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Sasha is still young. Barely twenty. There are plenty of years yet before I’ll have to worry about him taking care of his father, so no reason to waste the time worrying about him now.
“That is why you’re my favorite, Arnov. You understand when good enough is good enough.”
Arnov gives me that same yellow-toothed grin as I shake his hand and stand.
When I look back down the table, Rayne is gone. She and another maid are hustling towards the kitchen. Leonid, I notice, is watching her closely. Too closely for my liking.
I haven’t spoken to her since our fight on the beach. A decision I made on purpose. I allowed my feelings to cloud my better judgment. Something I swore I’d never do again. Talking will only make things harder.
But as it turns out, being in the same room with her and not being able to interact makes things difficult as well.
If there was no one else involved, I’d stand on the table and tell everyone but Rayne to fuck off. I’d clear the table and lick between her thighs until her screams echoed past the chandeliers. Screw my allies and all of the arrangements we’ve made. Nothing else would matter… except her.
There are other people involved, though. Namely, Ilya.
Even that is becoming a complicated justification for pushing Rayne away. He asks about her on the days she doesn’t come to see him, he misses her, he wonders where she’s gone.
I understand the feeling.
I sit down at the head of the table just as Leonid slides into Viktoria’s empty chair. “Interesting group you’ve gathered tonight.”
“Is it?”
“No,” he chuckles. “It’s not. Same old people, same old conversations. I hope you won’t find it in poor taste if I say it was briefly interesting after your father died. You taking over injected some new life into these dull parties.”
“Nothing about my father’s death was in poor taste. Except for that it didn’t come soon enough.”
“Ahh, the struggle between fathers and sons. You and yours, Arnov and Sasha… it all makes me glad I only had a daughter.”
“Viktoria does adore you,” I mutter. It takes all of my willpower not to wrinkle my nose in disgust at the taste of her name on my lips.
He glances down at his daughter with a smile. “She’s a good girl. She’ll make a fine wife, too. Obedient.”
“The only trait one could ask for in a wife. Or,” I add, “in a mistress.”
If Leonid catches my sarcasm, he doesn’t mention it. Instead, he nods. “You need someone by your side you can trust.”
“Someone who will agree with you. That’s what you mean, isn’t it?”
“There is no difference.”
If only Rayne could overhear this. She managed to control her temper with Viktoria, but this statement might push her over the edge.
“Our jobs are stressful,” Leonid continues. “Countless lives sit in the palms of our hands. It is up to us to protect our allies, to supply livelihoods to the families of the men who work for us. We bring stability to communities by checking and balancing one another.”
“I’ve never heard someone make criminal enterprises sound so noble before. And here I was thinking this was all about making money.”
“It is noble,” he says defensively. “And the last thing we need when we get home is someone who is going to lie down next to us and tell us what we did wrong. Or someone who is going to demand anything more than what they’ve already been given. Your wife should be someone who will serve you.”
I eye his wine-stained lips and grimace again. “And you think your daughter will serve me?”
He nods. “I do. And if she doesn’t, she can be trained to. She’s a quick learner. Loyal.”
Leonid could be trying to sell me a dog. Truth be told, if it was a dog, I’d be more likely to buy. But Viktoria is a hard sell under the best of circumstances.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“We’d be more than happy to welcome you into the family,” Leonid says, leaning closer. “I said I was glad for only a daughter. But truth be told, I’ve always wanted a son.”
