I have a plan.
It’ll take time, effort, and, most importantly, patience, but sooner or later, it’ll work.
Everyone in the organization thinks I wasted time in Russia, but it was the military that shaped my strategic mind into its current state.
While my father’s brutal torture filled my mind with red, it’s the military’s discipline that allowed me to redirect that energy into clear focus.
My plan is dangerous and has a twenty percent margin of error, which is undeniably a lot, but I choose to focus on the eighty percent success rate.
I stroll out of my room to find Viktor at the door. His expression is solemn, but his attitude hasn’t changed since we returned—something I appreciate. “The Pakhan has set a meeting for later today at which you and Konstantin have to be present.”
Didn’t take him long. Only a week after the old man’s funeral. I adjust my glasses with my middle and ring fingers. “Is everything in place?”
“Everything’s as you ordered.”
“Good.”
“The madam and your brother are waiting downstairs.”
“Are they now?”
“Mrs. Morozova said, and I quote, I will not take this insult. Tell him to come down at once.”
My lips twitch and I choose to remain where I am for as long as possible. Just to fuck with Yulia’s and Konstantin’s heads.
I cast a look at Viktor’s surroundings. “Where’s the…persistent shadow?”
“Other than me?”
I raise a brow. “You know exactly who I’m talking about, Viktor.”
I would swear he’s about to roll his eyes, but he stops himself at the last second. “He’s buggered off somewhere. Apparently, dainty Lipovsky didn’t like sleeping sandwiched between Maksim, Yuri, and the others.”
“Sandwiched?” I repeat slowly.
“Like back in camp.” Viktor matches my tone and then narrows his eyes. “Is there a reason why Lipovsky is the topic of discussion?”
“I’m assigning him to be my night guard.”
“That impulsive fool?”
“He’s learning.”
“But I am your guard at all times.”
“Don’t be jealous. Besides, you can’t be awake at all times or you’ll be inefficient.”
“I don’t like this, and I don’t trust him. He’s new, looks suspicious most of the time, and I’m seventy percent sure he’s hiding something.”
“Now, you’re being paranoid.” I teasingly push him with my shoulder, then head to the stairs. “Tell Maksim to fetch him. Actually, no. Make that Yuri.”
I don’t turn around, but I can feel my guard’s eyes drilling holes in the back of my head. Viktor never liked Sasha—for all the right reasons.
He thinks she’s too weak to protect me, acts on impulse sometimes, doesn’t think of the consequences of her actions most of the time, and she behaves suspiciously.
Not to mention she has an infuriating habit of talking back.
These are valid points that I should probably pay more attention to, but I don’t.
It’s not because I trust Sasha. On the contrary, I do believe that she’s hiding more than her gender.
And because I have my suspicions about her, I have to keep her closer now more than ever.
“He’s doing this on purpose to fuck with our heads.” My brother’s voice reaches me as I get to the bottom of the stairs.
Yulia, who’s dressed like a queen in some dark red dress, lifts her nose higher in the air. “And you’re letting him get in your head. You will never win against Kirill if you keep rising to his provocations.”
“You’re right, Mother.” I stroll inside, a hand in my pocket and looking absolutely nonchalant. “He’ll never win. The rest of the sentence is redundant.”
My brother, who can’t control his temper to save his life, pushes off his seat, eyes blazing. “You think your games could affect me?”
They already are, fool.
I ignore him and stare at a composed Yulia. If she didn’t blink, one would think she was a statue.
“To what do I owe this morning’s meeting?” I ask.
“While it’s true that your father named you as the head of the family, that won’t be possible if we vote you out.” She pauses. “We’re here to do just that.”
“Are you sure, though? Konstantin here will only bring trouble to the family due to his tantrums—to put it mildly. He’s not leader material. You know it, he knows it, and everyone in your family knows it, too, considering the worried phone calls I’ve received since I landed here.”
“You fucking—” Konstantin lunges in my direction, but I swiftly grab him by the arm, turn him around, and twist it against his back.
“Down, boy.”
That only makes him thrash harder, but he doesn’t manage to free himself from my hold.
“As I was saying.” I meet Yulia’s stonelike gaze and throw her favorite son in her direction. “Not leader material.”
My idiot of a brother is about to attack me again, but Yulia stands and clutches his shoulder, keeping him in place.
“We’re voting you out,” she says easily, with no change in her expression, as if nothing of the previous show happened.
“How about a deal instead?” I approach and then stop a small distance away from them. “I will lead this family and give you larger cuts in return. If you disagree, I’ll just take everything. You have…twenty seconds to accept the offer.”
“You’re a fucking bastard with no code of honor whatsoever.” Konstantin steps forward. “You should’ve stayed in Russia while you could.”
“Ten seconds.”
“It’s two to one, Kirill. You’re voted out.” Yulia sounds as cold as ice.
I definitely got my tone and mannerisms from her. We’re two unemotional beings who can’t be perturbed by any change of events.
She hates it, though. I can always see the amount of loathing she has for the fact that I’m more like her than her darling Konstantin will ever be.
“Five.”
“Fuck you,” Konstantin tells me.
“Aaaand zero. Your time is up.”
I’m about to turn and leave when I spot a petite girl with a mane of blonde hair running down the stairs, her fluffy robe flying behind her.
She marches straight to Yulia and Konstantin. “Don’t I get a vote?”
“Why, of course.” Yulia stares at her like she’s a nuisance that shouldn’t be here.
And by here, I don’t mean this meeting, but the world in general.
Konstantin smiles victoriously. “It’s three to one now, brother.”
Karina looks out the window across the room as she says, “My vote goes for Kirill.”
“As I said, three to—” Konstantin cuts himself off and swings to face Karina. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“Kirill.” She looks him right in the eye. “He has my vote.”
He grabs her by the arm and starts to shake her. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You know what? Your vote doesn’t count.”
“Mother just said it does.” She glares at him even as she winces.
I step between them, effectively breaking his hold on her. “Leave her alone.”
“Were you plotting this all along? Getting Karina? You didn’t even care about her before, and now, you’re acting all brotherly and shit? Wow. You’re such a fucking asshole.”
“What did he give you?” Yulia asks, barely managing to hide her irritation.
“Nothing. I just felt like it.” She lifts a shoulder, crosses her arms, and stares behind her.
At the top of the stairs, I catch a glimpse of a smiling Sasha giving Karina a thumbs-up.
Something my sister lifts another shoulder to and mutters, “Whatever.”
Then she climbs up the stairs.
When I glimpse back at Sasha, she’s already gone.
That little fucking—
I offer a fake smile to my mother and brother, then follow after Karina.
She actually tries to run away, but I catch up to her at the top of the stairs and grab her by the elbow.
“Why did you do that? Now, you’ll make an enemy out of them.”
She swings around and pushes me away. “They already were, and so are you. Everyone in this godforsaken place is my fucking enemy.”
“Kara…”
“Don’t call me that!” Tears rim her eyes. “You lost the right to call me that the day you left me running after your car in the rain.”
I purse my lips. “I couldn’t take you with me. You were too young.”
“Fuck you. I hate you.”
“If you hate me so much, why did you vote for me to stay?”
“Well…I want you to suffer here where I can see you.”
“Did Sasha, by any chance, have something to do with this?”
“That asshole couldn’t affect me in any way. You should kill him, Kirill. He looks useless.”
And yet he managed to get you out of your room without any form of threat.
“I’ll think about it.”
Her eyes bug out. “Really?”
“Yeah. You might be mad at me, but I will keep my promise to protect you, especially from my own men.”
“He…is not that bad. I guess we can put him on probation, and if he does anything fishy, we’ll slice his throat.”
I ruffle her hair. “As you wish, my lady.”
She pauses, chin trembling, but then she pushes me away and runs to her room shouting, “I still didn’t forgive you!”
My lips pull up at the corners as I watch her flying back to her room as if her life depends on it. She’ll probably remain there for a week after all the unwanted exposure she’s had to the outside world.
Karina had no reason to come down just now and face the mother she’s intimidated by, but she chose to help me.
I wait for Sasha to show her face, but she flat out ran away.
She can’t run for long, though.
I check my watch as Viktor appears by my side like a ghost. “We’re ready.”
“Go.”
It’s one word, but he knows exactly what to do.
The game is starting.
Two hours later, I’m sitting in my father’s office, which I took as my own the day he died.
I’ve been going through all of his files, records, and archives. I’m the only one who can, because he left me his passwords and keys. Yes, actual keys—he was old-fashioned like that.
The old fool trusted me to continue the Morozov legacy.
In going through his assets, files, and everything in between, I come across a nice tidbit.
There’s a little black book in which my dear papa transcribed every shady transaction he did with higher-ups here, in Russia, in South America, and all over the world.
He did it in detail, too, highlighting people he’d already received a favor from and putting stars by others he hadn’t.
The heinous crimes and great lengths he went to in order to achieve power are spelled out one by one in this little gem.
Something I’ll certainly make use of in my future endeavors.
On the side of my desk, I’m slowly building a large house of cards. The geometrical shape and the amount of effort I put into this task helps in opening up my vision for all sorts of scenarios.
My phone vibrates on the desk, threatening to destroy my creation. I carefully grab it and lean back in my office chair to check it.
Viktor: Operation phase one is completed.
Kirill: Remain on standby until further instructions.
Viktor: Copy that.
I’m about to place my phone in my pocket when the door barges open, and Sasha appears on the threshold. Her shirt is disheveled, and her face is sweaty.
“Don’t you know how to knock?”
She breathes heavily before she blurts, “Your…your mother was kidnapped.”
“Is that why you decided to stop avoiding me?”
She strides inside, her brow furrowed. “How can you be so calm? Your mom…she was taken in the middle of the road.”
“Were you following my mother, Sasha?”
She swallows. “Is that important right now?”
“Maybe.”
A dark shadow falls over her eyes, making them appear somber. When she stops in front of my desk, her lips roll forward in a strangely adorable pout. “I know your mother isn’t the best person out there, but I’m telling you right now that her life is in danger. I saw it with my own eyes when the masked men hit her car, eliminated her bodyguards, and kidnapped her. So you have to do something. Now.”
I slowly place two cards at the top of my house. “Why should I? She wouldn’t have done anything if the roles were reversed.”
“Then how are you any different from her?”
“Who says I am? She’s my mother, after all.”
Her expression doesn’t change, neither in surprise nor in shock. Instead, she announces in a calm tone, “I don’t believe that.”
I stand up, and she flinches back slightly. It wouldn’t have been noticeable to an outsider, but I know the exact reason behind the gesture.
She prefers to avoid me.
Interesting.
“I might take action if you tell me why you were following my mother.”
“I was…trying to figure out who she was going to meet.”
“Have I given you the order to do that?”
“No, but I thought—”
“Did I ask you to think?” My voice deepens, and Sasha must feel it, too.
Tension crowds her shoulders, and she looks at me like a mouse who’s trapped.
“Answer the question, Sasha. Have I brought you here so you’ll think?”
“No.”
“That’s right, no. So quit the habit of being a busybody and a problem solver when I haven’t asked you to take action.”
“Well, I’m sorry I tried to help.”
“Apology declined.”
“I take it back then. It wasn’t sincere in the first place.”
I narrow my eyes on her disobedient ones. If it were anyone else, I would’ve either fired or shot them for the insolence.
But something about Sasha’s defiance has been stirring the ugly beast inside me.
I don’t want her out of my sight. On the contrary, I want her so close that I can possess her. That her being will merge with mine.
My eyes meet her defiant ones. “You’re pushing it.”
“I just don’t understand why I can’t help. You did that for me countless times. Why can’t I do the same?”
So she’s considering what I’ve done a favor, and all this time, she’s been paying me back.
Interesting.
“Karina is out of this game. If I’d wanted to get her involved, I would’ve, but I didn’t, because her condition doesn’t allow her much stress or pressure.”
“I didn’t pressure her.”
“You want me to assume you asked nicely?”
“Well…almost. I didn’t threaten her, though. In fact, she’s the one who threatens me with bodily harm every time she sees me.”
“Next time, don’t get involved, or at least notify me when you do.”
“I can agree to the second, but I can’t guarantee the first…sir.”
I don’t miss the way she added the last word as an afterthought. I’m going to have my hands full with this one for sure.
“From tonight onward, you’ll be my night guard.”
She blinks, probably at the abrupt change of subject.
I’ve been meaning to make this decision ever since we came to New York. The idea of her sleeping ‘sandwiched’ between Maksim and Yuri has left a weird taste in my mouth.
In the beginning, I thought about giving her a solo room, but that would look suspicious. Not to mention that the little fucker Maksim has no sense of personal space.
So the best way to keep her from sharing a bed with my men is to assign her as my night guard.
“Okay. What do I do?” she asks.
“Stay by my bed as I sleep.”
“Oh…uh, are you sure you don’t prefer someone else…like Viktor?”
She’s running again. I can see it in her awkward body language and backpedaling speech.
“This is not a request. It’s an order.”
She’s about to say something else but stops when I point at my creation. “Do you know why a house of cards has a bad reputation?”
“Are we really talking about a house of cards when your mother needs help?”
“Answer the question, Sasha. Do you know why?”
She throws her hands in the air with so much attitude, I’m tempted to push her against the wall and abandon all the plans I had for today.
“Well, it takes a lot of effort and concentration to build, but it can be destroyed in no time.”
“Yes, and no. See.” My hand hovers over the top card. “They’re made of paper, and while paper can be molded, it’s still fragile.”
With a flick of my finger, I tumble the creation I spent an hour assembling.
“Listen carefully, Sasha. This place is a house of cards, and I don’t belong inside it. I will always be the one who puts it together or destroys it.”
She furrows her brow, not seeming to understand the meaning, but that’s fine. She’ll get there with time.
I round the desk and she subtly pushes back, keeping a safe distance between us. I adjust my glasses with my thumb and forefinger to stop myself from choking the fuck out of her.
“Did Konstantin hear about my mother’s kidnapping?”
“I think so. He was talking about the worst timing and things like that on his way to his car just now.”
“Good.”
“How is that good?”
She falls in step beside me as I leave the office. “Are you going to ask him for help to save her?”
“Of course not.” I grin. “A hero doesn’t share his cape, now, does he?”
“You’ll surely lose time with this. Is it okay if you’re late to the Bratva’s meeting that’s being held specifically for you?”
“No. But it’ll all work out.”
Everything, including Sasha, will go according to plan.
