Page 61 of Savage Reins
I straighten up and meet his eyes. "I protected our interests."
"Our interests?" His laugh is ugly. "You think our interests include open warfare with the Karpins?"
"They started it when they sent men in to kill Mira in her own barn… When they sent someone to dose the horse."
"They sent a message. You sent a corpse."
I wipe blood from my mouth with the back of my hand. "The message was received."
Vadim stares at me as if I've lost my mind. Maybe I have. Maybe sanity is a luxury I can't afford when Mira's life hangs in the balance.
"The Karpins are threatening to torch the entire facility," he says. "Not just the Petrov ranch. The whole track. Every stable. Every office. Everything we've built here."
"Let them try."
"They have thirty men, Renat. Thirty armed men who want blood for what you did." Vadim is livid and his nostrils make his nose look like a pig's snout. But if I call him a disgusting swine for his part in what's happening to Mira and Yuri, this will end with a bullet in my head.
"Then we give them blood."
The second backhand comes harder than the first, snapping my head around with enough force to rattle my teeth. This time, I taste more than blood—I taste the copper tang of a split cheek.
"You think this is a game?" Vadim's voice rises to a shout. "You think we can absorb that kind of loss?"
I roll my tongue across the inside of my mouth, cataloging damage. Nothing broken. Nothing that won't heal. "I think the Karpins are testing us. And if we back down now, they'll know we're weak."
"We are weak, you idiot. That's why we made the deal with them in the first place."
"The deal was payment in the form of a horse. We're giving them payment. It's not my fault Rolan fucked up the balance of power by killing that sick fuck who deserved it." I wipe my mouth again, but there's more blood than my hand can manage.
"A horse they don't want anymore. A race they expect us to lose."
I lean forward, putting my hands flat on the conference table. "Then we don't lose."
"The animal isn't ready. You said so yourself."
"I said she needed time. But time's up, isn't it?" My head hangs, cheek throbbing, and I try to keep myself calm.
Vadim begins pacing behind his chair, agitation radiating off him in waves. "You don't understand the politics here, Renat. This isn't about horses or racing or debts. This is about territory. The Karpins want control of this facility, and they're using our obligation to them as an excuse to take it."
"Then we stop them."
"How? You want to start a war we can't win?"
"I want to finish one we didn't start." I'm furious. "That man came on our turf and dosed a member of our family. We hunted him down. That was when we were even. They're taking this too far."
He stops pacing and fixes me with a stare that could cut glass. "You're talking about suicide."
"I'm talking about survival."
"Whose survival? Yours? The Petrovs'? Or the family that's kept you alive since you were sixteen years old?"
The question slaps me hard because he's right, and we both know it. I've been making decisions based on what I want instead of what the family needs. I've been choosing Mira over duty, conscience over loyalty.
But I can't stop. Won't stop. Not when she's finally looking at me like I might be worth saving.
"The horse will win," I say.
"You can't guarantee that."
