Page 229 of Merciless Daddy

Kiryl looked directly at me.

“He took Lena because of me. The convoy. The tracker. Everything was about making her afraid for me.” His voice shook. “If I offer myself, he might trade.”

“No.”

The word came out hard enough to cut.

Kiryl recoiled.

I saw it. I saw the fear cross his face.

And I had nothing gentle left to give him.

“You will not offer yourself to that animal,” I said. “You will not call yourself the price of your sister’s life. Do you understand me?”

“Sal—”

“Do you understand?”

His mouth closed.

“Yes.”

Guilt hit me immediately.

Kiryl was not Lev. He was not one of the men who had taught Yelena that love required sacrifice. He was a frightened boy trying to save the person who had spent her whole life saving him.

But I could not apologize yet. If I softened the answer, he might mistake it for possibility.

“You are not the reason he took her,” I said, quieter. “Gianni took her because he wants power. Do not let him make you carry his sin. This isn’t about you Kirly, and you know it.”

Kiryl nodded once. His eyes lowered.

I turned to the map.

“Prepare simultaneous strikes,” I said. “Every known Sokolov site in Chicago. Every Halberd office. All storage facilities. All docks. Every property linked to Gianni’s shell companies.”

Pietro stared at me.

“Sal.”

“Move.”

“If we hit all of them, he will know we have nothing.”

“I do not care what he knows.”

“You should.”

I looked at him.

The room went quiet.

Pietro did not move.

“Without knowing where Yelena is,” he said, “a broad assault could make him move her. Or kill her.”

The last words landed like a blade. I crossed the room before anyone could stop me. Pietro did not step back. He never did.