Page 3

Alana clears her throat, and when I look at her, I see terror in her eyes, but hope. Like she's casting a lifeline to me, praying somehow I'm the solution she's been reaching for. I don't know that my outburst will stop this horrible train wreck from happening, but I'm not going to sit there silently with my hands in my lap and watch my father make a mistake for the future of our family. I tried to stop him before and had my wings cut. I won't do it again.

"Shut your mouth," my father growls, obviously trying to keep me silent so the Volskaya women won't find out Ivan raped a woman and got shot in cold blood. Nikolai took matters into his own hands instead of informing the council, and now my father wants to marry Alexei off to them. "Shut your mouth now." His eyes are black as sin, attempting to force me back into silence, but I won't stay there.

"You want me to sit here while you trade Alexei like he's property?"

"This is a circus," the council head yells. "Remove him." His wild gesture draws a few men from dark corners as I stalk toward my brother and grab his shoulder.

"You don't have to do this," I tell him, urging him to find that part of his brain that still understands he has some say in everything. He could find a different family to align with, or for fuck's sake, he could choose a wife he loves.

Alexei looks up at me, and I see the brother I used to know inside those dark eyes, thinking about how to respond to me. But he has power in his grasp—all he has to do is whatever my father tells him and he assumes leadership because I handed over the authority. He won't make the same mistake I did. "Someone has to clean up your mess," he says. "You walked away from this, Brother."

"It's wrong and you know it," I snarl as hands lock onto my arms. "And all of you are wrong. What the hell is wrong with you, Nikolai!" I don't dare spit the accusations I want to. If I even drop a mention of my brother's death and how I feel it went down, this council will erupt. My father will kill me—literally. He won't have mercy just because I’m his son. And the families will align anyway.

"Out!" the council chair says, pointing at the door.

They drag me through thick wood double doors and toss me into the hallway like a sack of trash, then stand there with stern expressions and their arms crossed over their chests so I can't get back in. Of course the commission won't listen to my objections because I'm not the one slated to be tethered to the offending family, and I'm not allowed to tell them the truth. I'm bound to keep my silence out of fear of how powerful my father really is.

I stand there glaring at the locked doors knowing right now, I’m powerless, but my father and Nikolai Volskaya are hiding something. I know it. Ivan did a horrible thing, which my father covered up. We have rules about this shit and he knows it. But he hid it from the council and now he's hiding it from Natalia too. She has a right to know what stains my family carries, and even her father hasn't told her.

I'm going to get to the bottom of what's going on and I'm going to stop this wedding from happening. This alliance is a bad thing, which everyone is refusing to see. If they can't be open about the skeletons in their closet, I will, and when I am, everyone will agree with me. Including the council.

3

ALANA

It's cold. The rain pelts my skin as I trail behind my family toward the car. September is less than four full months to Christmas Eve, and I can't believe that in that short time, my sister will do the absolutely unthinkable thing and marry into that family.

"Hurry up," Natalia hisses, glowering at me over her shoulder. She shuffles along under the shelter of Batya's umbrella, under which my mother also walks with her head down. She hasn't said a word about it, but I would hope, at least, that deep down, she knows how wrong this is.

I pick up the pace, standing by the SUV while my father helps Natalia and my mother into the car. He holds the door for me, an umbrella extended up over the open entrance as I pass by, and I don't meet his gaze. I'm too upset with him.

He did the right thing by killing Ivan back then. It was his only recourse after walking in on that. And what he did to me almost killed me. The doctors told me I may never have children. He was a horrible, evil man and I'm glad he's dead. But now? This?

"I'm sorry, ptichka," he mutters before shutting the door. I see the great shame he carries, but twenty-five million dollars is a lot of money to turn away, plus an expansion of his territory. To a prideful man like Nikolai Volskaya, that's an impossible thing to turn away from.

He climbs in front with Misha and the SUV lurches into traffic, but inside, I'm a raging mess. My chest is clenched tight, brain stewing. The idea that my sister would let Ivan's brother touch her after what he did to me is so repulsive, I physically feel my skin crawl. Does she have no shame at all? Just a whore who will sell herself off for a few million dollars? Because she might be getting a cut of that money, but I won’t touch a red cent of it. It's blood money, paid to my family to keep our mouths shut about Ivan's sins so the council doesn’t learn about it, and nothing more.

No doubt, Mikhail Sokolov would kill his sons if they breathed a word and brought shame on his family. But my father wouldn't kill me. He'd just send me to some far reaches of Siberia or something, marry me off to a pig farmer and be done with it.

"I can't believe you're doing this," I whisper to Natalia under my breath. I don’t want Batya to hear, but I just can't sit here saying nothing. I kept my mouth shut in that meeting even when the older Sokolov son threw his tantrum. Had I opened my mouth, maybe the council would've listened, but I respect my father too much. Besides, if they knew he killed Ivan, I'm sure the council would have something to say about it.

"Shh," she hisses, glaring at me side-eyed. Of course she doesn’t want to talk about it because I know she feels guilty. She's told me this herself, just not in front of our parents.

Mamochka's hand slides onto my knee where she squeezes, and I feel her glare boring into me, but I shove her hand off and grab the back of Misha's seat, turning to lean into Natalia so I can talk more quietly.

"He could’ve killed me, Nat. You cannot marry his brother." I know my family wants this to just go away. Hell, I want this to just go away. I hate how my father's men and my cousins get attacked out on the street. We had a funeral just three months ago for one of my distant cousins caught in a car bombing no one has taken credit for, but we know it was the Sokolovs. The warring has to end before it comes to our doorstep.

But Natalia marrying into that family and my father accepting a payout just isn't the way.

"Alana," my mother croons in her passive-aggressive way. She wants me to let it go, but I'm too angry.

"No," I say, louder now. There's no point in trying to placate my father when he should feel guilty. He should be ashamed of this whole thing and go to the council and confess. He was protecting me, not murdering someone. I want to believe they'll see that.

"Alana," Natalia hisses in a fearful tone because unlike me, she doesn't want to incur the wrath of my father.

"It isn't right⁠—"

"Enough!" Batya turns over his shoulder, glaring at the three of us as if we're nothing more than clucking hens at feeding time. "Sit there and be quiet." His eyes blaze with anger, though I know if I press it, he will back down. But Misha’s eyes rise to the rearview mirror as he turns onto our street and I know better than to bring family drama up in front of him.