Page 21

YULIAN

I wait until Nikita comes back from dropping Eli off at school, then I head to the office. No matter how much chaos is waiting for me there, in the aftermath of Slavik’s death, I refuse to leave Mia unprotected.

Today, she’s been through enough shit already.

Her parents seemed innocuous enough. But that sister—she’s a fucking viper. I don’t know what her problem with Mia is, but it took all of my willpower to remind myself I don’t hit women.

I don’t trust her. Not as far as I can fucking throw her.

But she’s Mia’s family, too, which means it wouldn’t be polite of me to throw her anywhere at all. Especially not to the curb.

Temptation remains strong, though.

When I step out of the elevator, Maksim is already there, waiting for me. “It’s done,” he says, falling into lockstep with me. “Sent a couple of men to meet the Collinses. They’ll help move their stuff in and get them settled, then stay discreetly in the area to keep an eye on them.”

“Good.”

“Is it?” He eyes me curiously. “You don’t look too thrilled about your in-laws. But then again, who is, am I right?”

“Mia’s parents are fine.”

“So what’s wrong?”

“I want you to look into their mortgage. See if you can find a money trail for the payments the bank says they missed. It reeks of a scam to me.”

“I’ll get Tikhon to prod around on his lunch break.” He sighs. “On another note, Rurik has been waiting in your office. He is pissed.”

I rub my temples. “Anyone else?”

“Kazimir. He’s trying to calm him down, but you know Rurik.”

Unfortunately, I do. “I told them to lay low,” I mutter, not at all pleased that two of my vory disobeyed my direct orders.

“Don’t be too hard on Kazimir. My guess is, he’d love nothing more than to hunker down and dodge a literal bullet.”

But he’s not, because Rurik decided to make a mess. As always. And, as always, Kazimir feels it’s his diplomatic duty to try and put out fires before they blaze out of control.

I press my fingers to my temples against a budding migraine. “Let’s get this over with.”

The second I walk into the room, Rurik shoots me a withering glare. “Look who finally decided to show up.”

“I wasn’t aware I kept office hours. Or that you were in charge of them.”

“Cut the shit,” he says. “You know perfectly well why I’m here.”

“Rurik, please,” Kazimir sighs. “There’s no need to be unpleasant. We all know what’s going on. We’re all working to fix it.”

“Not all of us, clearly.” He scoffs in my direction. “Our fearless pakhan had better things to do with his morning.”

“I had fires to put out,” I reply. “And last I checked, I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“‘Fires,’ huh? Is that what we’re calling a pretty piece of ass now?”

I cross the room with a single stride. “Careful, Rurik,” I snarl. “This is not the day to test me.”

“You think I’m here to test you, boy?” His face goes red with rage. “I’m here to save all our skins. Your little Ghost of Christmas Past has already killed one of ours, and unless I’m mistaken, he’s coming for the rest.”

“Which is why I gave the vory instructions to go into hiding.” My tone drops dangerously low. “But if you want a bullet to match Slavik’s that badly, there’s no need to wait for Desya. I’ll happily oblige myself.”

“You durak, ” he spits. “This never would have happened under your father. He?—”

“He’s dead!” I roar. “He was murdered, Rurik. Butchered right in front of my eyes, by the order of Desya fucking Bogdanov. And you want me to, what—make peace with him?”

“If that’s what it takes to save our Bratva.”

“Like hell.” I clench my fists tight. “We don’t negotiate with traitors. We don’t make peace—we make war. And we goddamn win.”

“That’s all good in theory, but where did it get us?” He spreads his arms wide. “The Volkov twins are underground, Slavik is in a freezer, and the only one with enough balls to even crawl out from under his bed is this slovoch right here.”

“Thanks,” Kazimir says dryly. “Really appreciate the vote of confidence.”

“And then there’s you,” Rurik bulldozes over him. “Coming in late, reeking of sex. Maybe if we all had a rack like your nurse, you’d be paying attention.”

Fury rises through me. Cold, icy—a storm in the making. “Don’t you dare disrespect her.”

“I’ll respect her when you start respecting us. ”

I force myself to keep my cool. To remember that Rurik wasn’t always like this. That my father’s death hit him harder than any other soldier.

But I swear, if he so much as utters Mia’s name again, I will not wait for Desya. I’ll kill him my with my own fucking hands.

“You came here to say your piece,” I rasp. “You’ve said it. Now, go bury your head in the sand before my trigger finger starts itching and I forget you ever meant anything to Otets.”

“I haven’t said shit, actually.” Rurik grits his teeth. “You need to step down. Now. Put someone else in charge.”

“And I suppose that someone else would be you?”

“I don’t care if it’s the Easter Bunny. You’re poison right now, boy. Your grudges are going to drag us all into an early grave unless you do the right thing.”

“‘The right thing.’” I roll the words on my tongue. Their foul taste fills my mouth. “ Revenge is the right thing, Rurik. For my mother, my father, my sister. If you can’t understand that, then you were never loyal to them at all.”

“I was loyal.” His gaze settles with an odd calm on mine. “Now, they’re dead. And unless you can cut your personal grudge out of our Bratva, there won’t be a Bratva left to return to. We’ll die, all of us.” His mouth curls in disapproval. “Because of you.”

“If you’re scared, you can walk out that door right now.”

“If you’re not, then your toddler sister would have made a better pakhan than you.”

Rage blinds me. I rear my fist back, ready to slam it into Rurik’s face?—

“GET DOWN!”

—and then the windows are shattering.

There’s no time to think. I dart behind the desk, taking cover. Maksim joins me instantly. “Fuck,” he summarizes.

“Fuck,” I agree.

Glass breaks all around us. The windows, the walls—everything comes crashing down like a house of cards. I lose sight of Rurik, my gaze caught by the chaos of all my employees scrambling, screaming.

Then I see Kazimir fall.

It takes me a few more seconds to assess whether he’s dead. But no, thank fuck, it’s just a flesh wound. He’s clutching his arm, knocked off-balance by the blow, but he’s completely exposed now. One more shot, and he’ll end up just like Slavik.

“Like hell,” I say. “Maks, cover me.”

“Cov— Hey! Where the hell are you going?!”

I crawl on the glass shards. They dig into my clothes, slicing through the skin underneath. It stings, but it’s nothing compared to real pain. To loss.

I am not losing a good soldier today.

I drag myself to the spot Kazimir collapsed, then yank him back with us behind my desk.

“Thanks,” he wheezes. “Thank fuck for mahogany, huh?”

The rain of bullets goes on for thirty more seconds. It feels like an eternity.

In that eternity, I think of Mia.

She needs me. I can’t fucking die—she needs me.

Our family needs me.

I cock my gun, and then it stops.

We wait. Hold our breaths, keep still, not a muscle twitching on our bodies.

Then I see it.

Rurik’s body, on the floor… with a bullet hole between the eyes.