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“Barf,” Luka mumbles, his arms crossed.
Pyotr at least has the decency to say nothing.
“What happens from here?” I ask the brothers.
“Nicolai has offered us a place to stay,” Mikhail says.
“And we can trust him?” Catherina interjects as she steps forward, the gravel road crunching beneath the soles of her shoes.
“He owes me. He owesallof us. If it wasn’t for our connections at CyberFort and Luka’s quick programming, he’d have a bullet in his head. Nicolai owes us his life. He’ll do right by us.”
Catherina clicks her tongue. “You’re far too trusting, Misha. What if he betrays us once our beef with Konstantin is over?”
“He won’t.”
“There will be a power vacuum once he’s dead,” she goes on, her tone grave. “It will be chaos. A bloodbath.”
Mikhail sets his jaw. “Not if I take over.”
My mouth drops open. “Are you serious?”
Dimitri, Pyotr, and Luka all look as concerned as I feel. Mikhail sets his jaw, his eyes dark with deep contemplation.
“Catherina is right. Right now, Konstantin’s reign over Moscow has kept some semblance of peace.”
“But he’s—”
“A power-hungry lunatic, I know. But if—when—we kill him, it’s only a matter of time before the other Bratva families crawl out of the woodwork to try and claim his territories, his businesses. It’s not just Bratva who are going to be caught up in the turmoil. There will be civilians, too, those who are caught in the crossfire. But if I can oversee the transition of power…”
“You’d be able to keep people from getting hurt.”
“What about the company?” Dimitri asks.
“It will fall to you.”
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Pyotr adds. “This life… It wasn’t meant for us. We left for a reason.”
“And that reason was Konstantin. Once he’s out of the picture…” Mikhail looks to me, holding my gaze. “But I want your blessing, Aurora.”
“Me?”
“I’ve seen the way he carries out his punishments, his orders. Catherina is right. There will be a power vacuum. Crime will never go away. I could make some real changes. I could ensure prosperity and uphold the peace in ways Konstantin never could.”
“A lesser of two evils,” I mumble aloud.
Mikhail nods slowly. “But only if you’ll be by my side, Aurora. I won’t do this without you. Ineedyou and the little one with me.”
I shift in my seat, not because I’m uncomfortable, but because what he’s saying makes a surprising amount of sense. I need to be with him, too. I want our family to grow and be together always. But at what cost?
My thoughts return to The Pit. All those prisoners… I think about Charlotte. Mikhail is right. Crime will never go away. There’s always someone more evil, someone crueler to take their place. But if we can maintain the status quo, improve on it…
I’ll admit I’m out of my element here, but Idoknow that where Mikhail goes, I go. He’s my lighthouse amidst stormy seas, my north star in the darkest of nights. I don’t care what path I find myself going down so long as it’swith him.
The next kiss I give him is an unspoken promise. We’re in this together, come hell or high water.
“I’m with you,” I whisper.
Nicolai clears his throat behind us.
