Page 37 of The Enemy Protector
“You want to absorb my operation.”
“I want order. There’s a difference.”
“Not in my experience.” He coughs into a handkerchief, and I see the pink stain when he pulls it away. “Sofia is smart. Capable. But she’s not ready for what’s coming. The old families in Moscow won’t accept her. They’ll push for Yuri because he’s male and he’s connected. He promises them things she can’t.”
“You won’t stand up for her rights, even if it means Yuri kills her?”
He folds the handkerchief and sets it on the table. “Our world is ruthless. If Yuri ends up the victor here, then so be it.”
He wants her tested. I want her alive.
“She’s your daughter.”
I don’t bother hiding my disgust for him. I let him see exactly what I think of him.
Mikhail studies me for a long moment. I can see him calculating, weighing options, trying to figure out what I’m really after.
“No,” he says finally.
“No?”
“I won’t tie my daughter to you. I won’t hand you leverage over the Baranov empire. Whatever happens after I'm gone is her problem to solve. If Yuri is the stronger option, then Yuri takes it. That's how it has always worked."
He says it like leaving her exposed is discipline rather than neglect.
“Alone, she loses,” I say while thinking,Not if I can help it.
“Then she’ll find her own resources. She’s my daughter. She’ll figure it out. Or she won’t.”
“You’re condemning her to death.”
“I’m letting her prove herself, just like I would if she were my son. If she can’t hold what I built, she doesn’t deserve it.”
I’ve done terrible things. I’ve never looked at someone under my protection and counted them expendable.
“You’re not concerned Ilya was taken out? He was loyal to you.”
Mikhail frowns. “What?”
“Ilya. He’s dead. Cops fished him out of the harbor yesterday.”
He didn’t know. I see him scrambling.
I push on. “Yuri had him killed and replaced with one of his own men. You’re being guarded by someone who answers to your nephew, not you.”
I watch the realization hit him. The fury that flashes across his face before he controls it. Mikhail doesn’t move. He knows I’m right. He knows his empire will be picked apart from within, and he didn’t see it coming because he’s been too focused on dying with dignity to notice the vultures circling.
“How many others?” he asks quietly.
“At least three that I know of. Probably more. Yuri has been building his network inside your organization for months. Long before he ever stepped foot on American soil. By the time you’re gone, he’ll have enough people in place to take over without firing a shot.”
“And you know this how?”
“Because it’s what I would do.”
“You seem very invested in seeing a woman you’ve never met take power after I’m gone,” Mikhail says.
I don’t flinch. Mikhail hasn’t always been ill. He’s one of the most ruthless men I’ve ever encountered, and he’s too close to the truth for comfort.
