouts, voice carrying that hard warning we all recognize.
I brace myself for what’s coming. Daniil pulls his hoodie further over his head with a resigned sigh. He already knows exactly how this ends.
“Let’s just eat first, and then we can have this conversation like adults, yeah?” Lev says, already sounding exhausted.
“It was all Alexei’s fault anyway. He fucked up at the warehouse,” Mikhail snaps. Then shoves himself up from the chair so hard it tips back and hits the marble floor with a crash. He runs a hand over his buzz cut with his blown pupils locked on me.
I raise an eyebrow. “What are you, five years old?” I pick up a glass and aim it right at his head.
He ducks just in time, and it smashes into one of those expensive-ass paintings behind him.
“You fucking dickhead! You almost took my head off!”
My father pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.
Mother starts to say something, trying to calm everyone down.
Yulian pushes himself up from the table. “You are so stupid it’s actually comical. We knew instantly what went down and waited for one of you to grow a pair and speak up, but apparently that’s asking too much.”
I push myself up so fast my chair slams against the marble. “You want to keep your teeth? Then close your fucking mouth, Yulian. At least I don’t hide behind mind games like a pathetic little bitch.”
Mikhail cuts him off before he has a chance to reply. “You are all cowards. You’re always trying to blame everything on me. You always do this, all of you. It’s always my fault somehow. We scouted the place beforehand, and you still went in there knowing something was off, then you got shot like an idiot.”
