“I’m invested in stability.”
He smirks. “I’ve been in this business longer than you’ve been alive. I know what a man looks like when he’s protecting an asset. And I know what a man looks like when it’s something else.”
“It’s business.”
His gaze drifts past my shoulder. “She looks like her mother. I remember when I first saw Elena.”
I give him nothing.
He looks back at me, the moment of reverie gone. “Don’t try to save her. She has to prove she’s worthy.”
Mikhail drains his scotch in one swallow. His hand is shaking slightly when he sets the glass down.
“This is not your concern, Sokolov. My bratva, my businesses will never be under your control. Not through alliance, not through marriage to my daughter, not through any scheme you can devise. When I die, what happens next is between Sofia and Yuri.”
“She’ll lose.”
“Then she’ll lose.” He starts to stand, struggles, catches himself on the table. Pride keeps him from accepting help. “Stay away from my family. Stay away from my daughter. Whatever you think you’re doing, stop. I don’t need your protection, and neither does she.”
I watch him leave, moving slowly through the restaurant with what little dignity he has left.
I sit alone at the table for several minutes after he’s gone.
There is only one move that gets her out of Yuri’s reach.
Kirill appears at my elbow. “And?”
“He refused.”
“Expected. What now?”
I stand, buttoning my jacket. “Now we move forward.”
“Marriage?”
“Yes.”
It’s more than that. I keep the rest to myself.
As we leave the restaurant, Kirill says, “He’ll see this as war.”
“I’m preventing a war.”
Kirill gives me a look that says he thinks I’m lying to myself. That I’m too invested. That my promise to Elena Baranova is clouding my judgment.
He might be right.
The promise is still the easiest reason to name.
It is no longer the only reason.
Mikhail is a disgusting excuse for a father. Elena knew exactly what kind of man he was. She did not trust him to protect Sofia when it counted. She trusted me.
Watching her is no longer enough.
Her father will fail her. I won't.
11