Page 98 of Twisted Pact

“By treating me like I’m made of glass?”

“By treating you like someone who needs rest.”

She throws her hands up. “I can’t just lie here while Papa is being tortured and you’re planning something that could get everyone killed.”

“That’s exactly what you’re going to do.”

“Alexei—”

“No arguments. You stay here. You rest. You let me handle the rescue.”

Her face flushes with anger. “You can’t just lock me up and expect me to be okay with it.”

“I can, and I will.”

“God, you’re impossible.” She stands, ignoring my warning look. “I need to move around. Sitting still makes me crazy.”

“Fine,” I relent. “You can walk around the bunker for five minutes. Then you’re back on the couch.”

“You’re not my warden.”

“I’m the father of your child. That makes me whatever I need to be to keep you alive and healthy.”

My phone rings before she can argue. Dmitri’s name flashes across the screen.

“I have to take this,” I tell her.

“Of course you do.”

I step into the hall and answer. “Report.”

“The families I contacted won’t commit,” Dmitri says. “Too risky. They claim Leonid isn’t worth a war with Novikov.”

“He’s Mila’s father.”

“That matters to you, not to them.”

I move farther down the corridor, out of earshot. “What about our men? We don’t need outsiders.”

“We do,” he counters. “Novikov is holding Leonid in a fortified warehouse with twenty armed guards. We can’t breach without stripping security elsewhere.”

“Then we pull them.”

“And leave our assets exposed? That’s what Novikov wants. He’s forcing you to choose between Leonid and the Bratva.”

“There’s no choice. We rescue him.”

Silence stretches. When Dmitri speaks again, it’s in a tone I’ve never heard. “I called a meeting. Nine a.m. You’ll defend this plan to senior command. They want to know why one rescue is worth risking everything we’ve built.”

No fucking way.

“What?” I grind out. “Since when do I need permission to lead?”

“When your decisions risk all of us,” he fires back. “This isn’t just you and Mila anymore.”

I want to argue, and remind him he once risked it all for Katya. But this time, he’s not wrong.

Rescuing Leonid means pulling men from critical posts, leaving openings Novikov can exploit. Families will pay the price for my choice.