Page 24 of Deadly Offer

“That’s what I can’t figure out.” Reuben tilted his head, studying Nikon’s face. “You won’t talk to me. You’re shutting me out completely. Why? What aren’t you telling me?” His eyes narrowed suddenly, a flash of realization crossing his features. “Wait... you can’t possibly think Dmitrii got to me too.”

The accusation stood between them like a wall. Something that had never crossed Nikon’s mind until now suddenlycrystallized into a terrible possibility. Reuben had given voice to a fear Nikon hadn’t even recognized within himself, and his stomach twisted as he considered it.

Nikon stared up at him for a long moment, searching his face for... what? Deception? Guilt? Some sign that the man he loved was playing him just as Dmitrii had played Andrey?

“Wow.” Reuben straightened, arms falling to his sides. “You actually think I had something to do with this?”

“I don’t knowwhatto think.” Nikon stood, circling the desk.

Reuben’s eyes widened, his body going completely still. “Yousent me to scope out Dmitrii.”

“And you seemed to get very comfortable very quickly.”

Reuben’s lips parted, then pressed together in a thin line. His shoulders rose and fell with a controlled breath. When he spoke, his voice had gone flat, stripped of its usual warmth.

“I did my job. The jobyougave me.” He took a step back, creating more distance between them. “I pretended to be interested in Dmitrii’s operation so I could gather intelligence. I let him flirt with me, touch me—” His voice cracked. “—all while reportingeverythingback to you. And now you think I’m what? Some kind of double agent?”

Nikon’s temples throbbed. He hadn’t slept more than three hours in almost as many days. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.” The confession scraped his throat raw. “My brother—” He stopped, unable to finish.

“Is selling Matvei weapons to our enemy.” Reuben completed the sentence for him. “And instead of dealing with it, you’re hiding in here wondering if I’m in on it, too.”

Nikon frowned. He looked at Reuben—at this man who’d somehow become as vital to him as breathing—and saw the hurt beneath his anger. Hurt that Nikon had put there with his doubt. But if Andrey could betray them all, after a lifetime of brotherhood...

The phone on Nikon’s desk chimed. Their argument froze mid-air. Both gazes dropped to the screen simultaneously. A text from Stepan.

Andrey heading to the nightclub again. D.M. already there.

When Reuben looked up, something had shattered behind his eyes. The vulnerability vanished, replaced by a mask Nikon recognized all too well. It was the same one he saw in his own mirror each morning. Armor sliding into place. Walls fortifying.

Just like that, they were back to business. The personal wounds would have to wait their turn to bleed.

“We set a trap with fake shipment details. We caught him red-handed. What more do you need?”

“I need to understandwhy.” Nikon moved to the window, staring out at the city below. “Andrey has everything. Money. Power. Why would he risk it all?”

“Maybe for the same reasons everyone else does. Greed. Resentment. Or maybe Dmitrii manipulated him. Found a weak spot and exploited it.”

“Like he tried to do with you.”

Reuben flinched as if Nikon had struck him. “Yes. Like hetriedto do with me. The difference is, I didn’t fall for it.”

Nikon’s mind flashed back to Alexei’s warning at the last Matvei meeting:“Dmitrii doesn’t just take what’s yours. He moves pieces so subtly that by the time you realize you’re in check, you’ve already lost...”The very thing happening now. Dmitrii had gotten to Andrey somehow. But now it felt like he was trying to get to Nikon through Reuben.

A cold realization settled in Nikon’s gut. This would be exactly what Dmitrii wanted; the brothers fractured, suspicious of each other and those closest to them. Divide and conquer. The oldest strategy in warfare.

And Nikon was playing right into his hands. And yet...

“Didn’t you?” The words left Nikon’s mouth before he could stop them. “You came back from every meeting with him looking... I don’t know. Different.”

“Different how?”

“Excited.” Nikon turned to face him. “Like you enjoyed the game.”

Reuben’s laugh held no humor. “The game of pretending to be interested in a man who makes my skin crawl? Who talks about you like you’re some prize he lost? Who touches me every chance he gets?”

“You never mentioned that.” Something hot and sharp twisted in Nikon’s chest.

“I didn’t want to worry you.” Reuben raked a hand through his hair the way he always did when frustrated, a gesture Nikon had first noticed during that high-stakes poker game where they’d met. The night that had changed everything. “The only reason I could even stand being in the same room with him was knowing it was helpingyou.”

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