7

Anatoli

When we reach the end of the corridor, I stop when my name is called. It's Uther.

He rushes up to me, out of breath. His face is red, and his eyes are filled with panic.

"This can't work. You can't take my daughter. She's an innocent in this." He shakes his graying head, contorting his face so his scar becomes more pronounced. "There must be something else I can do."

I give him a radiant smile, enjoying his trepidation the way he enjoyed mine when he tried to kill me. "Uther Galitze, you know there's nothing else you can do. You also know what will happen if you try."

This motherfucker knows my threats aren't empty, nor are they something to be trifled with. I've already taken Avrora and his business through the marriage contract. I will also be relieving him of his senior position in the Bratva. Meaning the fucker will lose everything. I would have loved to kick him out completely, but I didn't want to raise any red flags.

He knows if I unleash all the serious dirt I have on him, he'll have more than just me to fear. And more than himself to worry about. His weakness is his daughter, but he wasn't thinking of her when he got up to all sorts of shady shit that would get him in trouble with the Pakhan and drag her in, too.

"I think we're done here." I tap the lapel of his jacket and turn away to leave.

Desperation must have made him crazy because he catches my arm and pulls me back, looking like a helpless animal who's been caught in a snare.

Glaring down at his fingers, I seethe, and he releases me.

"Please don't tell her what I did." His voice comes out in a hurried rush. "She won't understand. She's good... Not like me. Please don't tell her."

I laugh. I can't help it. The asshole doesn't want his sweet daughter knowing he's a monster. "What shouldn't I tell her, Uther? There's so much."

"None of it."

"We're part of the Russian Mafia. I'm sure she knows you're not a good man." The princess didn't look like she'd been kept in the dark.

"This is different."

I agree, but why should I do him any favors? I don't owe him shit.

There's bad, there's evil, and there's soulless. Those whose souls are so tarnished and dark there is nothing human left in them. That's Uther, and by the end of this, it might be me, too.

"Worry about yourself, Uther. Not your daughter's opinion of you."

The only reason I won't tell Avrora everything is to protect my plans to punish him. No one must find out about that, because knowing what I know would make me liable too. The Knights' law contains ways of punishing people like him, but he would only be accountable for the dirt I found on him. Not the crimes against Mom and me. Because our deaths were ordered by my father, they'd consider Uther as acting within his duties. That's why I'm taking matters into my own hands

The best part is no one will ever know, unless I choose to tell them.

To everyone, even if they have some suspicion that I have a vendetta against Uther, I'll just look like I'm honoring the marriage contract and securing a partnership with Galitze Developments.

"She'll want to see me. You have to let me see her."

"How about you don't tell me what I have to do."

"But I—"

Uther's words die in his throat when Leif steps forward and grabs his shirt. "Enough, Uther Galitze. I believe my nephew has given you a sufficient answer. Be grateful we've allowed you to keep your life. You will see your daughter at the wedding, and not before." Leif stares him down. "You will not contact her or make any further demands. Do you understand me?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now fuck the hell off."

My uncle may seem like the placid type, but he's far from it. He's silent and deadly and has wanted Uther's head for years.

When Leif rescued me in Russia, Uther was already gone, but I was able to identify him when I recovered. I begged Leif to leave him for me to deal with when the time was right.

This is my time now, and I plan to destroy him.

"Please don't hurt her, Anatoli." One last plea from the loving father, but it falls on deaf ears.

Leif and I leave him standing there, drowning in the sea of worries he created for himself.

We make our way outside into the burst of crisp fresh air and rain, but I can still feel Uther's eyes burning holes into me.

I have the upper hand now, but I know I need to watch him. No matter what dirt I have or how powerful it is, Uther will be trying to find some way of getting his daughter back and restoring his plans. He undoubtedly loves her, but she was his biggest investment. Now he's broke and trapped under my thumb.

When Leif and I reach the parking lot, we stop and look at each other, silently acknowledging the ball of destruction we just set in motion.

We did it.

This secret plan we plotted for years is finally done, and now I'm fully a part of the world of the Knights.

I've shot straight to the top, and it feels like I'm right where I should be, even though this isn't my world. This is my legacy and the thing my mother died for because my father didn't want me to have it.

"It's done," I breathe.

"It is done," Leif agrees, giving me a weary smile.

I can't help but notice that he looks like he's aged. I know the whole encounter was heavy for him because now his family knows he's been playing sides all these years. Nothing was ever as it seemed, and he knew their fates were never going to be what they worked for.

"You okay, Uncle?" I interchange between calling him Leif and Uncle, opting for the latter during these moments when we can just be ourselves and let down the shields of defense.

"As good as I can be. Let's hope by the end of this, we'll still be worthy of Valhalla."

Always the Viking. I swear Leif lives during the wrong time. Or maybe the universe got it right and he exists now so that people like me don't forget the old ways. Leif favors the way of life our ancestors led before they became Knights and were just Vikings.

Sometimes, I wish I could be like that, but there is too much darkness in me, and I'm not honorable enough to care where my soul goes. Heaven or hell, Valhalla or Niflheim.

All I want is retribution for my mother. Until I get it, I don't really give a fuck what happens to me or any part of me.

Sometimes, I can still hear my mother screaming as Uther and his men smashed their way into the cottage we were hiding in. He killed Mom within two minutes of grabbing her. That emptiness of life in her body when Uther threw her on the floor will always stay with me.

I was powerless against a man like him. He took me to that horrible place to torture me so I would know I had no hope.

But now hope is on my side.

Dragging in a breath, I clear my head of the haunting memory and return my focus to the present.

"I would still prefer if we did everything ourselves." I wish I could change Leif's mind. "I don't want any of my brothers to be my subordinates."

Brothers. I don't even want to call them that. The word feels wrong in my mind and my mouth.

"That was how it was meant to be." Leif presses his lips together. "Our family has never had an opportunity like this before, so it needs to be this way."

He's talking about the new structure of the Komarovsky. Months ago, after three members of the elite on the Knights' Council went rogue, the Pakhan took the opportunity to streamline the leadership. The Scarfonis were chosen because of Aleksander's long-standing relationship with my father and the established lineage of power and wealth. In our family, positions of power are inherited, thereby keeping everything contained within one body. So, if the Pakhan and his heirs were eliminated, we would be able to take over the entire operation.

Prior to my father's unfortunate state, he was the Sovientrik and Mikhail the Obshchak. Although the Sovientrik can choose whomever he wants as a subordinate, the intention was to keep it in the family between father and son or between the brothers.

"You will need allies, Anatoli. Allies you'll find in your brothers."

I smirk, not bothering to hide my sarcasm. "You were in there. You saw how they looked at me. There isn't anyone in there I can trust."

"We'll see, boy. I knew this day would pit brother against brother and create enemies, but they're men like you. They won't want to walk away empty-handed. Better to have some power than none, even if that means falling in line and being a subordinate instead of the leader you thought you were going to be."

As always, my uncle sounds wise, so I nod respectfully. "Alright. I guess we'll see."

"I'll catch up with you later. I have a few more legal matters to attend to for the assets being transferred to your name."

"Okay. Speak to you later."

"Well done for today." He smiles proudly.

"You too."

He taps my head like he used to when I was a boy, then he walks to his car while I head in the opposite direction to jump on my motorcycle.

I have a few things to do, too, before I head home to get acquainted with the princess. Then I have one other thing I promised myself I'd do before midnight.

I just returned to the States a few days ago after being at sea for over six months. Before that, I floated between Denmark and Russia, where I'm predominantly based. That's where Leif and I would meet over the years. I've hardly ever come to Boston because I wasn't ready. Now I am.

I wonder what the princess is doing now. Is she scared?

She should be, although she looks like the type to try and fight fear.

I sense that fire I saw earlier is a taste of what I'm up against.

Uther looked unhinged, so I can only imagine he must have said a thing or two to his darling daughter.

The darling daughter I can't wait to get my filthy, dirty outcast hands on.

This is the dawn of a new era, where those like me who walk in the dark reign.

God help anyone who stands in my way.

Or tries to take what's mine.