Page 44 of Inheritance

"I never betrayed you, because I was never loyal."

"You’ve been waiting this whole time," I said, staring at him. "Lurking. Undermining us."

He said nothing, just stared back at me, letting me see the resentment he restrained for as long as I had been alive.

"You’re a fucking pussy,” Damien hissed over his shoulder. "You've had hundred of chances to kill my father, yet never did.

Nikolai smiled, thin and deliberate. "There are subtler ways to destroy a man than putting a bullet in his head."

The boat rocked gently as Damien eased the motor back. The dock came into view—rotted, crooked, forgotten. Nikolai looked up at it, exhaled slowly.

"I have had my revenge."

I ignored him, resting a hand on his shoulder and sliding my knife back into its sheath. "I want you to understand something. I’m letting you go tonight. After you do your job. I just want the girls back, there’s no need to spill any more blood.

Damien glanced back. "Sorry about your family," he said with a grin only I could see.

Nikolai blinked, disbelief coloring his voice. "You’re letting me go?"

I nodded, "After you give the Ivan's man that fake intel. You disappear."

His eyes shimmered with fragile hope. "I’ll be gone. You won't ever see me again."

"I believe you,” I said quietly.

From where we anchored, just beyond a thin line of trees, we had a clear view of the dock some distance away. I pulled the wire from the bag.

"Now we’re going to mic you up," I said. "If you fuck this up, even a little, things won’t be pretty. Understand?"

"I understand," he muttered.

I taped the wire to his chest and stomach, fixed the mic to his collar. "Now go wait by the dock. We’ll be watching."

"And listening," Damien added as Nikolai climbed off the boat and disappeared into the woods.

Damien pulled the rifle from under the seat and handed it to me.

Through the thermal scope, the dock lit up in grayscale—white for heat, black for cold. Nikolai’s figure glowed faintly, hunched and twitchy. Even from here, I could make out the tremble in his shoulders.

He stood there nearly thirty minutes before another figure emerged from the trees—tall, lean, careful. He moved like someone used to watching his own back.

"You got somethin’ for me?” the man said, his voice crackling through the radio.

"Here," Nikolai replied instantly, nerves undercutting his words. Whether he feared us or the man in front of him more didn’t matter. He handed over the flash drive without hesitation.

"Cold night, huh?" the Sinclair man asked, eyeing him.

"Yes.”

"Not that cold, though," The man added.

Through the scope, I saw Nikolai flinch.

Then came a burst of static-laced laughter as the man clapped both hands on Nikolai’s shoulders and jostled him roughly.

"Relax. Don’t worry about the Auditores finding out," he said. "They’re done. Lay low for now. You’ll get a call when it’s finished—and you’ll get your cut."

He slipped the flash drive into his coat pocket, turned and walked off without looking back.