Page 31

YULIAN

The hospital cameras blink back at me with footage of Mia.

I had Tikhon hack into the system weeks before her reinstatement became official. Just the ER floor, but that’s where she is most of the time anyway. Working. Running around. Saving lives.

I never thought a woman could look so fucking gorgeous in a pair of dirty scrubs.

“Boss?”

“I’m listening.”

Maksim pretends to believe me. “We’ve got the situation under control with Rurik’s commitments, but we need to start thinking about a replacement. One for Slavik, too.”

Replacement. He means promoting someone else to vor. “That’s out of the question.”

“Yulian—”

“Desya’s still out there,” I growl. “I’m not going to promote two of my best lieutenants just to send them home in a pine box.”

“They know what they’re signing up for.”

No, they don’t. Because they don’t know Desya.

I stand abruptly. My chair scrapes the floor with an ugly screech. “I said no. That’s final.”

Maksim puts his hands up. “Fine. I won’t press. But I can’t keep subbing in for two vory at once and still be your second, Yulian. Something’s gotta give.”

“Are you saying you want to leave my side?”

“I’m saying the complete opposite.” He speaks calmly, cold water to douse my fire. “But if you don’t make a decision soon, I won’t be able to do any of those things. Either I’ve got one job to do well, or three jobs to half-ass, and right now, we’re heading straight towards the latter.”

“Then I suggest you stock up on coffee and farm out the gruntwork.” I shut my laptop and grab my coat. “I don’t care how you do it, just get it done.”

Maksim sighs. “Yes, pakhan. ”

I stride out of the office and check my watch. 6:33 P.M.—almost time for Mia to be here. To be certain, I pull up the camera feed on my phone, but there’s no sign of her at the ER.

Good. Right now, there’s nothing I need more than a hot cup of coffee.

And her, whispers the nasty voice at the back of my head, but I don’t pay it any mind. What Mia and I have right now is pure want. Physical or not, all-consuming or not, it cannot cross over to need. She made that perfectly clear, and I won’t be the one to beg for more. A pakhan never begs.

We share a bed. We share a family. But we do not share a heart, and that’s fine.

Is it? My own mind sneers at me. Or is it just better than admitting you’re the one who fucked up that part?

That, for the first time in your life, you want something you can’t have?

I’m about to shut those thoughts out for good when something else does it for me.

The cold, hard press of a gun.

“I’d keep still if I were you,” a smirking voice drawls behind me. “Wouldn’t want to put an end to the game so early. Right, Yul?”

Desya.

I’m just outside the StarTech doors. If I signaled the guards, they’d be here in seconds, but by then, it might be too late.

I didn’t hear him coming. That, more than anything, sets me on edge. I let down my guard. I was distracted—again.

Desya slings an arm around my shoulders, the mouth of his gun pressed right against my side. His large trench coat covers the motion. Passers-by are walking in front of us, but all they’re seeing is two friends catching up.

Fury spikes inside me. “Take your filthy arm back before I snap it in half.”

“Ah, but will you be fast enough?” The gun bites harder into my side. “You know what they say about bringing your bare hands to a gunfight.”

“Try me.”

“How about this?” He twists his weapon so that it’s facing forward. “You fight back, I start shooting those nice people on the street. Now, wouldn’t that be a real tragedy?”

“Bold of you to assume I’d give a shit.”

“Is it?” He cocks his gun. “You can’t bluff with me, Yul. I know you’ve still got the same bleeding heart you grew up with.”

“Any compassion I ever had drowned with you.”

“And yet, I’m still breathing.”

My gaze flicks to the crowd. Businesspeople, commuters—the usual Manhattan fauna.

Then I see her.

A woman with two kids, pushing a stroller.

Desya follows my line of sight. “That one, huh? Good choice. I’ll blow her brains out first. Let the little ones watch.”

I grit my teeth. Letting him get me like this—what an amateur fucking move. Even though I’m the stronger fighter, the quicker draw, I can’t guarantee he won’t fire at least one shot. And knowing Desya, he’ll make it count.

Then let them die. It’s that voice again, cold and calculating. They’re nobodies.

“Our feud is ours,” I say. “It’s me you want.”

“Oh, but I don’t just want your life. How boring would that be?” He starts tilting the gun this way and that, from me to them, them to me. “I want to break you, brother. Just like you broke me.”

“If that’s all you wanted, you would have shot me already.”

That makes him laugh. “You always were the smart one. Kira liked to think it was her, but she couldn’t hold a candle to either of us in the end, could she?”

“You leave Kira out of this.”

“So sentimental.” He sighs wistfully. “Even now, you just can’t see the big picture. And here I thought I was the half-blind one.”

“If you came here to monologue, I’d rather you just shoot me.”

More laughter. “God, you’re a riot.”

“And you’re stalling. So why don’t you just tell me what it is you came here to say and get the fuck out of my sight?”

His tone turns serious after that. “I came to see if you’ve changed your mind yet.”

“Changed my mind?”

“About joining me.”

Now, I feel like I could laugh. “Give me one good reason.”

“How about I won’t go after your girl?”

I see red. “If you so much as touch her?—”

“Oh, give me a break with the alpha act.” The gun digs into my side again, harder this time. “I’ve swiped both your bishops off the board. You think I won’t get to the rest? Your rooks, your knights, your queen?”

“You’ll be a dead man walking.”

“I already am,” he sasses. “You killed me, remember?”

“Clearly, I didn’t do a good enough job of it.”

“No, you didn’t.” His tone gains a sharp edge.

“And I’m not stupid enough to believe it was a mistake.

You wanted me to live, Yul. If not consciously, then deep inside.

Because if you’d truly wanted me dead, I’d be rotting at the bottom of the Hudson with a bullet hole in my skull.

So why don’t you cut the shit and come over to my side already? ”

Desya’s words seep into me like an infection. That night—did I let him go? Did I give him that 1% chance to save himself out of cruelty, or out of mercy?

Did I actually let my family’s killer go free?

No. The rejection burns bright in my gut. I killed him. Tied cement blocks to his ankles, carved out his eye, pushed him into those dark waters with my own two hands.

I wanted him dead.

“Well?” Desya’s tone is laced with impatience. “Nothing to say?”

“I’ve got nothing more to say to the likes of you,” I reply. “I said it all that night. It’s not my fault you didn’t listen.”

His jaw sets. “You didn’t mean it. You were angry.”

“I meant every word,” I snarl. “But if your memory’s so short, I’ll say it again: You’re nothing to me.”

Desya’s face fills with hurt. For a second, he looks like that boy again. The boy I pushed into the river.

But I’ve got no pity left for him. Not anymore.

“One more thing.” I whisper the next sentence. “I’ve never stopped being angry. Not a single fucking day. And the only thing that’s going to stop it is putting that godforsaken bullet in your head. Like I should have done twenty years ago.”

Desya’s expression ices over. Suddenly, he’s the man I faced at my mansion again: a ghost. An empty shell. The echo of a person I never really knew—and who never really knew me, either.

But now, he’s starting to.

“Wow,” he rasps. “And then you say I’m the monster.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“No.” He shakes his head frantically. “No, you didn’t used to be. You’ve changed.”

“I’m the man I always was,” I drawl. “It just took you losing an eye to finally see me.”

“You’re lying.”

“Am I?”

His gun starts shaking. Good. Miss that shot. I’ll make sure it’s your last.

And then I hear it.

“Yulian?”

We both turn towards the sound.

No.

No, no, no.

What the hell is she doing here?

But then I remember—the coffee. Our date. It’s why I came down in the first place: to meet with her.

Mia is holding two cups in her hand. Italian roast, taken to go. “Is that…?” Her eyes zero in on the man next to me, then widen in recognition. “You.”

Run, I want to scream. Just fucking run already!

But before I can speak, Desya does. “Well, well,” he drawls. “Looks like we’re at an impasse.”

“Don’t you dare touch her,” I snarl.

“Oh, no. If I wanted to get her, I’d just shoot you.” Cold metal presses against my shirt, reminding me of the position I’m in. “Say, how long do you think it’d take her to rush straight over? Five seconds? Three?”

“You mudak ? — ”

“Relax.” He turns to Mia. “I’m not going to end our game like this.

That’d be boring, wouldn’t it? A good chase must end with a bang.

” His smirk turns cruel. “I haven’t smoked out the rest of your dogs yet.

Your bitch can wait. For now.” He pulls back his gun.

“Unless you follow me, that is. Then I really won’t have a choice but to put her down. ”

I’m boiling over. The fact that he dared call her that in my presence—it should mean instant death.

But he’s right. He’s got us over the fucking barrel. And if this sick game of his is enough of a reason for him to retreat…

Then I have to let him.

“Go,” I say. “Before I change my mind.”

“How gracious of you.” There’s venom in his voice. “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

“I won’t.” The mere thought fills me with disgust. “Just get out of both our sights.”

“Alright, alright,” he mocks. “But don’t turn around, Bright Eyes. If you do, she’s the one who gets it.”

I don’t respond to that. But on the inside, I’m seething.

No one threatens my woman.

Eventually, though, he obeys. Slowly, one careful step after the other, never turning on his heels. I can hear it—I’m listening for it. The second he turns around, I’ll blow up his skull just like I promised.

But he doesn’t do that. Not until he’s all the way behind the corner. And by then, it’s too late already.

The second his steps fade, I rush to Mia.

The two cups hit the ground. Coffee splashes the sidewalk.

I’m just glad it’s not her blood.

“What just happened?” She’s breathing hard now, tears gathering in her eyes. “He—he had a gun on you. He could’ve killed you, he?—”

“Hush.” I press a kiss to her head. “He’s gone now. I’m alright.”

“Oh my God,” she sobs.

I don’t tell her everything’s going to be okay. I won’t insult her with another lie.

I just crush her into my arms and hold her through it.