We arrived several moments later to the sprawling mansion my father called home. While we all had our own places, here on the property of this estate and nearby, this residence was the largest and most prominent display of our wealth and success.
I’d grown up calling this mansion home. The tall columns were as familiar as the polished marble floors. Chandelierssparkled, rare artwork was hung, and state-of-the-art appliances and gadgets gave it a contemporary elegance. All of it was surrounded by the presence of Volkov guards who’d always blended into the background.
Yet, this time, as I strode up the steps to enter the massive building, I felt their eyes on me. Their deference. As if they already viewed me as the one at the top to whom they’d swear their loyalty.
Pressure mounted on my shoulders. That tension coiled tighter in my gut. No spotlight was shining on me, but the mere acknowledgment of taking the throne had my nerves fraying.
I exhaled another deep breath and dared my cousin to call me out on it or tease me.
He didn’t, already entering the building with me, as grim-faced as I was.
Maksim, my brother who was second after me, was already here in the foyer, waiting for us. Sometimes, he was just as much of a control freak as I was, a problem solver while I could be the leader. We’d fallen into those personality traits since childhood, and just seeing him helped to calm my anxiety.
He’ll help me.
They all will.
It would take some getting used to, but I wouldn’t be ruling at the top on my own. The difference of having them report to me, like they did my father, would be strange at first, but we would always be a team.
Maksim stood with the doctor, who tipped his chin at me in acknowledgment. When he opened his mouth to speak, I held up my hand. “Wait for the others.”
I didn’t relish sharing the details with them again.
He nodded and held his hands behind his back.
“They’re right behind us,” I told them bluntly.
If the grave expression on the doctor’s face was any indication, the prognosis wasn’t a rosy one.
Fuck.
That tension knotted tighter.
Nikolai entered a couple of minutes later, and behind him, Lev and Viktor came in.
“What’s the word?” Lev asked.
The doctor cleared his throat as he looked at me. “With yesterday’s stroke, there is no chance that he will recover to be his old self again.”
He sure wasn’t holding back on us with an ice-breaker like that. Lev sucked in a breath. Viktor cursed under his breath, and Nikolai winced. I glanced at Maksim, who looked as sober and somber as I was feeling. We all waited for the doctor to detail what he could share. The cancer, which started in his stomach, had already spread to his brain. Severe damage was done. He’d fallen with the stroke yesterday, and due to his body fighting the metastatic tumors, his body was already too far to recover much at all. He’d be more or less comatose, with limited cognitive ability. His speech, sight, and motor skills were significantly compromised.
The doctor estimated that he could hold on for several months, at most, but it struck me like a lightning bolt to the chest to imagine him eking out a “life” for even half that.
As a vegetable, lying weak in bed?
As a lost soul trapped in a failing body?
Once the doctor was finished delivering what felt like a true death sentence, I wondered which of my brothers or cousins might have had the same impulsive thought that I had.Would he want us to just have mercy and kill him, to put him out of his misery?Guilt chased the curiosity away.
But it was only when the doctor was escorted to the door that one of us spoke up.
“Would he prefer that we make this painless for him instead of waiting?” Maksim asked.
Lev scowled at him. “No.”
Again, Alexei and I glanced at each other. We were all too aware of how close Lev had always been with my father, how he revered him after his own father had defied us all.
I cleared my throat, not wishing to skirt around the concept of emotions. I was born and raised to lead, and whether I appreciated it or not, the time to lead was now. “Effective immediately, per his living will and written orders, I will step in as the interim Pakhan until he passes.”
