Page 97 of Velvet Chains

“I want you to recognize that if the feds are circling—and they are—then Ruby’s going to have to make choices. Legal ones. Ethical ones. Ones that don’t involve you.”

“I’m not…I wouldn’t hurt her.”

He looked at me for a long few seconds. “I believe that, I think. But what difference does it make when your brothers would? When your very presence could upend her life? When the fact that you’re around could ruin her daughter’s future?”

“Rosie is my daughter, too.”

“I mean, sure,” he said. “But DNA is just that. It takes a lot more than that to be a father. I’ve read about your dad, Batman. If anyone should know that, it’s you.”

“Keep my father’s name out of your mouth.”

“Okay,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about Malachy Callahan, trust me. I don’t want to talk about any Callahans.”

“I’m here because I want to make sure nothing happens to her.”

Alek didn’t flinch, but his tone shifted—less prosecutorial, more tired. “I get it. And I do want to talk about Ruby. Because if you care about her the way you say you do, then you need to start thinking less like a Callahan and more like a human being.”

I stood. Not fully. Just enough for him to know I could if I needed to. “Careful, Ivanov.”

“Calm down. What are you going to do? Beat me up? Don’t be a fucking child. Sit down.”

I wanted to hit him, but I didn’t. I glared at him. He didn’t back off.

“You break into my building, insult my job, and then start posturing in my living room?” he said, raising his brows. “You sure you’re not the one who should be careful?”

I let the moment stretch. Let it burn. Then I sank back into the chair, slowly.

“I’m not going to hurt her,” I said again, quieter this time. “I want to protect her.”

“Then act like it,” Alek snapped. “Because you want to know what protection really looks like, Kieran? It’s not showing up here trying to play chess with people’s lives. It’s not blowing up her carefully constructed career because your feelings are hurt. It’s certainly not dragging her into a RICO investigation that could cost her everything.”

I clenched my fists. “You think I don’t know that?”

“I think you know it, but I don’t think you’ve accepted it. Ruby’s got one shot to come out of this intact. And she’s already spent too much time defending you, doing things your way. Things are fucked up beyond belief partly because of you. Well, fuck, mostly because of you.”

That got under my skin in a way I didn’t like. “She hasn’t defended me.”

“Oh, come on,” Alek said. “You think you’re not getting indicted because of charm and good cheekbones? She’s been running cover since the day you walked back into her life. Quietly. Carefully. Even when she swore she wasn’t. Even when she hated herself for it.”

He stood up now too. The shift in energy was subtle, but I felt it. This was a man protecting his own…and that didn’t include me.

“If she’s going to survive this, it’ll be because she finally learns to stop protecting you,” he said. “So maybe think about what you actually want from her, Kieran. Because if it’s love? Fine. But if it’s safety—if it’s a real chance at survival—you’re the last person who can give it to her.”

I stared at him, pulse steady, voice calm. “You think I should walk away.”

“I think,” Alek said, “that the only thing worse than you being close to her…is what Tristan will do if he finds out why.”

We looked at each other for a long moment.

He didn’t blink. Neither did I.

“You’re right,” I said finally.

His brows lifted.

“You’re right about the danger. About the risk. About the feds. You’re even right about the parts of me that’ll always be Callahan.” I stood now, slow and deliberate. “But here’s the part you’re not right about, Ivanov.”

He waited.