I scoff. “Maybe I actually thought I could trust my brothers for once to do something right instead of messing up.”
“Please stop this. Why can’t any of you be like Daniil?” Mother cuts in, her voice tired and strained. “Look at him, he’s the only one who knows how to behave. He never argues like the rest of you animals. Why can’t you just sit and have a normal family lunch for once in your lives?”
“Because he’s fucking adopted. Maybe you should’ve adopted the rest of us too, since the only normal one here didn’t come out of your body,” I yell.
The words hang in the air for a split second before her eyes widen. It plays out in slow motion. She takes off her red heel andhurls it straight at my head with accuracy. I duck. It smashes into a sculpture behind me, sending pieces flying across the floor.
I crossed the line, not that I care. She doesn’t tolerate anyone mentioning Daniil’s adoption. Ever.
I glance at Father, expecting something. But he just watches, unmoved, and rubs his jaw, watching all of us as if we’re insects under a microscope. I think he’s trying to decide if he wants to murder his own family or just let us destroy each other. If she wanted to throw the other shoe at me, he’d let her.
“Can we please just calm down now?” Lev yells.
“No, I will not fucking calm down! You need to stop blaming me for everything that goes wrong,” Mikhail snaps.
“But you’re always the one that screws things up. I mean, look at your pupils, Mikhail. What did you take this time?” Yulian fires. “I’m sure it was some nice cocktail of everything, and I’m seriously surprised you haven’t overdosed yet.”
I curse under my breath and tense up.
Mikhail clenches his fists and cracks his neck. That’s his tell—he’s about to completely lose it.
The drugs mean this is about to go from loud family argument to something deadly. His martial arts training alone is dangerous. Add whatever he’s high on, and he’s not just fast, he’s completely uncontrollable.
I circle the table, trying to reach him, but he’s faster. Three steps and he’s on Yulian, sweeping his legs out and slamming him onto the marble.
I lunge for his fists, but he catches my shirt, hooks the back of my knee in the same motion, and yanks me flat onto my back. He spins and drives a punch into Yulian’s face before anyone can react. I scramble up to stop him again.
A gunshot cracks across the dining room.
“My ceiling!” Mother screeches.
I look over at my father. He stands calmly with a gun, still aimed at the ceiling. I glance up at the fresh hole right next to all the others. He always aims for the same spot when he wants us to shut up and stop.
There are already fifteen bullet holes clustered up there, two of them from last New Year’s when Yulian completely lost his mind at Lev.
“If you’re done acting like children, we have actual work to discuss,” Father says, placing the gun on the table and sitting. “Sit.Now.”
His voice echoes through the room. Everyone immediately stops what they’re doing. Chairs get picked up, clothes get straightened, everyone moves to their seats without another word.
I have to stop myself from smiling when Yulian wipes blood from his nose.
The chair vibrates under me from Mikhail’s foot tapping frantically, trying to keep whatever cocktail of stimulants is still burning through his system under some kind of control.
“The Nozares family has been testing our boundaries for months. We’ve eliminated their attempts, but Santiago overstepped when he targeted our operations. The old fool put a contract on the escort services.”
His eyes fixate on me. “You and Calder will hit their stash house tomorrow night. Extract whatever intel you can find about this leak, then eliminate everyone on site. Clean sweep. I want to know who’s betraying us before we move on to Santiago.”
I nod and keep listening while he outlines the rest. Target locations, backup plans, exit strategies. Even my mother sits quietly with that tense expression she gets when family business turns lethal. Father keeps us all working. Gives each of us operations to run so we stay busy and the empire stays tight.
Lev’s stuck with the ports. Shipping, imports, paperwork. He hates it, but he’s good at making dirty money look clean.
Yulian runs that restaurant and Vespera, his escort service. Father thinks it’s beneath us, but Yulian’s too good at gathering information and making money for him to shut it down.
Mikhail handles the clubs. Money laundering, mostly. We cash for smaller families, and they pay us for it. Keeps them dependent. Daniil works with him on all the tech side—databases, security tracking.
I handle all the problems. The ones that need to disappear.
But that’s not what keeps us on top. The real power is Father’s investment firm.
