36. Dmitri
Dmitri
Dmitri
My brother looks like hell. I can’t decide if that makes me feel guilty or satisfied.
Alexei sits across from me at the metal table, his arm in a sling, and his face pale from blood loss. Sasha’s at the head like she’s chairing a board meeting instead of mediating a family crisis that could end in gunfire.
Katya stands behind me, close enough I can feel her, but far enough to stay out of the line of fire.
Smart.
Alexei’s less likely to explode if she’s not right at my side.
“Start talking,” Sasha commands, folding her hands on the table. “And I mean everything. No edits or omissions.”
I look at my wounded brother and wonder where the hell to begin. How do you boil down a year of lies into something he’ll believe?
“Viktor’s been running his own operations,” I say flatly. “Off the books. Using FSB resources to build his network while selling intel on the side.”
Alexei leans back. “That’s impossible. He’s been feeding us information for years.”
I slam my palm against the table. “Feeding you exactly what he wanted you to hear.”
Alexei flinches. I don’t stop.
“When Katya refused to sleep with me, he turned her into a scapegoat.”
“Sleep with you?” Alexei snaps.
“Operation Nightfall wasn’t about bringing down this organization,” I growl. “It was about Viktor taking it once I was gone.”
He glances past me toward her. “And she refused?”
“She told him she doesn’t fuck targets. Period. That’s when he started planning her elimination.”
Sasha nods approvingly. “Continue.”
I spend the next twenty minutes laying out everything.
Viktor’s corruption, Pavel’s real identity as Agent Romanov, the gallery bombing as an assassination attempt, how Katya came to and realized the fake marriage I created during her amnesia.
Every manipulation, every lie, and every psychological game I played to keep her confused and dependent.
My brother’s face cycles through disbelief, then anger, then something approaching comprehension as I explain how Pavel tried to execute Katya and how Viktor’s network has been systematically eliminating anyone who could expose their corruption.
“The safe houses we hit contained enough evidence to prove Viktor’s been selling state secrets to foreign intelligence services,” I continue.
“Financial records, communication logs, operational plans. Everything we need to demonstrate that Katya was refusing to participate in treason, not committing it.”
Alexei rubs his temple with his good hand. “So, when I showed up here this morning with a tactical team to eliminate what I thought was an enemy agent, I was actually trying to kill the woman who refused to betray you.”
“Pretty much.”
“And you shot me to protect someone who was protecting you all along.”
“The irony wasn’t lost on me.”
Alexei looks up at Katya, who’s been silent through the explanation. “You refused Viktor’s orders?”
“I gather intelligence, not sexual favors,” she replies.
“Even though sleeping with my brother would have made your mission easier?”
She crosses her arms over her torso and shrugs. “Some lines shouldn’t be crossed, no matter what your handlers demand.”
Alexei studies her face like he’s trying to read her motivations. “And when you recovered your memories? You could have contacted your FSB superiors, reported Dmitri’s location, and arranged extraction.”
“My FSB superiors tried to have me killed. They knew where I was for months, but instead of extracting me when I lost my memory, they left me in the situation, hoping I’d gather more evidence until I remembered who I am.
Hard to maintain loyalty to people who abandon you when you’re vulnerable, then order your execution when you become inconvenient. ”
“So, you chose my brother.”
“I chose survival. Your brother happened to be the person offering it.”
Sasha clears her throat. “Alexei, do you have questions about Dmitri’s methods, or are you satisfied that Katya isn’t the threat you thought she was?”
My brother winces as he adjusts his position. “Your methods worked, but they were risky as hell. Creating a fake marriage, manipulating someone’s memory loss. … If she’d recovered her memories differently, or if Viktor had moved faster, the whole plan could have backfired spectacularly.”
“I know. But at the time, keeping her confused and dependent seemed like the safest option.”
“It was the safest option for revenge. But it nearly got you both killed when Viktor decided elimination was easier than control.” Alexei looks at me for a long moment, and I can see him processing everything I’ve told him.
“But you love her now. Really love her, not just the fake version you created.”
“Yes,” I answer without hesitation.
“Even knowing she could have destroyed everything we’ve built?”
“She chose not to destroy it when she had the chance.”
“And you’re willing to go to war with our family to protect her?”
I glance at Katya, who’s watching this conversation like someone whose life depends on the outcome. “I was willing to shoot you to protect her. I think that answers your question.”
Alexei nods slowly. “It does.”
“So where does that leave us?”
“With a mess,” Alexei admits. “Half the men think you’ve lost it. The other half thinks I have. This civil war could’ve been avoided if you’d trusted family instead of keeping secrets.”
He’s right, and I know it.
I’ve been so focused on protecting Katya and managing my guilt that I forgot the first rule of family business: Trust your blood before you trust anyone else.
“You’re right,” I tell him. “I should have come to you the moment she recovered her memories. Should have explained about Viktor, about Pavel, about all of it.”
“Instead, you decided to handle it alone.”
“I decided that protecting her was more important than protecting the family.”
“And now?”
I think about the question while I study my brother’s face. The anger is still there, but underneath it, I can see something that looks like forgiveness trying to break through.
“Now, I’m hoping we can find a way to do both.”
Alexei turns to Sasha. “What’s your assessment?”
My sister blows out a breath of frustration.
“My assessment is that you’re both idiots who nearly destroyed everything Father built over a situation that could have been resolved with one honest conversation.
But you’re also right about different things.
Dmitri was right to protect Katya once he understood the real situation. You were right to be concerned.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“Now, we fix the damage you’ve both caused. Dmitri, you need to address the leadership concerns within the organization. Too many of our men think you’ve gone soft. That needs to change.”
I nod. “Agreed.”
“Alexei, you need to help repair the organizational unity instead of encouraging division. This civil war ends today.”
“And if people won’t accept that Katya isn’t a threat?”
“Then we make it clear that anyone who continues this conflict is choosing to work against family interests. Father never tolerated internal dissent, and neither should we. Are we agreed that preserving the family is more important than personal grievances?”
“Yes,” I reply immediately.
“Alexei?”
My brother looks at me, then at Katya, then back at Sasha. For a moment, I think he’s going to find another reason to keep fighting. Then he lets out a long breath that seems to release months of accumulated tension.
“Yes. But there are conditions.”
“Such as?”
“No more secrets. No more unilateral decisions. If Viktor’s network is still active, we face it together. Openly.”
“Fair enough.”
“And Katya needs to understand that choosing our family means choosing our methods. If she’s going to be a part of this organization, she needs to accept how we operate.”
Katya answers, “I understand that your methods involve violence and moral ambiguity. I’m not asking you to change how you do business.”
“Good. Because we’re not changing for anyone.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.”
Alexei nods, satisfied with her response. “Then we’re agreed. Family first, no more secrets, and a united front against external threats.”
“Agreed,” I tell him.
Sasha sits back down and smiles for the first time since she arrived at my penthouse. “Good. Now we need to discuss Viktor’s remaining network and how we’re going to eliminate the threat.”
Before anyone can respond, Alexei’s phone rings. He checks the screen and grunts.
“It’s Maxim. I told him not to interrupt unless it was urgent.”
“Take it,” Sasha tells him.
Alexei answers the call and switches to Russian. I catch enough of the conversation to understand that something significant is happening, and from the way his face changes, it’s not good news.
“When?” he asks in English. “How many men? Are you certain about the equipment?”
He hangs up and looks at both of us with a deep-set frown. “Viktor’s remaining operatives just hit three of our secondary locations. Surveillance teams, weapons caches, and financial offices. They’re not trying to hide.”
“Casualties?”
“Two dead, four wounded. But that’s not the worst part.”
“What’s the worst part?”
“Maxim’s contacts in the police department say Viktor’s people are planning something big for tonight. Major assault, military-grade equipment. They’re not just trying to eliminate threats anymore; they’re going for destruction.”
Katya moves closer to the table. “Targets?”
“Anyone connected to the people who killed Pavel. Which means all of us.”
I look at my brother, and for the first time in months, we’re aligned on something. Viktor’s network has declared war on our family.
“How many men can we field immediately?” I ask.
“Fifteen, maybe twenty if we pull everyone off other assignments.”
“That’s not enough if they’re bringing military-grade equipment.”
“No, it’s not. But we have advantages they don’t.”
“Such as?”
Alexei leans forward despite the obvious pain in his shoulder. “We know the city better than they do. We have resources they can’t access. And most importantly, they think we’re still fighting each other instead of working together.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Just that we give Viktor’s people what they’re expecting: a divided organization that’s easy to pick apart. Let them think their intelligence is accurate while we coordinate a response they won’t see coming.”
Sasha grins, and for a moment, she looks just like our father when he was planning something particularly devious. “A trap.”
“The best kind. They think they’re hunting wounded prey, but instead they’re walking into an ambush.”
I think about the plan while I look at my brother. This is the first time we’ve worked together on anything in months, and despite everything that’s happened between us, falling back into tactical partnership feels natural.
“If Maxim’s intelligence is accurate, they’ll move tonight. Which gives us about six hours to prepare.”
“Six hours to coordinate a counteroperation that could save our family or get us all killed.”
“Exactly.”
I look at Katya, who’s been listening to this conversation with growing concern. “What do you think?”
“I think Viktor’s people have been planning this for weeks while we’ve been fighting each other. They have advantages we don’t understand and resources we can’t match.”
“But?”
“But they also don’t know the full extent of what I remember. And they definitely don’t know you and Alexei have reconciled.”
Alexei grins from ear to ear. “So, we have surprise on our side.”
“We have surprise, tactical knowledge, and home-field advantage. Plus, one very pissed off former FSB agent who has personal reasons for wanting Viktor’s network eliminated.”
“Is that enough?”
Katya’s smile is cold and predatory. “It’ll have to be.”