Page 52 of Deadly Knight (The Bratva’s Elite #2)

I leave Katya asleep, though it very well kills me, and head for Vanessa’s office to update her on all things about my father, considering I haven’t given her the complete account yet.

She glances up from her laptop, already hard at work despite it being only eight in the morning. With a tap of her nail against her coffee mug, she says, “I have a driver waiting on standby downstairs to take Katya to our plane in case you refuse to.”

“She’s not leaving.” The snap is instant.

Vanessa’s brows lift. “You can’t keep her here.”

“Wanna make that bet?”

“You’re being ridiculous.” She slams the computer shut and pushes away from her desk. “You can’t force her to be with you.”

“She’s staying. You weren’t there yesterday. She has no more reason to leave.”

Vanessa crosses her arms, her tongue pressing into her cheek.

“Another woman will not be subjected to being chained within this house. One was more than enough for a lifetime.” She’s referring to when Ursin kidnapped Zeno’s mother, and the consequences of his actions led to Serafina, the half-sister she and Zeno share.

I’m about to refute her once again, but she quickly glances behind me at the exact second the ancient mansion’s flooring creaks.

Katya freezes in front of the door, dressed in the same clothes she wore yesterday.

“Where are you going?” I storm from Vanessa’s office, blocking Katya’s next step.

“Home. I’ve told you, Dimitri, I can’t stay.”

I reach for her, grabbing her wrists to pull her into me. “What about yesterday?”

“What about it?” She peers up at me, unblinking. “I never asked for any of that.”

“I won’t let you go. Not after everything.”

“Try.”

I drop her wrists to instead capture her face, once again readying for another round of the identical war we continuously find ourselves fighting. “Impossible.”

“I don’t care.” She jerks her head, only for my grip to remain firm. “Every fucking time, this organization takes my choice away. I’m done.”

She’s not done. She’s lying. It’s all in her wavering voice and slow blinks. Every few words, she roughly swallows, choking down her own false arguments.

“Then why allow me to touch you yesterday? I know you better than anyone, Katya. If you truly didn’t want me, you would have ended it.”

“Consider it a proper goodbye.”

“Bullshit.”

She huffs, trying once again to get free. “Maybe this is the problem. You’re stuck thinking I’m the eighteen-year-old you once dated, but we’re not those people anymore. I changed; moved on. You’re needed here more than I need you.”

What about what I need?

She pulls away again and this time I release her. She wastes no time in turning for the hallway.

“I don’t believe you,” I call after her, matching her pace with my own.

“Don’t believe me then. Deal with it.”

My body cuts in front of her, blocking her from approaching the foyer. “Fine. Answer the question you refused to yesterday.”

“Which was?”

“Do you love me? Even the tiniest bit?”

She glances over her shoulder, to where Vanessa’s leaning on the doorway to her office, observing. Unfortunately for Katya, she’s always been a shit liar, and her mask falters what she attempts to hide; the lie peeking out.

“No.”

Bullshit.

“Fine.” I move aside and she immediately goes to rush away, but a quick jerk of my hand stops her.

Scared eyes meet mine, her face flushing red as I lower my head, brushing my nose alongside hers.

“Run. Leave me. Chase the future you think you want. I’ll be here when you realize what you truly need. ”

Seconds after releasing her, the mansion’s front door slams shut. I don’t chase her, not worried about how she’ll get herself home because of what Vanessa said. The driver will take her to the plane, and the pilot will return her to Toronto on their Pakhan’s orders.

Vanessa strides from her doorway. “What now?”

“She lied. She loves me. So, I’ll play the next round on her terms. I’ll give her a few weeks before putting myself in her path once more. Let her process everything that happened here.”

Vanessa snorts. “Man, you should talk to Zeno more often. You two come up with the same damn plans. What if she still claims to not want you?”

“That’s not an option.”

I spin on my heel and head for my bedroom.

Days pass, and as much as I hate admitting it, I needed the week as much as Katya did. It might have taken a few days to realize what she was actually saying to me when she was spouting her points about choice.

My father took the choice of her breakup away, and the only thing she felt safe to do was escape.

My father took the choice of her future away when he used her once again to lure me out of hiding.

I took her choice away when I kidnapped her while searching for him.

I took her choice away by demanding she remain with me.

She’s only ever been tied down by me and the Bratva, so of course she’s wanting to come to terms with everything at her own pace.

But I’m impatient and waiting another decade won’t be an option.

After spending most of the week constructing a plan to be with her on her own terms, I enter the meeting room where the Pakhan always holds meetings with the Elite. The same room Vanessa claimed her crown within, and I first swore my oaths to her.

Inside, Vanessa’s seated at the head, Anastasia to her left. I take my usual seat by her right, noting the empty chair beside me.

“Lev still in Rome?”

Vanessa nods. “I’ll call him later if there’s any important updates he should be aware of. On that note, he’ll be there for a while.”

She launches into organization updates, including a few deals she has in place. The most notable for a new weapon not yet released to markets, being developed by a Polish company who offered it first to us in hopes of gaining a contract.

Anastasia comments on the brothels and shares updates from Lev, noting the security updates he pushed through all systems controlled by the Bratva before leaving for Rome.

It’s my turn to speak, and I catch everyone up on the few things I’ve been doing since Katya’s absence. Mainly, setting things into motion for the future while trying not to reflect on how much I’ve missed doing my duties. Chasing my father around the world prevented me from doing my main job.

Before Vanessa ends the meeting, I gesture, noting I have one more thing to say. The two women turn their attention towards me.

I stand, tossing my gun, along with my vows, onto the table in front of my Pakhan. “I’m out.”

Silence for a few beats before Vanessa reacts. She jumps to her feet, pushing the gun across the table, scarred with age and blood, back near me. “ Nyet. No, don’t pull this shit. Don’t ever say that again.”

She has to choose one of two paths: end my life for breaking my oaths or brand me as a traitor, which guarantees I’ll never be allowed back here.

This mansion will no longer be my home, either way.

Vanessa, Lev, and Anastasia could no longer contact me.

It’ll be as if I’m dead. Which, to the Bratva, is exactly what I’ll be.

“You know what this means, Dimitri.”

“I do. I also know the decision you have to make. I’m taking a risk by hoping you choose the better of them.”

“Why?” Anastasia demands. “What the hell’s happening?”

I keep my gaze trained on Vanessa as I answer them. “For Katya. She’s scared that being in the organization will bring danger. I need her to see that I’ll do anything for her. Even this.”

Vanessa staggers, her mouth slipping open. “Of course, why did I not see it? She found me in the kitchen on her last night here. Started asking about your role; how much you like it, what you do. I never considered…”

The next morning she left. Her conversation with Vanessa had solidified her own rationalizations.

“It’s fine.” I step away from the long table, brushing my hand along the wood filled with so much history from Pakhans and Elite members from long ago.

Vanessa stops me with a hand slamming down onto the same table.

“I refuse. I’ll send you on a job to Canada.

A liaison between us and the Corsettis, if I must. Anything else to tell the soldiers about your extended absence…

but not this. I refuse to lose you. I’ll kill myself before I take your life, and I won’t see you branded as a traitor and prevented from returning home. ”

“There is no choice.” I slide my weapon back to her.

“I want out and you can’t stop me. Kill me or don’t; brand me or don’t, it doesn’t change the fact that by tomorrow, I’ll be on a flight back to Canada, this time not as a Bratva member.

For Katya, I’m done. She once gave up her life to be safe, so I’ll do the same.

” I pause, glancing between my two family members, heart panging at the one missing.

“Say goodbye to Lev for me, and tell him thanks for his help.” Another step, another pause before I say my final words.

“I’ll return home if Katya does. But I’ve taken so many of her options away, this time, I’m the one making the difficult choice. ”

I turn and walk out of the room, feeling the weight of centuries of disapproval settling on my shoulders.