“The Kasks will claim whatever keeps their throats intact.”
“Gennady paid the auctioneer, moved Nadia’s lot, inflated Petya Yelchin’s debt after the auction, sent a photo from a guarded location, and demanded compensation for loss of Nadia.”
Silence held for two breaths.
Mikhail’s voice changed when it returned. It lost the rasp of illness and found the man who had built my childhood from blood, ledgers, and rules no one survived breaking twice.
“He used a debt marker to pressure a woman into the auction, then used the auction to claim the woman against your house after you took her.”
“Yes.”
“And you intend to name her wife.”
“I intend to make sure no man in this city forgets it.”
“You understand what that means.”
“Yes.”
“Say it.”
I looked through the glass at Manhattan burning pale under late-afternoon clouds. “It means Nadia’s insult becomes mine. Petya’s debt becomes mine to erase or punish. Gennady’s claim becomes an insult against the Sorin name. If the Kasks defend him, they defend the use of bought auctioneers and inflated debts against Sorin-protected family.”
“And if they call the girl temporary?”
“They can come to our wedding and correct themselves.”
My father was quiet again.
Then he said, “You sound like your mother.”
“I’ll accept that as praise.”
“It wasn’t offered as comfort.” Fabric rustled on his end of the call. He was moving, probably pushing away help he needed. “Bring the Kask men to the club. Use my room.”
“You should stay home.”
“I’m not dead.”
“No, and I need you that way.”
His breath sharpened. I heard pain in it before he buried it. “You need the room to know I’m still Pakhan long enough for you to make the next truth clear.”
“I can do that without you standing.”
“You’ll do it with me sitting.”
There was no use arguing once his voice settled there. Mikhail Sorin could be half-broken by his own bones and still turn stubbornness into command.
“Fine,” I said. “You sit. You don’t stand. You let the doctor ride in the car behind you.”
“I don’t take instructions from my son.”
“You do when your son is the one keeping the city from smelling blood in the water.”
Another silence.
Then my father said, “There he is.”
