The call came before noon, exactly when I had expected it. I had anticipated the exact hour, in fact, because I knew Kliment did not tolerate surprises, and I had delivered him the largest one possible. My phone vibrated once on the desk in the study, and I stared at the screen for a full second before answering.
“Kliment.”
Silence greeted me first. It was not hesitation but control instead, even though I knew none of it would work in front of my brother. I could already sense his anger even before he had uttered a single word from the other end of the line.
“Tell me this is a rumor.”
His voice was calm. Too calm.
“It isn’t.”
A sharp exhale followed my confession, and I knew I had sensed it right.
“So you are telling me that you went ahead and married the Chernykh girl rather than listening to my orders and simply using her as leverage.”
“Yes.”
The line went quiet again, but when he spoke next, the disbelief that had laced his voice earlier was completely gone. The only thing that remained now was a quiet fury that I could sense despite the distance.
“Have you completely lost your mind?”
“No, Kliment. I haven’t.”
“Then what the fuck were you thinking, Fyodor. You know damned well marriage was not part of the plan.” He was shouting now, no longer containing his anger.
“I adjusted the plan.”
“You do not adjust my plans.”
There it was. Notourplans.My plan.
“I do when they become inefficient,” I replied evenly.
“Inefficient?” His voice rose sharply. “She was leverage, Fyodor, and was supposed to be temporary and disposable.”
The word tightened something low in my chest.
“She is not disposable.”
“She was never meant to become a Romanov, and you went ahead and tied her to our name. What do you think that paperwork makes her loyal to our family and us? She will always be a Chernykh, and she will always hate you for doing this. She will never be a wife.”
“I don’t need her loyalty.”
“What exactly do you think you need?”
“Balance.”
He went silent again, reminding me how his silence was far more dangerous than his shouting.
“Explain,” he ordered.
“Elisse Chernykh was an external asset,” I said calmly. “Things like kidnapping her, threatening her, and using her would have eventually escalated outward. They would justify Chernykh's retaliation, which would eventually lead to war.”
“That was the whole point.”
“No,” I said. “The point was pressure and not open war. Never open war. We should not forget that we are the ones without allies or support in Miami, not the Chernykhs. They have the Morozovs and Aslanovs backing them up, so if we go up against them in an open war, we are quite practically asking for death. ”
“We are already at war with everyone, no matter how much we try to ignore it, Fyodor.”
