Chapter 12 Katerina
KATERINA
Enzo is at school, and I’m working from my desk in the cottage.
It’s not easy to straddle two worlds, and to be honest, now that Don Lorenzo is gone, I feel like my work is less valued than it had been.
I might be considered an ambassador of sorts, but I’m barely even a liaison. A few days a week, I work with Pyotr, but he’s been MIA.
It could be he’s working or, what I fear most, he’s back on drugs.
But I like working alone in my own space.
The silence is peaceful, at least usually.
Now the quiet creates space for thoughts I don’t want to think.
All of them about Luca.
The tenderness I never expected from a man who leads an empire with blood-stained hands.
Who looks at Enzo like he’s the center of the universe.
It terrifies me how naturally they've fallen into place with each other.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.
They’re blood, after all.
A sharp knock startles me. I open the door to find my brother shifting his weight from foot to foot, eyes darting over my shoulder.
"Can I come in?" His voice sounds wrong. It’s pitched too high, too tight.
"Since when do you ask?" I step aside, studying the dark circles beneath his eyes. "You look terrible."
He attempts a smile. "Always the supportive sister."
"I've left messages for days. Where have you been?"
"Working." He moves to the kitchen, helping himself to coffee. "Business has been… complicated."
I cross my arms wondering what he might know of the attack on the Dantes and theft of their shipment. "What kind of business keeps you away from your family when there's a war brewing?"
"Not everything is about the Dantes, Kat,” he snaps.
"This isn't you." I move closer, catching the sour smell of alcohol. "What's going on?"
Pyotr's fingers tap nervously against the coffee mug. "I need your help with something."
"Finally, the real reason you've emerged from whatever hole you've been hiding in."
He ignores my jab. "There's a file I need from Lorenzo’s office. The one in the house, not in the city."
I frown. "What file?"
"Records of certain arrangements between us and the Bratva.”
Something cold settles in my stomach. Like me, Pyotr straddles the worlds of the Mafia and the Bratva, but this request feels off.
"Why not ask Alessandro? Everything of Lorenzo's was transferred to him.”
"Alessandro has enough on his plate." He waves dismissively. "The man's barely sleeping, trying to maintain control while fighting off challenges from every direction. This is a small matter I can handle without bothering him."
"Small matters don't require sneaking around the new Don's back." I step closer. "If it's important enough to need Lorenzo's private files, it's important enough for Alessandro to know."
Pyotr runs a hand through his hair, his frustration evident. "It's not like that. I'm trying to help him… take some of the pressure off him. Besides, I promised Lorenzo I’d deal with it.”
"Since when do you make promises on behalf of the Dante family?"
He rolls his eyes at me. "Since I've been living under their roof for years as their liaison.”
"This file, what exactly does it contain that's so important? And why are you so anxious to get it now, after everything that's happened?"
“The usual boring stuff that keeps peace between families. Why are you making this so hard?”
“You can get the file if its—”
“You work here, Kat. Seriously. Why the third degree? I’m trying to do the job we were forced here to do. I already have all the side-eye glances from the Dantes. I don’t need them from you too. Are you going to help or not?”
He’s right. We really only have each other in this difficult world we live in.
He's my brother, the only real family I have besides Enzo.
Still, there’s something in his demeanor that unsettles me.
"Does this have anything to do with losing the shipment the other night?”
His face tightens. "That's why I need the file. To clear up misunderstandings."
“Or you could be gathering intelligence.”
"Don't be ridiculous." But his denial comes too quickly, too forcefully.
"Pyotr, whose side are you on?"
He slams his cup down. "There are no sides, Katerina! Just survival. The Dantes are weakened. Alessandro doesn't have his father's strength—"
"So you're hedging your bets? Selling information to save your own skin?"
"I'm protecting us!" He grabs my shoulders. "You think they won't come for you and Enzo when this powder keg explodes? And if you think the Dantes will protect you, you’re delusional. You might be in their home, but you’re Bratva. That’s how they see you—”
“Especially if I help you.”
His body tenses, his arm rises, and for a moment, I think he might strike me. But then he turns away, taking a deep breath.
When he turns back, he gives me a patronizing smile. “Lorenzo foresaw this issue before he died.”
“He said to hand over Dante secrets?” I wonder if I can get my brother into treatment because he really is going off the deep end.
“It’s not like that.”
But I’m not buying what he’s trying to sell me. I shake my head, stepping back from him. "Lorenzo was good to us and this is how you repay that debt? By betraying his family after his death?"
"Lorenzo is dead," Pyotr hisses. "And his loyalty died with him. Wake up, Kat. The rules have changed."
I stare at my brother, this man I've loved my entire life, and for the first time, I'm afraid of what he might do.
“Lorenzo was good to you, but Alessandro treats you like a gnat. You’re still here because he can’t figure out how to get rid of you without pissing off the Bratva more than he already has.”
He’s not completely wrong. No matter how much I try to show my worth to the Dante family, Alessandro seems disinterested.
"And what about Enzo?" Pyotr's voice drops low. "Your son with a Dante? You think the Bratva will overlook that little detail when they come for blood? Or that the Dantes won’t take the boy from you?"
My blood turns to ice. "Don't you dare bring my son into this."
"He's already in it. A half-Dante, half-Petrov child? He's the very definition of conflicted loyalties. When sides are drawn, where do you think he'll land?"
"He's six years old!” My anger shrieks from me. "He's an innocent child, not a chess piece."
"No one is innocent in this game." Pyotr's eyes harden. "You know that. For both our sakes, for Enzo’s sake, you need to help me get that file.”
Our world is a dangerous one. I know it. But for most of my life I’ve been sheltered from it. So now is the first time I feel terror at what Pyotr is saying.
"Think about what I'm saying, Kat." His tone softens, but the damage is done. "Your loyalty should be to your blood first. Not to a family that will discard you the moment you're no longer useful."
Conflict rages through me.
Am I truly loyal to anyone?
I've spent years walking a tightrope between two powerful families, never fully belonging to either.
The Dantes gave me shelter, but never quite family.
The Bratva share my blood, but they’ve grown foreign to me.
And now Pyotr stands before me, demanding I choose. Demanding I betray the people who've protected me and my son.
"My loyalty," I start, "is to peace. To building bridges, not burning them. That's what we’re supposed to do."
"Pretty words." Pyotr moves toward the door. "But meaningless when bullets start flying."
“Then we need to stop the bullets. It’s our job.”
He pauses, studying my face. “You’re so na?ve, little sis.” He opens the door. "Just remember, when everything falls apart, I tried to protect you. Get me that file. It’s the only way to save us all."
The door closes behind him, but his threat remains.
Are things really that bad?
How is it that I’m not aware of it?
I mean, I know there’s tension.
It’s to be expected when a Don dies and everyone waits to see what the new one will do.
But what Pyotr is describing sounds like a powder keg about to go off.
How did it come to this?
I think about the ambush and stolen shipment, and while Pyotr didn’t admit to anything, I have to believe he was behind it. For some reason, he’s aligning with the Bratva instead of staying neutral.
I grab my phone, hovering over Alessandro’s name.
Would he even believe me?
The Dantes must be aware that they have a leak and are looking for it.
Here I am, with knowledge that the traitor they’re looking for is my brother.
Pyotr would have never dared such a thing against Don Lorenzo. Don Alessandro is new, finding his footing, but he’s no pushover.
If I tell Alessandro about Pyotr, I'm signing my brother's death warrant. If I don't…
Enzo could become a target.
I close my eyes, trying to think clearly through the panic clouding my judgment. I’m supposed to keep the peace, but instead, I’m in the position of having to betray one family.
And whichever is betrayed would certainly come after me and Enzo. Pyotr has just put me in a situation in which my death, maybe even Enzo’s death, is a sure thing.
The clock on the wall ticks loudly. Enzo will be done with school in an hour. I need a plan before then.
I think of my go-bag in the closet.
The emergency bag I’ve kept since Enzo was born. Passport, cash, documents.
Everything we'd need to disappear if the world around us collapsed. But God, I never thought I’d really have to use it.
Where would we go if I ran? What place in the world is far enough away from the reach of the Dantes and the Morozovas? Nowhere.
But I don’t know how I can snoop around Alesandro’s office. There are people everywhere all the time.
Running an organized crime operation is 24/7. Alessandro might be in bed, but some soldier is always up, lurking about the house.
I’m in a no-win situation. Unable to figure out my next step, I get ready to pick Enzo up from school.
I’m about to leave the cottage when my phone pings.
Pyotr's name appears on the screen.
Your loyalty has been questioned. The Bratva needs assurance. Bring the files to the warehouse by the pier at midnight. Come alone. Your son's safety depends on your obedience.
The world tilts beneath my feet. I fumble with the phone, calling Enzo's school.
"Enzo was picked up early by his uncle." The secretary sounds perfectly calm. "Mr. Petrov showed his ID and signed him out properly."
My knees buckle. The phone slips from my grasp, clattering to the floor.
He took my son. My brother took my son.