Chapter 18 Yuri
YURI
Standing behind my office window, I watch Viktoria Mirova walk across the courtyard as though she owns the ground beneath her feet, honey-blonde hair tied up, coat flowing behind her.
Even from this distance, I recognize the cold determination in her posture—the same ruthless ambition that destroyed her marriage and drove her from her family years ago.
If she were the head of a family like mine she would destroy it in a matter of months.
She has no clue what she's doing.
Oleg intercepts her at the main gate, blocking her path to the compound.
She gestures wildly, her voice carrying across the courtyard even though I can't make out individual words.
Her hands wave around theatrically, every motion designed to convey her righteous indignation, but it's put on.
Semyon warned me of how vicious Viktoria is, and while I'm putting out fires with the Kozlovs, I have no time to deal with her, but it looks like I don’t get a choice.
I pour myself vodka and settle into the leather chair facing the window.
This confrontation was inevitable from the moment she returned to St. Petersburg.
Viktoria never approaches lacking strategy, never makes demands lacking leverage.
The question isn't whether she wants access to her daughter—it’s what price she intends to extract for that privilege.
She won't back down from this fight no matter how many times I give her the cold shoulder.
I sip my drink while I watch as she produces documents from her purse, waving them at Oleg aggressively.
He remains unmoved, his arms crossed over his broad chest.
The man has stood guard for me through wars, raids, and assassinations.
One middle-aged woman carrying legal papers poses no threat to his composure.
After ten minutes of futile argument, Viktoria steps closer to the gate and speaks directly to the security camera mounted above the entrance.
Her lips move with clarity, ensuring I can read her message even lacking sound.
She knows about the forged documents.
She knows her legal claim to the Mirov empire remains valid.
And she will expose everything unless I cooperate.
Then she waits, staring directly into the camera lens, her mouth curved in a wicked smile that promises destruction.
When she finally turns to leave, she hands Oleg a sealed envelope and walks away in a huff, and I finish my drink.
The vodka burns down my throat as I watch her retreat.
Semyon cast her out for betrayal—selling family secrets to competitors, embezzling funds, sleeping with rivals to gain market intelligence.
But before he could strip her legal rights to the company, she disappeared.
I never asked him what he did to keep her away, but now she has returned to collect what was never correctly taken from her.
I turn away from the window knowing I'll soon find out what all of this is about, and inside minutes, the envelope clutched in Oleg's scarred hand is in front of me.
"I'm assuming you saw that?" he asks, noting my computer monitors with the live security feed up.
"I did," I tell him, scowling at the envelope in his hand.
He places it on my desk and retreats, leaving me alone with whatever ammunition Viktoria has prepared.
It's better to just rip the bandage off, so I tear open the envelope and sit back in my seat to get this over with.
Inside, photocopies of original legal documents spread across my desk like cancer.
Corporate ownership papers bearing authentic signatures and official seals.
Marriage certificates displaying unaltered dates.
Birth records showing legitimate parentage and inheritance rights.
All of it proves Viktoria’s claim to fifty percent of the Mirov fashion empire, and only because Semyon supported his very own daughter financially as she got started.
He'd never have required this of Inessa, but here, Viktoria is like a vulture after a rotting carcass.
I study each page while fury builds.
These copies are too perfect to be fabrications. Somewhere in the city, Viktoria possesses the originals that could destroy everything Inessa built.
If these documents surface in court, my wife loses her company, her independence, her entire identity.
The business alliance that justified our marriage crumbles, leaving both our empires vulnerable to acquisition by hungrier predators.
But more than that—losing her company would destroy Inessa herself. I have watched her pour every ounce of passion and creativity into that business.
It defines her in ways that go beyond profit margins and market share.
Lacking it, she becomes merely another wealthy man’s wife, dependent on my protection and generosity for survival.
The thought fills me with murderous rage.
I carry the documents to the fireplace and watch them curl into ash.
The flames consume each page the way I want to consume Viktoria Mirova and send her back to the hole from which she slithered.
But burning copies accomplishes nothing.
She likely retains the originals, along with whatever other evidence she's gathered during her exile.
If she is correct and Semyon arrogantly forged her signatures, she will take everything Inessa ever had.
Her own child.
The gall of it ignites hatred for her so deep, I have to stop myself from ordering a hit immediately.
It would be too obvious.
Legal challenges would take months to resolve and generate publicity that serves no one’s interests.
Bribery might work temporarily, but Viktoria’s ambitions extend beyond money.
She wants power, recognition, revenge against the daughter who prospered while she suffered in exile.
Most troubling of all, I suspect she's behind the escalating attacks on Inessa’s business.
The timing proves too convenient—Viktoria returns to St. Petersburg, and suddenly, Kozlov’s people target my wife’s warehouses and showrooms.
Someone has provided them detailed intelligence about security schedules and employee routines. Someone like Inessa's mother…
Viktoria possesses that information.
She's studied the business for months before revealing herself.
Now she's applying that knowledge systematically, using Kozlov’s violence to soften Inessa’s resistance while positioning herself as the solution to problems she helped create.
It's the only thing that makes sense. Kozlov would tire of attacking Inessa and come straight at me at some point, and he hadn’t.
I believed this was about Dominic, but it never has been.
It's been Viktoria all along.
The strategy reveals her fundamental nature—manipulative, calculating, willing to sacrifice innocent people to achieve personal objectives.
She burns Inessa’s employees to force her daughter into submission, then offers maternal protection from threats she engineered.
Except I won't allow the second half of her plan to play out, and that's why she's coming at me now.
I deliberate on what to do all evening, and around midnight, I climb the stairs to my bedroom, exhaustion dragging at my shoulders.
The day’s violence and Viktoria’s threats have drained whatever patience I possessed.
I need rest, clarity, time to plan her destruction properly.
I find Inessa asleep in bed, her dark hair spilled across white pillows.
She wears one of my shirts, the fabric dwarfing her slender frame while she curls beneath heavy blankets.
Moonlight filters through the windows, illuminating a peaceful expression I wish would remain on her face in her waking hours, but until this fight is over, I don’t think that's possible.
She belongs here in my bed, in my arms, because she chose my protection over independence, my violence over vulnerability, my bed over the cold comfort of solitude.
Seeing her here, safe in my space, strengthens my resolve beyond any legal document or business calculation.
Viktoria will not take her from me.
Not through courts, not through manipulation, not through violence.
I will bury that woman before I allow her to destroy what belongs to me.
And she won't take what belongs to Inessa, either.
I won't allow it.
I'm not sure how I’m going to stop her and strip her of her rights, but I will if it’s the last thing I do.
I undress quietly, careful not to disturb Inessa’s sleep.
She shifts when the mattress dips under my mass, unconsciously moving closer until her body curves against mine.
Her warmth seeps through the thin fabric of the shirt, and her breathing evens out again.
This is what Viktoria threatens—not merely business profits or legal ownership, but the woman who finally made this house feel inhabited rather than merely occupied.
Inessa transformed these rooms from functional spaces into a home through her presence alone.
Her sketches are scattered across my desk, her books on my nightstand, her scent lingering on my sheets.
I will not surrender that transformation to a woman who abandoned her family for personal gain.
Tomorrow, I’ll begin gathering evidence of Viktoria’s connection to Kozlov’s organization because I know it exists.
I can feel it in my bones.
Someone arranged those attacks using inside knowledge, someone who understood exactly how to maximize damage while minimizing legal exposure.
Viktoria must've studied her daughter’s business for months before revealing herself.
In fact, my suspicion is that she put Kozlov up to the hit on Semyon's life too.
Which means Dominic's blood is on her hands and I, for one, am never going to stop until I find his killer.
If it's Viktoria Mirova, may God have mercy on her soul.
Once I prove her culpability, Inessa will see her mother’s true nature—not the wounded parent seeking reconciliation, but the calculating predator who sacrificed innocent employees to achieve personal objectives.
The romantic notion of maternal love will collapse under the reality of Viktoria’s evil.
Only then can I eliminate her permanently without risking Inessa’s emotional retaliation.
I pull my wife closer, feeling her body relax completely against mine.
She trusts me now in ways I never thought she would.
She trusts my judgment, my protection, my commitment to preserving what she built.
That trust is priceless.
I won't damage it.
Viktoria threatens that bond through legal manipulation and orchestrated violence.
She believes maternal claims and feigned sympathy can drive a wedge between us, can make Inessa question my methods and motivations.
She underestimates the depth of what has developed between her daughter and me.
But I won't rely on emotional bonds alone to secure my wife’s loyalty.
I'll present Inessa with undeniable proof of her mother’s treachery—evidence so damning that even filial obligation cannot justify forgiveness.
And when I do, Inessa will see exactly why I forced her to marry me.
Because the heart beating against the side of my chest is worth fighting for, and I made a promise to Semyon years ago, when we arranged for Inessa and Dominic to wed, that I would assure her survival if anything happened to him.
And even my brother's diminutive insults won't stop me.
Inessa is mine to protect, and Viktoria is going to pay for this.