He is not the type of man I want to be with.
So why does my heart feel so confused and hurt by the fact that he smiled at her?
Three raps on the door startle me enough to make the well of emotions bubbling up instantly die down. I listen for a second, wondering who is knocking and why, and when Yegor speaks, I find myself disappointed it's not Roman coming to check on me. He has no reason to, but the foolish girl inside me thought maybe seeing me so upset might've made him wonder. And I was wrong.
"Mila," he says through the door, "phone for you. Vera Koval-Radin."
I slide out of bed and put on my robe and cross to the door to open it. Yegor 's standing in the hallway with a phone held out in his right hand, and his eyes sweep down over my body. I take the phone from him and lean my shoulder against the doorframe and press it to my ear.
"What do you want, Vera?" Now that I'm not under her thumb, I don't care how she feels about me. She's made it very clear to me for years that she doesn't like me. Whatever she wants, it must be for some selfish reason. She has no good reason to call me at all.
"Is that how you greet your mother?" Her voice slides through the receiver like the burn of whiskey without the calming effect. It's toxic, and I know it well. She wants something from me. "I'm calling because your lawyer called me. Mr. Gregov. Do you know what he told me?"
"Tell me."
"There are men in your father's organization who have decided they don't need me." She waits, as if I'm going to react to that,but why would I? No one in my father's organization likes her. She is the inside joke. "Your father's own cousins have organized and they're moving to take control, and they want me gone."
I run my thumbnail along the seam of the doorframe, dragging it through the groove where the wood meets the wall, feeling the rough edge catch against my skin. "And you're calling me because…?" Yegor stands watching, but his eyes are trained down the hallway now, like he's too much of a gentleman to see me in this state of undress. I close the robe in the front and rest my head on the wood.
"Because Gregov says you're the only one who can stop it. You're the heir, Mila. Even without full authority, your name still carries influence with the old guard." She huffs and sighs, then when she speaks, her voice has a whiny quality. I wouldn't help her if she were the last woman on earth and she was dying. "I need you to call Gregov and handle this."
"Is this a joke? You don't let me 'handle' things." I look up at Yegor and then close my eyes. I can't stand this woman, and after that showdown with Roman, I'm not in the mood to deal with her.
"I'm letting you now. You call him and you fix this, do you hear me? Or you'll lose your ability to lead too?—"
The line cuts, and I lower the phone from my ear and hold it against my chest as I seethe for a moment. I don't know what she's talking about, but if she fears the men pushing her out, she's right. They may be trying to push me out too, and there isn't any way I can find out without calling the lawyer. This is the last thing I wanted to deal with tonight.
"I need to make a call," I tell Yegor. "Stay here."
He glowers at me, but I know he'll listen. This isn't my cell phone, and I don’t even know if Roman wants me to have it. Yegor will wait until I’m done if for no other reason than to take the phone back when I finish.
I step back into my room and leave the door open and dial Gregov's number from memory. After all the hoopla following my father's funeral and reading of his will, I've gotten to know the man a lot better than I ever thought I would. He's a kind man, older yet still a shark, and he cared deeply for my father. To say he wants to help is an understatement. To say he can may yet be determined.
"Mila, thank you for calling." Gregov sounds tired and weary, like he's been fighting a losing battle that I'm only just now being made aware of.
"Vera tells me there are men moving against her?" I lift my finger to my mouth and chew my nail in an attempt to distract myself from what's happening.
"Against the organization, not against her specifically, though she's made it personal." Papers shuffle on his end, and he coughs a little. "Your father's cousin and two of his lieutenants have spent weeks consolidating support among the lower ranks. They're claiming the leadership is vacant and that Vera has no legitimate authority."
"Well, that's because she doesn't."
"That is a separate conversation and not why I called her tonight." The shuffling stops. "It's gone past politics, Mila. There have been assaults. Two of your family members were beaten this week and one of them is in the hospital."
I sink to the foot of the bed and feel my heart start to ache. I've always known the type of stuff Papa was into. I just managed to file it away and focus on whatever studies he told me to work on. Knowing there is infighting in my family makes grieving even more painful.
"Who is it?" I ask, not sure I want to know. If there are men in the ranks who are still loyal to Papa, they'll be the ones getting beat down while the others take over. It won't matter whose name is officially on the title deed of businesses and properties. Vera's right. I'll lose control too.
I don't know if I want that control, but I don't want my family killing each other.
"Your father's nephew Kolya and one of his drivers." His chair creaks on the other end. "They were cornered outside a warehouse on the east side two nights ago. Kolya is still unconscious, and the driver has a broken jaw and four fractured ribs."
"And Vera knows."
"Vera's been informed, yes, but she hasn't sent anyone or returned a single call."
"Why would she do nothing?" God, I hate that woman. She wants this. She wants the family to self-destruct so she can use her own resources to force them to align with her. It's sick.
"I can only tell you what I see, Mila." Another creak of the chair. "And what I see is a woman spending her energy on her arrangement with Roman Kuzin while her own people are being put in hospitals."
