34. Dmitri
Dmitri
Dmitri
Watching Katya curse in three languages while wrestling pancakes one-handed turns me on.
She’s pale, bandaged, pissed off… and still trying to cook for me like nothing happened. I should make her sit down. Instead, I can’t take my eyes off her.
“Need help?” I ask from my position at the kitchen island, where I’m checking emails.
“I’ve got it,” she insists, then drops half a pancake on the floor. “Fuck.”
Anya looks up from her laptop, where she’s been monitoring FSB communications for the past hour. She pushes her glasses up her nose and smirks. “Maybe stick to cereal until your shoulder heals.”
“Cereal is for people who give up easily.”
“Fair enough, but burning down the kitchen won’t help anyone,” I point out with a chuckle.
Katya gives me a look that could melt steel before attempting another flip. This time, she keeps the pancake in the pan, though it looks more like abstract art than breakfast food.
“Victory,” she declares before raising the spatula like a trophy.
“If you say so.”
The normalcy of this moment feels surreal after everything we’ve been through. Katya is making breakfast. Anya is running intelligence operations from the kitchen table. I am pretending to care about profit margins when all I want is to keep the two most important women in my life safe.
It’s almost domestic enough to make me forget we’re at war with a network of rogue intelligence operatives.
“Any updates on Viktor’s remaining assets?” I ask Anya.
She scrolls through encrypted messages, and her brows pinch together in concentration. “Three confirmed operatives still active, plus an unknown number of criminal contacts. They’ve gone dark since Pavel’s death, but that probably means they’re regrouping.”
“Timeline for next move?”
“Days, not weeks. After we went through Pavel’s phone yesterday and found those two safe house locations, hitting them last night sent a clear message.
Viktor’s remaining operatives know we’re hunting them now, which means they’ll either go for a quick strike or disappear for a while and pop up later. ”
The safe house raids were swift and decisive. Using Pavel’s encrypted contacts, Anya identified Viktor’s backup operations. We struck both locations—one in the industrial district, and another near the docks—before the network could relocate their assets.
When you start dismantling an organization’s infrastructure instead of defending yourself, it signals that you’ve moved from reactive to offensive operations.
Katya slides a plate of mangled pancakes in front of me with a flourish. “Eat. You need to keep your strength up for whatever comes next.”
“These look like they’ve been through a war,” I grumble.
“So have we. Consider it thematic consistency.” She wipes flour from her cheek with the back of her hand.
I take a bite and nearly choke on what might be the saltiest pancake in Moscow’s history. “Delicious.”
“Liar,” she responds with a snicker.
Boris’ voice comes through the intercom before I can retort. “Boss, we’ve got a situation downstairs. Four black sedans just pulled up.”
The three of us freeze. I’m on my feet before his next words come through, my chair scraping against the floor.
I press the intercom button and ask, “How many men?”
“Six, maybe seven. All armed, tactical gear.” Boris pauses, then adds, “Boss, it’s your brother. But he’s got a full tactical team with him.”
I frown. Alexei showing up unannounced isn’t unusual, but bringing armed men to my home is.
“Something’s wrong,” I comment.
Katya looks between me and the intercom. “Why would your brother come with a tactical team?”
“I have no idea. But it can’t be good.”
Boris’ voice comes through again. “Boss, they’re coming up. Should I let them through?”
“Let them up. But stay alert.”
Footsteps sound in the hallway outside, heavy boots, from the sound of them. Then Alexei’s voice carries through the door as he barks, “Dmitri! We need to talk!”
I move to the front door but don’t open it. Instead, I hover my hand over the deadbolt. “What do you want, Alexei?”
“I want to end this madness before it destroys everything our family built.”
“What madness?”
“You know what I’m talking about.”
Through the peephole, I see Maxim and Igor taking positions at opposite ends of the hallway.
“They’re covering the hallway,” I tell Katya and Anya, keeping my voice low.
“How many ways out?” Katya asks, checking her weapon.
“Service elevator, main elevator, emergency stairwell. But I’m sure they have them covered.”
Anya closes her laptop and pulls out her pistol. “How reasonable is your brother when it comes to negotiation?”
“About as reasonable as a rabid dog.”
She moves to cover the kitchen entrance while keeping out of sight from the front door.
I open the door but keep the chain engaged, creating just enough space to talk. “Alexei, you’re making a mistake.”
“The only mistake I made was letting this go on as long as I have.” He steps closer, keeping his hands visible but close to his jacket, where I’m sure his firearm is stored.
At this moment, his face bears the same hard lines I remember from our father.
“Send out the FSB agent, and we can settle this without bloodshed.”
“She’s not?—”
“Don’t waste my time with denials.” He cuts me off.
“You don’t understand the situation.”
“Oh, I understand. You’ve been compromised by a woman who was sent to destroy us.”
Behind me, Katya mutters something in Russian. I glance back and see her checking her magazine. Her face is cold and focused.
“Alexei, listen to me?—”
“No. You listen to me. This ends today.”
“Viktor Petrov has been?—”
“Viktor’s been our intelligence source for years. He told me that little witch in there has you all twisted up. Forgive me, but I trust him over her. Your paranoia doesn’t change facts.”
Every attempt I make to explain gets cut off. My brother isn’t here for explanations. He’s here to eliminate what he sees as a threat.
“She’s still government,” Alexei continues. “She’ll always be government. And she’s made you weak.”
I clench my free hand. “I’m not weak.”
“This ends today,” Alexei repeats, pulling his sidearm. “Either you eliminate the threat, or we do it for you.”
“Over my dead body,” I reply through gritted teeth.
My brother shrugs and says, “If necessary.”
The finality in his voice makes me go cold. My brother is prepared to kill me to get to Katya.
He checks his watch. “You have sixty seconds to make your choice, Dmitri. Family or the spy.”
I look back at Katya, who’s moved to cover the kitchen entrance. Her face is calm, focused, and ready for violence. This is Agent Sidorov, not the confused woman I tricked into loving me.
“Thirty seconds.”
Anya catches my eye and nods toward the service elevator. We could run, but Alexei’s men would cut us down in the hallway.
“Time’s up.”
Alexei signals to his men, and I hear weapons being readied in the hallway. My brother is about to order an assault on my home.
“Wait.” I remove the door chain and step into the hallway, hoping to buy time.
“I’ll come out, and we can discuss this.”
“Nothing to discuss.” He keeps his weapon trained on my door. “The spy dies today.”
“Her name is Katya.”
“Her name is irrelevant.”
“She’s my wife.”
He laughs. “She’s your obsession. And it’s going to get our family killed.”
I take a step forward with a hand out. “Alexei, you’re my brother. We can work this out.”
“No, we can’t. You’ve chosen her over everything. Over the business, over family loyalty, and over basic survival.”
“I’m protecting someone who needs protection.”
“You’re siding with our enemy.”
“If you’d just listen for five minutes?—”
“I’m done listening.” He raises his weapon, and his index finger moves to the trigger. “Time for action.”
Alexei aims at my doorway, where Katya is now standing in the opening. Everything slows. My brother is about to execute the woman I love.
Without another thought, I draw my pistol and put a bullet in his shoulder before he can pull the trigger.
The gunshot echoes through the hallway. Alexei staggers backward and drops his weapon as blood spreads across his shirt. His men raise their weapons, confused about who to target now that I’ve shot their commander.
“Stand down!” I shout, keeping my weapon trained on my wounded brother. “All of you, stand down!”
Alexei gawks at me like he doesn’t recognize the person pointing a gun at him. Blood seeps between his fingers as he clutches his shoulder. “You shot me.”
“You were about to kill my wife.”
“I was trying to save you from yourself!”
Blood trickles through his fingers where he’s applying pressure to the wound. The sight makes something sick twist in my stomach, but I don’t lower my weapon.
I jab a finger at the metal box behind him. “Get in the elevator and leave.”
“Dmitri—” He takes a step forward but sways, probably from the blood loss.
“Now,” I snap. “Before I decide that protecting what’s mine requires a more permanent solution.”
Alexei looks at his men, then back at me. His face is pale, but his eyes burn with betrayal. “You’re choosing her over blood.”
“I’m choosing what’s right.”
“This isn’t over.” He allows Maxim to help him toward the elevator.
“Anyone who threatens what’s mine gets the same treatment you just received. That includes family.”
My brother stops at the elevator and turns back. “You’ve made your choice. Now live with the consequences.”
“I plan to.”
The elevator doors close, leaving me standing in the hallway, having just declared war on my family to protect a woman who was sent to destroy me.
I lower my weapon and return to the penthouse, where Katya and Anya are staring at me.
“Well,” Anya says, holstering her pistol. “That was dramatic.”
“Are you okay?” Katya asks.
I let out a shaky breath and reply, “I just shot my brother to protect you. I’m not sure ‘okay’ covers it.”
Her eyes flit to the ground, then back up to me. “Do you regret it?”
I think about Alexei’s face when the bullet hit him. The shock, the betrayal, and the realization that I’d chosen Katya over family loyalty.
“No. I don’t regret it.”
“Even knowing it means war with your family?”
“Even knowing that.”
Katya moves closer and takes my hand. “Why?”
“Because some things are worth fighting for, even when the fight costs you everything else.”
“Including family?”
“Real family protects each other instead of trying to eliminate perceived threats.”
“What if Alexei comes back with more men?”
“We’ll be ready for him.”
I holster my weapon and pull her to me, breathing in her familiar scent while my heart rate slowly returns to normal.
“You realize this changes everything,” she says against my throat.
“I know.”
“Your organization will split. Some will follow Alexei; others will stay loyal to you.”
“Probably.”
“Was it worth it?”
I think about letting my brother execute the woman I love to preserve family unity and organizational stability.
“Ask me again when we’re not dodging bullets from people who want us dead.”
But even as I hold her close, I know the answer. Shooting Alexei to protect Katya was the first honest thing I’ve done since I pulled her from that hospital bed.
Everything else was manipulation or revenge or psychological games.
This was love.
Messy, violent, destructive love that’s going to cost me everything I’ve built over the past fifteen years.
And I’d do it again without thinking twice.