“Do not threaten me in my own country,” my father growled. “I’m looking into it. My men will find who did this.”
I leaned back against the wall, barely breathing. My throat was dry.
I squeezed my eyes shut. The thought of Maksym being dragged into this, hunted, punished—I couldn’t bear it. My chest ached just thinking about it.
I glanced around, a strange stillness hanging in the air—and then it hit me. The house felt emptier. Off. Felix’s guards were gone. Like cowards they disappeared the moment his corpse showed up on the news.
Tails tucked and heads down. Typical.
Half an hour later, I heard the heavy thud of boots echoing off the marble floors. My father’s voice boomed through the house, summoning everyone—every lieutenant, every soldier, every man who owed him loyalty—into the central hall beneath the grand staircase.
Maksym entered in head-to-toe black, the same leather jacket he draped over me yesterday stretched effortlessly across his shoulders. He moved like he owned the room, unaffected by the tension coiling around my father. His gaze swept the space, pausing when it found me. We held each other’s stare for a long beat—then he turned away, calm as ever, to join the others.
They gathered in lines, backs straight, faces hard, the air thick with tension. I hovered at the edge of the second-floor landing, watching through the iron balustrade.
My father paced between them like a general in wartime.
“Someone in this city betrayed me,” he said, his voice sharp and cold. “And now I’ve got Moscow breathing down my neck like I’m some two-bit thug.”
No one moved.
He turned on his heel and pointed to one of his top men—Vadym, the quiet one who handled the digging, the covering, the cleaning.
“I want everything from that hotel. From that party. Every guest list, every employee. I want to know who Felix spoke to, what he drank, what he touched. I want prints. I want faces. I want answers.”
Then he began splitting the men into shifts. “Three rotation squads. Armed. One for days, one for nights, one for mid. This house does not go unguarded for asecond.”
He pointed to the western wing. “You sleep here now. You shit here. No one leaves unless I say so. Until I find out who did this—this house is on lockdown. I want the weapons stock checked and ready. Cars armored. We don’t get caught sleeping again.”
They all nodded.
“And Maksym,” he added, voice lower now but somehow even more commanding. “You stay. I want you close. You’re my sharpest blade, and I’m going to need you.”
Maksym stepped forward from the back, silent.
My breath caught.
“I want you to pay a visit to Felix’s friends from Moscow,” my father said. “The ones still sniffing around my city. Remind them where they are. Remind themwhosecity this is.”
Maksym gave a single nod. Nothing more. Like it was just another task. Another hunt.
And then—my father demanded loyalty.
“Swear it,” he said, his voice rising like thunder. “All of you. Right now. You’re either with me or against me.”
One by one, they pledged it. Fists to hearts. Words like knives in the quiet.
And I watched himas he stood tall and still amid the chaos he had caused.
Maksym didn’t move. He didn’t blink. He stared up at me through the railing, eyes locked on mine, a slow smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
It sent a dangerous spark of heat between my legs.
As the crowd dispersed—soldiers scattering to follow orders, lieutenants heading off to make calls and load guns—I moved slowly down the stairs. My eyes locked with his for just a second. That was all it took.
He followed.
I slipped into the marble bathroom off the main hall, not far from my father’s study. The door had barely closed before I heard it open again and the click of the lock turning behind him.
