Page 3 of Vitaly

I didn’t want an ugly woman. Or a shrew. Or someone horribly incompatible. I was willing to go through with my father’s wishes for the sake of earning his trust, propelling myself closer to the status I want to hold.

But this? This is unacceptable.

“No.” I shake my head as I peel my eyes off the girl to face my father. “Pick someone else.”

His lips press together just before his face reddens. He tries to tell me in a look what he wants, what he expects from me, but this time, it isn’t enough. Not this.

I glance at the girl again and shake my head. “Not her. Jesus Christ, look at her.” My hand lifts toward Mila. If I were kind, maybe I’d speak low. Keep my dissatisfaction private.

But I’m not kind.

Her once fearful eyes look pained as she peeks up at me, a mole beneath her right eye somehow adding to her youthful appearance. Her lips part, and every bit of her innocenceappears in this one gaze. She looks hurt. Like she’s surprised that I don’t want this. Likeshewants this. Like she really is some brainwashed robot they trained to be a child-wife.

My lip curls in disgust.

“Vitaly,” my father warns, his anger barely contained.

“No.” I shake my head again and again, seemingly unable to stop until I turn and storm from the room, jerking from my father’s grasp when he goes to stop me.

“Vitaly!” he calls after me, following me up the stairs to my room. When I swing open the door, he slams it shut and shoves me against it, both our teeth bared.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?” my father growls. “Do you think there aren’t consequences for your behavior?”

I shove him off of me, sending him stumbling into the second-floor railing. His eyes go wide, like my strength is such a surprise.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass what her family can do for you,Vlad. I’m not your fucking pawn. I don’t care what deal I’ve ruined. I’m not marrying achild.”

He pushes off the railing, his eyes pinning me with a glare. “Not the consequences for me, you idiot. The consequences forher. What do you think it means for her if you refuse to marry?”

“I don’t care!” I bark out a humorless laugh, full of frustration, and spear my hands through my thick hair. “What happens to her is on you, not on me. You’re the one who brought her here.”

His wide eyes search me. What he’s looking for, I don’t know, but I don’t think he finds it.

“We will wait until she’s eighteen. Five years. She will live in our home, and you will make her feel welcome, but you won’t bed her until your wedding day.”

“No.” My tone is stern,final, the skin of my face tight. “You chose a weak servant, not a warrior. If I’m to be Pakhan one day, I won’t do it with her by my side. Send her back, or I swear to God, I’ll get rid of her the day you’re in the ground.”

I wait for the anger to wash over his face, for his hands to clench into fists, but the disappointment on his face never leaves. It only deepens. He stares at me while I seethe, silently begging him to challenge me. But he doesn’t give me the satisfaction.

He turns his feet toward the stairs and slides his hands into his pockets. It isn’t defeat. Vlad Petrov never admits defeat. But he’s tabling this for now.

“She’ll stay in the South quarters until your wedding day,” he says, taking a step toward the stairs. “If you become Pakhan, I suppose you’ll have to decide if I was as incorrect as you thought and make your decision then.”

“WhenI become Pakhan,” I correct.

He pauses and looks at me seriously. “Leadership is not a right, Vitaly. It is earned, even by Petrovs. Those unworthy will always fall… Please remember that.”

I scoff, but his words hit deep, striking a target only he knows how to aim for. All I’ve ever wanted was to make my father proud. Nothing I’ve done has ever been good enough. “You think I’m unworthy?”

“Yes,” he says simply, shoving in the arrow at the base of my self-worth. “I don’t know where I went wrong with you, son… But one day, I hope you’ll prove me wrong.”

When I say nothing, I think he’ll leave, but he hesitates, his mouth opening and closing. After a few seconds, he gives his head a shake and continues down the stairs.

My teeth gritted, I storm into my bedroom and slam the door, my forearms tensing. I press my back against the woodand slide down to the carpet before closing my eyes and massaging my temples.

When my phone buzzes, I pull it from my pocket, sighing before reading the message scrolled across the screen.

Got the info on the drop.

---