Page 55 of The Russian Retribution

Despite being the one who tasked me with the investigations, Viktor just can’t let things take their natural course. We’ve not been seeing eye-to-eye lately, so maybe this is my fault, but walking into the emergency meeting with him, Anastasia, and Faina has my guts twisting into painful knots.

I asked Viktor to let me do my job and find out the truth. It’s something that’s been a challenge with everything else going on in our lives, but his impatience knows no bounds, it seems.

But I need more time.

I need to make him see that he’s looking in the wrong place and that Anastasia is not the person he thinks she is. Grief blinds people. I know this down in my soul, but Viktor is like an old dog with a bone and I can’t help but feel like this is one big plot to keep her distracted and ensure that suspicion remains within our upper ranks.

“This had better be good,” Anastasia snaps, smoothing down the edge of her skirt against her bare knee. “I was in the middle of a very important call.”

“Nothing is more important than this,” Viktor snaps. “So for once, will you just shut up and listen?”

“Hey!” Faina snaps back indignantly. “Don’t talk to her like that. You might have the respect of being the previous underboss, but don’t forget to show respect when addressing the Godmother.”

Viktor stands abruptly and begins pacing back and forth in front of the couch Anatasia and Faina are sitting on. I walk around Viktor, trying to catch Anastasia’s eye, but she’s focused completely on Viktor. Her head is tilted slightly to the left and her eyes narrow as Viktor grunts softly to himself and then comes to a halt.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush with this. We need to cancel the gala.”

“What?” All three of us have the same shocked reaction, though I quickly catch myself because it isn’t my place to have an opinion here. I’m here to protect Anastasia, not comment on business plans unless asked. Still, I never envisioned a world where Viktor would ever want to cancel the single most important event in our calendar.

“We need to cancel the gala,” Viktor repeats.

“No,” Anastasia replies simply. “We’re not going to do that.”

“Enough, Anastasia!” Viktor barks. “Enough of trying to show everyone that you’re the boss and that everything is normal. It isn’t normal, okay? We can’t do this.”

“Why not?” Faina cuts in, placing a calming hand on Anastasia’s knee as her eyes narrow further.

“Don’t you see?” Viktor puffs out his cheeks and then points at Anastasia. “Don’t you see how stupid it is to put yourself and every other important member of our family and other families into the same building at a time like this? Have you any idea how easy it would be for someone to wipe us out?”

“No one is trying to wipe us out,” Anastasia sighs. “I thought we talked about this already?—”

“No, you talked. I’m done watching you toddle about acting like you know how everything works. Like the world owes you nothing. There’s far too much unanswered right now, and it would be suicide to let the gala happen.”

I can’t tell where Viktor is coming from. He sounds genuine, but I don’t entirely buy that he’s suggesting this out of concern for Anastasia’s well-being. It would be quite the thing if Anastasia didn’t manage to host the annual gala in her first year as Godmother. Nothing would scream a lack of control louder than that.

But in the same vein, I share his safety concerns. Having Anastasia, as well as the heads of multiple families, all in the same building could spell disaster. Security for that event is usually overkill, and Anastasia has been instructing me to make sure everything goes smoothly, but doubt still whispers at the edges of my mind.

“Are you suggesting I won’t be able to do my job?” I ask tightly, thickly cloaking my irritation at his constant nitpicking at my work as the security adviser and his spy. “Do you not think I have every avenue covered?”

“I don’t know, do I?” Viktor remarks sharply. “We are sitting here in the lounge of this great estate that was built on the back of your grandfather.” He points back at Anastasia. “And yet, in the time you’ve been in charge, we haven’t been able to find the monster who killed your father. Oh, but we did help the Irish find out who murdered their Captain. On top of that, we don’t know who has been trying so hard to kill you?—”

“Not my immediate concern,” Anastasia cuts in, her voice like ice. “There hasn’t been an attempt in months and Erik has been doing an excellent job in keeping me safe.”

Her words shouldn’t warm me the way they do, but it’s impossible to control the surge of warm affection that flows through my chest. I bite the inside of my cheek to remain calm.

“The Cartel are now circling like sharks and we have done nothing to avert them,” Viktor continues. “And now I hear the Yegorovs are sniffing around like they smell our impending doom in the water.”

Tension snaps across my shoulders and I glance at Anastasia. Will she come clean and tell Viktor the truth?

It’s a tough cycle. The more she closes him out, the more suspicious he gets and then he acts out like this. And the more he acts like this by talking down to her, the more she closes him out. Listening to his speech and the apparent genuine concern in his voice makes my heart tighten, and I want to reach out to him.

This man raised me.

He saved me from what was sure to be a terrible, painful life.

He’s given me everything and he’s hurting because his best friend was murdered in this house. Now he’s watching the familyand business he loves so much slip away from him, and he just can’t see that if he told Anastasia how he was feeling, she would let him in.

At least, I hope she would.

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