Page 38 of Ivory Ashes

Anatoly never forgave Trofim for what he did to his mother. I don’t blame him. If someone slaughtered my mother, I wouldn’t have been able to breathe knowing they were still alive. Especially if it was over some fucking Bratva title I never wanted. Yet Anatoly lived with Trofim. For years.

If Helen and I have other children someday, will Dante live the way Anatoly did? Will he be relegated to the sidelines simply because I’m not married to his mother?

Will someone go after Viviana to make sure there’s no chance Dante can ever be legitimate?

My fists tighten into balls at the thought. Mental images of Viviana in her lacy bridal lingerie flicker through my head and something else tightens, as well.

I shake my head to clear it all away. “The problem isn’t that Trofim is dead. The problem is that someone found him while he was exiled and murdered him. We need to know who it was to make sure they aren’t a threat to what we’re doing here.”

“I already have men looking into it,” Raoul assures me. “Should I alert Iakov to the development?”

On one hand, my father deserves to know his eldest son is dead.

On the other hand, knowledge is power.

“No,” I decide. “I don’t want this getting out until we know more.”

“Which development are we talking about? Trofim’s death? Or the new addition to the family?” A shit-eating grin spreads across my half-brother’s face. Any chance at peace is gone now.

“Who told you?” I growl.

Anatoly hitches a thumb towards Raoul, who has the decency to duck down in shame.

“And who the fuck told you?”

“No one had to. I knew the second I saw him. He looks just like you, Mikhail.”

I drop my head in my hands with a sigh.

“Bastard or not, the Novikov genetics are strong with that one,” Anatoly chimes in.

I snap my gaze back to his. “Watch your fucking mouth.”

“Mea culpa.” He holds his hands up in surrender. “Where are they now?”

“Stella is getting them settled.”

Anatoly’s eyebrows shoot up. “‘Settled’? How long are they staying?”

“As long as I want them to stay,”

“Helen might have a few thoughts about that.”

“Hard to have thoughts about something she doesn’t know exists,” I fire back angrily. “I don’t want anyone breathing a word of this to anyone. I want a total information blackout until I understand what happened to Trofim.”

“You think it has something to do with Viviana?” Raoul asks.

I throw up my hands. “I don’t know. What I do know is, Trofim or not, Viviana and the kid are going to be targets the moment this information gets out.” I turn to Anatoly. “You know I’m right.”

A shadow crosses over his face. Memories he’s never been able to fight or drink or fuck away rising to the surface. “Yeah. They’ll be targets.”

“So we keep them close and don’t say a word.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “The boy is in school, so he’ll need a tutor. We can have them sign an NDA. Money is no object, obviously.”

“What about Viviana?” Raoul asks.

“What about her?”

He shrinks back slightly. “She’s his mother. I assume she’ll have feelings about his education and your plans. Does she know you’re planning to keep them here long-term?”

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