Page 64 of Prey of the Bratva

“And you still—”

“Yes.” The repetition snapped something.

“Unbelievable,” Avgust muttered.

Timofey leaned forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees, studying me with far too much interest. “I mean, objectively speaking, he does have a certain—”

“Finish that sentence,” Avgust said dangerously.

“I’m just saying, I can see the appeal in a very abstract, completely detached—”

“Timofey.”

“—purely observational way.”

Zhenya snorted. Despite everything, I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. God, I had missed this. At least being back home brought me back to my siblings. Iosif didn’t smile. He stepped closer instead, his presence filling the space between us in a way it always had.

“You disappeared,” he said. “You operated alone. You put yourself in direct conflict with a Russian pakhan. And now you’re standing here telling me you’ve aligned yourself with a Romanov.”

“I haven’t aligned myself with anyone,” I said. “I made a decision.”

“That decision has consequences.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.”

He studied me for a long moment, something shifting behind his eyes. I could see calculation, restraint, and something else I couldn’t quite name.

“Then explain it to me,” he said finally. “Explain why.”

I didn’t hesitate. “Because he sees me.”

The room went quiet again, but it was different this time. A little less explosive and more focused, as if all of them were waiting with bated breath for me to say something. For me to explain what it all meant.

“He doesn’t try to control me,” I continued. “He doesn’t make decisions for me. He doesn’t reduce me to something that needs to be protected instead of trusted.”

“That’s because he’s using you,” Avgust snapped.

“No,” I said calmly. “He isn’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

“How?”

“Because he had every opportunity to use me and kill me and make me suffer, but he didn’t.”

That shut him up for a second.

“Why?” Timofey asked, softer now. I didn’t answer immediately because, the truth be told, even now, it felt too big to put into something simple.

“Because he chose not to,” I said finally.

Zhenya watched me carefully, her expression shifting in a way that told me she understood more than she was saying.