(CRISTIAN)
Motka takes us to the closest meeting room, which is just as ornate as the rest of the building.
I'm the last to enter and close the door.
My guests don't sit. They stand together facing me, waiting for answers.
"Well, start talking," Andrei demands.
"Yes, I'm eager to find out how I have another brother I never knew about," Sava says, and Pavel nods.
"My mother was Zarina Polinsky," I begin. "She and our father grew up together in Moscow. He was with her before your mother."
I pause, glancing at Mira, who looks more ghostly than before.
Motka told me everything about the past and never shied away from the possibility that Mira was at least aware Mom existed and was involved with my father. She didn't know about me, though. No one did.
"They broke up when he was promised to Mira, but he didn't know she was pregnant with me. She didn't tell him until I was twelve. However, things didn't go as expected. She didn't know that my existence as his firstborn son threatened his business relationship with Mira's family. Or that he would order our deaths."
"What?" Mira sucks in a sharp breath, and her entire being trembles. "Misha did that?"
"Yes, he did." That's the truth I've had to live with. My father sent Grigorii to kill my mother and me. "My mother was killed, but I survived."
Mira's eyes grow larger. "I can't believe what I'm hearing."
"It is the truth."
Mira's family business mines diamonds in three different countries, and the Petukhovs have a shipping company that practically owns the seas. It was a match made in heaven and the reason for their combined success today.
Success my father wanted to protect, but I'll take all of it now.
"Once your father died and signed over the remaining parts of his company to my father, losing the business was no longer a threat to my life."
Her father died two years ago. After that, Motka and I waited for the right moment to strike. We already knew of the plan for Andrei to marry Nadiya so the Sidorov family property development business could join the Petukhovs' already flourishing fortune.
But Motka wanted me to get everything else. The door was opened with the news that my father's heart condition was terminal.
"How did you escape when you were a boy?" Mira asks, compassion filling her eyes.
"Motka saved me."
She looks at Motka in disbelief and shakes her head. "How could you keep this secret from us?"
"It was for his safety." Motka clenches his jaw. "And I vowed to avenge Zarina's death. I grew up with her, too. All Misha cared about was his business. So much so that he was willing to kill a woman who loved him and his own child.
People who knew Zarina and Cristian believed they died at their home in a fire. That's the story Misha went with all these long years. I took Cristian away to keep him safe. Then I waited for the right time to reveal the truth and see that he obtains his rightful place as heir to the Petukhov legacy."
"And what about me?" Andrei challenges.
"I'm sorry, my boy, but it is Cristian's birthright."
Andrei's brows shoot up. "And today was the right time? My wedding day?"
"Marriage to Nadiya Sidorov is part of the empire transfer." Motka's face softens. "And as you are aware, the ninety-day transition period under the Rites of Inheritance ended at midday today. That means your father is out of the picture now. So, yes, today was the right time. The bottom line is, it's time to choose a new leader. And I have."
"So, he gets everything?" Mira asks weakly. "My business included?"
"Yes, he does."
"This is an outrage," Andrei spits. "You know it is."
"And you know there's not a goddam thing you can do about it." I take back the reins. People can talk and mouth off, but they know the law of the land and, worst of all, the law of the Knights.
"You're taking absolutely everything?" Pavel clarifies, his dark eyes searching mine.
By everything, he means anything with the Petukhov name. But it's not like my seizure will mean they'll be homeless on the street poor. They were each given a sizable inheritance from Mira's father, and they'll receive another once our father passes.
However, none of that comes close to what I'm taking.
"Yes, I am taking everything. But some things will remain the same. I'll let you know what those are in due course."
That will be things like their homes, in some cases, and other assets.
God knows I would prefer to kick them all out and burn everything to the ground. I want them to suffer the way I did when Mom had to clean toilets and go through all kinds of shit to take care of me.
"What about the subordinate selection?" From the apprehensive look in Andrei's eyes, I can tell that's what he's most worried about. They all are.
My arrival means there's only one more position of power left.
As the soon-to-be Sovientrik, and under the unique circumstances of the Knights' law, I have the authority to choose the Obshchak, which is the third member of the Bratva elite. The man who holds that position is the chief financial officer of not only the Bratva but the Knights, too.
Motka wants me to pick one of my brothers, and he also wants me to allow them to keep their jobs at Petukhov Inc.
I'm not overly fond of that part of the plan, but I'm following Motka's advice.
A king has to wear his crown with honour and know how to protect his conquests.
I'm not a fool, or vengeful enough to fuck up a billion-dollar business by thinking I can run things on my own and allow the empire to fall apart.
"You'll find out at the inauguration ceremony."
That's in a month, so they will have to wait. I need time to think and figure out who's who in real life, not just from the records Motka has given me.
"This is complete madness." Andrei steps forward and glances at my tattoo. He knows, just like Aleksander did, what it means, but he's showing he doesn't care.
"Well, it's happening, brother, whether you like it or not." I square my shoulders. "Now, if you don't mind, I have things to do."
On that note, I bow my head, give them a victorious smile, then Motka and I walk out, leaving them to stew in the pile of shit I just launched them into.
I can imagine what they'll be talking about now, and how they'll probably want to keep the truth about my father under wraps. Mira, in particular, won't want to destroy my father's highly esteemed reputation in the Knights. Or hers.
Even though no punishment will be issued because of who my father is, what he did to Mom and me is despicable even by the Knights' standards.
When we reach the end of the corridor, I stop when my name is called.
It's Grigorii.
He rushes up to me, out of breath. His face is red, and his eyes are filled with panic.
"This can't work. You can't take my daughter. She's an innocent in this." He shakes his greying head, contorting his face so his scar becomes more pronounced. "There must be something else I can do."
I give him a radiant smile, enjoying his trepidation the way he enjoyed mine when he tried to kill me. "Grigorii Sidorov, you know there's nothing else you can do. You also know what will happen if you try."
This man knows my threats aren't empty, nor are they something to be trifled with. I've already taken Nadiya and his business through the marriage contract.
I will also be relieving him of his senior position in the Bratva. Meaning he will lose everything. I would have loved to kick him out completely, but I didn't want to raise any red flags.
He knows if I unleash all the serious dirt I have on him, he'll have more than just me to fear. And more than himself to worry about.
His weakness is his daughter, but he wasn't thinking of her when he got up to all sorts of shady things that would get him in trouble with the Pakhan and drag her in, too.
"I think we're done here." I tap the lapel of his jacket and turn away to leave.
Desperation must have made him crazy because he catches my arm and pulls me back, looking like a helpless animal who's been caught in a snare.
Glaring down at his fingers, I seethe, and he releases me.
"Please don't tell her what I did." His voice comes out in a hurried rush. "She won't understand. She's good… Not like me. Please don't tell her."
I laugh. I can't help it. The monster doesn't want his sweet daughter knowing he's a monster.
"What shouldn't I tell her, Grigorii? There's so much."
"None of it."
"We're part of the Russian Mafia. I'm sure she knows you're not a good man."
The princess didn't look like she'd been kept in the dark.
"This is different."
I agree, but why should I do him any favours? I don't owe him anything.
There's bad, there's evil, and there's soulless.
Those whose souls are so tarnished and dark that there is nothing human left in them. That's Grigorii, and by the end of this, it might be me, too.
"Worry about yourself, Grigorii. Not your daughter's opinion of you."