Page 36 of Mafia King’s Dangerous Vow

“You’ll get them,” Igor says.

Kalinin turns toward the door. At the threshold, he pauses. “She can be difficult,” he says, not looking back. “Don’t let her turn uncertainty into rebellion.”

The door closes behind him. Yakov breaks first. “Well,” he says mildly. “Charming man.”

Igor ignores him. “You think he threatened her?”

“I think he buried something.”

“What?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Then the brother disappears, and the boss looks back at me. “Careful how you dig. You unsettle Kalinin now, we lose the Rotterdam access before we’ve stabilized anything.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

I meet his gaze. “I’m not starting a family war over a suspicion.”

“No,” Igor says. “You’re starting an investigation because your bride looked terrified.”

I say nothing.

“Fine. Quietly,” Igor says finally.

That’s permission. Not that I needed it, but I’ll take it.

My phone buzzes. Yuri. I answer on the second ring. “What?”

“Protocols for Tamara’s work are almost done. I can have her first two clients cleared by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Good. Move faster.”

A pause. “Understood.”

“And Yuri?”

“Yes?”

“Start a separate file on Tamara Kalinin.”

Silence. Then, “What am I looking for?”

“Everything. Financials. Medical records. Old addresses. Schools. Travel. Staff around her father’s house. Anything sealed, missing, or altered in the last ten years.”

Igor watches me from across the table. Yakov’s expression loses its amusement.

I glance at the closed conference room door, at the place where David Kalinin stood and called his daughter difficult.

I’m aware of the irony. Digging into her life without her knowledge, calling it protection because the alternative is doing nothing.

I’m aware she’d hate it. I’m not sure she’d be wrong.

I end the call. Igor studies me for a long moment.

“You sure you want to know?”