I rolled my eyes, but secretly I was pleased. Agostino, Falcone, Strindberg. All these names I had worn like hats, switching them whenever the weather changed. But now I had a new one.
When I met Natalia’s eyes across the table, she raised her mug. “Tarkhanova,” she mouthed, the word silent but as powerful as a scream.
The joy, like many things, did not last long.
Tatiana struck once again that very same evening.
“The horses have been named illegitimate,” Artyom said.
Konstantin helped everyone by explaining. “Racehorses are prided on their good breeding. Being accused of faking parentage, especially since Hilarion has been studding, is a great dishonor. Our titles have been removed and investors are asking for their money back.” He was looking out the window, deep in thought. I was swinging on his desk chair, overlooking our family who were sprawled around the room.
“Tatiana is coming after my investments and my reputation,” he said. “A dirty way to fight but an effective one. A way of battle that I have partaken in.”
“Why this?” Danika asked. She was sitting on the floor beside Dmitri. He rested a fatherly hand on her head.
“If we’re out money and allies, we’re vulnerable,” Kon explained. “She’s twisting the knife, it seems.”
“I don’t want to say I told you so…” Natalia trailed off, eyes alight with mischief. In an odd move on Kon’s part, he had invited his niece to the meeting. She would someday be a fellow ruler, and an enemy in some ways, a rival, meaning confidential information about the Bratva and its weaknesses couldn’t be shared with her, but he had still asked for her opinion about Tatiana.
Everyone sent her loaded looks, which just sent her into a string of high-pitched giggles.
“The orchard and banya were only the beginning, Kostya,” Roksana said. “She wants revenge, and she intends to have it.”
All eyes went to Danika, who looked down at her hands.
I knew she had nightmares about the bullet ripping through her flesh. I had nightmares about holding her blood in my hands. Some days I woke up convinced my hands were sticky with the fluid, spending ages washing them in the sink until Kon calmed me down.
Artyom glanced briefly at me, his dark eyes filled with calculations, before looking back his Pakhan. “We need to bring her down, Kostya…before she hurts one of us–again.”
I stopped swinging.
Konstantin shook his head immediately. “No, Elena. That is my final decision on the matter.”
“She knows your weaknesses, Kon,” I reminded him. “She lived with you for a decade. Me? Tatiana doesn’t know what makes me tick and it drives her crazy.”
“I will not repeat myself.”
Artyom swallowed. “Boss, maybe–”
The look Konstantin sent him could’ve peeled the skin off Artyom’s bones. Artyom didn’t look afraid, a lesser man would’ve shat himself, but he did back down. He knew when his Pakhan wasn’t going to be pushed into changing his mind.
Roman looked like he was going to say something but Olezka slammed a hand over his mouth, sending him a warning look. I narrowed my eyes at him for added emphasis.
Babushka slumped into the room, tail swaying behind her. In an elegant move, she leaped onto the desk and stretched out over the mahogany. It was clear we were interrupting her nap time with our ‘very important meeting’.
I met Konstantin’s eyes, an argument passing between us.
“Do you have another plan?” I asked.
I wasn’t as angry with Kon as I’d thought I would be. I knew he was just trying to keep me safe; I would’ve done the same thing if I was in his position. Even if I understood, I was still angry he thought so little of my intelligence that Tatiana could hurt me.
“I know you’re very capable of bringing down Tatiana by yourself.” He read my thoughts. “But I also know Tatiana is very capable of hurting you.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You could be pregnant, Elena.”
“We don’t know that–”
Danika gasped and put a hand over her heart. “It’s just bullet after bullet.”
We all glared at her.
She smiled sheepishly. “Too soon?”
“It’ll be too soon forever,” Roman grumbled.
Danika went bright red.
Their relationship was still the rattlesnake everyone was trying to avoid stepping on. Roman could barely look at Danika most days, and in return, Dani hadn’t been her usual charming self. The energy between them was fizzled and tense, and caused whoever was in their proximity to feel uncomfortable and frustrated.
I had told Kon I wanted to lock them in a room together, but he had advised against it. Something about health and safety concerns.
Natalia was glancing between them, brown eyes wide. She looked shockingly like Niko in that moment, face open with soft curiosity. It was that similarity that told me she was about to ask something incredibly volatile.
She opened her mouth, “You two–”
“Natasha,” Kon warned.
She sent him a tiny grin. “Uncle.”
Kon stood beside his chain, hand resting on the back. Every now and then his thumb would rub against my neck, sending chills up and down my spine.
“Is the plan to kill her?”
Silence.
For a second, I wasn’t sure who had asked the question. I looked to Roman, because it was something I’d expect him to say but he was looking at Dmitri. Soon, we were all looking at Dmitri.
Konstantin had once told me he always pictured Dmitri as an icy black lake with a frozen monster hidden its depths. Like something out of a fairy tale, he had explained when I had scrunched my face up. It wasn’t until this moment that I agreed with him fully.
Dmitri’s exterior was the frozen surface and the anger swirling behind his blue eyes was the monstrous serpent who fed on fishermen and lone children.
“Kill her?” Roksana said. The words in her mouth sounded awkward and out of place, like her tongue had never curled to say the word kill before.
Kon was assessing Dmitri. There was a gleam to his expression that I couldn’t quite place. “She is too dangerous to stay alive.”
Roman neared Kon, while Artyom edged toward Dmitri. Both men preparing for a fight.
I reached back, wrapping my hand around Kon’s wrist. He linked his fingers with mine immediately.
“I’ll do it,” Dmitri said hollowly. “It’s my fault. I will pay the consequences.”
“No one expects you to do it, Dima,” Roksana murmured. “I would rather do it and save you the pain.”
Artyom didn’t like that idea. His entire face darkened.
“Let us discuss this at a later date.” Konstantin had seen the seeds of apprehension begin to sprout and pulled them out by the root with his diplomatic words. The room settled at his command, but I didn’t miss the looks and decisions and questions that passed from eye to eye.
Natalia stretched like an old cat. “Excuse me, Uncle, discussing this bitch has put me in a mood. I’m going to go and find the kiddies.” She left in a spiral of movement, calling out to her cousin.
The room slowly dispersed behind her. Danika went to say something to Roman but he pushed himself out the room, almost taking Roksana out with his determination. Soon it was just Konstantin and me, with me still sitting awkwardly on his chair and him looming beside me.