The words hit all of us hard.
Lev stands immediately.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" he says. "I'm not calling this Romanian bastard my brother."
Adrian leans forward, his hand twitching near his waistband.
"Like hell we are," Adrian says, his voice low and dangerous. "Lucian, tell him no."
But Lucian doesn't speak. He sits there, perfectly still, his gaze locked on Ivan.
"Lucian," Adrian says again, his voice rising.
Lucian raises his hand.
The gesture is small, but it's enough. Adrian stops, his jaw clenching hard.
Ivan ignores his son. He ignores Adrian. He speaks directly to Lucian.
"Dimitri poisoned my house," he says. "And your father poisoned yours. The only way to wash that away and ensure our families never turn on each other again is to forge a new chain."
Lucian sighs and leans back in his chair, staring at the wall, thinking.
"And she'd be open to this?" Lucian asks.
Ivan shrugs.
"She knows her place in this family and her duties."
I lean forward and look at my brother.
"Lucian, I'm all for political strategies, but this is too much."
Lucian turns to me. His gaze is hard and unyielding.
"No," he says. "If it benefits the family, us, then it's the best decision. We are the only thing that matters."
He turns back to Ivan.
"Okay," Lucian says. "We will build a dynasty together."
"You're fucking kidding me," Lev says.
He switches to Russian, his voice rising, his hands gesturing sharply. I don't need to understand the words to know what he's saying. He's pleading with his father to reconsider.
Nikolai stays silent, but I know he's thinking it too. We all are.
Matei shifts beside me, his gaze flicking to Lucian, and I see the tension in his shoulders.
Adrian looks like he's about to explode.
Ivan stands, cutting off his son mid-sentence, and extends his hand.
Lucian stands slowly and then shakes Ivan's hand.
"We have a lot of work ahead," Ivan says. "But great things are in store for our families."
"Agreed," Lucian says.
