Vadim
Iskra wasn’t cold like her sister or completely timid like her mother. She was somewhere in the middle—flashes of defiance that caved too easily, like a door that hadn’t been properly fitted to its frame. Pressured enough in the right place and it would give.
The old photograph hadn’t done her justice. Her hair was thicker and longer than it had appeared, sun-kissed even in the tail end of winter. Her body had filled out since it was taken. And those hips were built for exactly what I required.
I glanced at my father. He was deep in conversation with my uncle and Leonid, entirely in his element—the patriarch among patriots, all of them congratulating themselves on an arrangement that served everyone except the girl in the kitchen.
He’d been right about one thing. The Kozlovs had remained loyal for decades, through transitions that had broken other families entirely. That counted for something in this world, even if it counted for nothing in hers.
The brother was a defiant little shit, though. If I was to be stuck with a wife, she ought to come from a family that understood the vor without needing it explained. A boy who squared up at a dinner table was either brave or stupid, and at seventeen the difference was largely academic.
She returned from the kitchen carrying a tray of desserts.
My eyes settled on her again—specifically on the parts of her that her modest dress was doing its best to conceal.
Supple. The kind of figure that suggested her body had more sense than her mouth.
She set the tray on the table and began to arrange the plates, and I let myself consider, briefly and without sentiment, all the uses I intended to put her to.
Her brother materialised at her elbow before she could finish and took over the distribution of plates, shooting a look at me that he had no business having the nerve for.
“The kid’s got balls,” Konstantin muttered beside me.
“Takes after me,” Ruslan added cheerfully, already helping himself to a substantial slab of honey cake.
“You should consider your slowing metabolism,” I said.
He paused with the fork halfway to his mouth. “I can sweat it out in the pit.”
I said nothing. I let him have it.
Vera moved around the table pouring black tea.
Leonid pushed the honey and sugar to the centre.
The table had the performance of warmth—the good china out, the extra chairs, the cake that had taken someone hours—and underneath it the distinct tension of a family that had been told to be on their best behaviour and was finding it costly.
Galina hadn’t helped at all. She sat at the table like a visiting dignitary rather than a daughter of the house, contributing nothing, her eyes moving between her sister and me with a calculation she wasn’t quite clever enough to conceal.
I took my tea black and bitter.
The layered honey cake looked good, though. I leaned across and took my spoon to Ruslan’s plate. He shook his head and began eating faster, which was the correct response.
I waited until the table had settled—plates pushed back, tea cooling, the specific lull that follows a meal when people have run out of reasons not to address what they came for.
“I’d like a word with Iskra. In private,” I said, and stood.
Her eyes went immediately to her father. Panic, quickly suppressed. Leonid smiled at me and nodded.
“Of course. The living room is free,” he said. He aimed a look at Iskra that she understood and I understood and everyone at the table understood.
Galina watched her sister with vicious eyes.
Vera laughed nervously and reached for the gold cross at her throat, turning it between her fingers the way people reached for rosaries when there was nothing left to do but pray.
I didn’t look at the boy. I could feel him without looking—that quality of furious, helpless attention.
I glanced at Konstantin.
Ruslan had Iskra’s back the way I should have had Konstantin’s.
The thought came and went. Old ground.
“This way,” Iskra muttered, and moved past me quickly, as though speed might give her some advantage.
The living room was clean, modest, a little tired at the edges. Furniture that had been good once and was now simply enduring. Nothing like my home. I closed the door behind us.
She stood in the middle of the room.
I moved toward her and began to circle—unhurried, methodical —taking inventory. The line of her shoulders. The set of her jaw. The way she tracked me without turning her head, eyes following from the corners, giving nothing away that she could help.
“How many men have you fucked?”
She gasped.
Her head came up. And what was on her face wasn’t fear.
It was anger.
Good. Fear bored me.
“Well? Is the number that high?”
“How many women have you—” she stopped, gathered herself, pushed through it, “—fucked?”
She struggled with the profanity the way someone struggles with a word in a foreign language. Knew it. Hadn’t used it much.
“I asked first.”
“Are you five years old?” she said, turning to keep me in her eyeline as I continued to circle.
“Is that your number? Five?”
“One.”
I considered that.
“I’ve fucked a few hundred. It’s hard to keep track.”
I reached into my breast pocket and produced the ring. She watched it the way prey watches something it hasn’t yet identified as a threat but knows enough to be wary of.
“Why don’t you find someone more suited to you?” she said.
“I don’t need a wife. I need your womb. Any womb would do, but my father has old-fashioned ideas about legitimacy.
So here we are.” I took her hand. It was small.
Delicate in the way of things that break without meaning to.
I pushed the ring onto her finger and felt her resist—barely, briefly—then stop.
She understood.
“My advisor will leave you with a prenuptial contract. You have twenty-four hours to return it to me signed.”
I released her hand.
I didn’t add a threat. I never needed to. My instructions were law, and the people in this city understood that down to the bone.
“Understood?”
She didn’t look up from the ring.
“Da.”
One word. But it held everything — anger, resignation, and underneath both of those, something she hadn’t managed to extinguish yet. Something that would either break her quickly or make her interesting.
I hadn’t decided yet which outcome I preferred.
How long before I broke her? There was no future in my world for women who held onto themselves too tightly. Something always gave in the end.
“All you need to do is spread your legs and give me my heir,” I said. “We all have a part to play.”
I turned and walked out.
She followed a few moments later, composed enough that only someone looking for the cracks would have found them.
Vera noticed the ring first. She pulled her daughter into her arms with a sound that was half sob and half relief, which told you everything about what kind of mother she was — a woman who had confused safety with captivity for so long she could no longer tell them apart.
Leonid crossed the room and shook my father’s hand. The two old men, satisfied. The deal closed.
I brushed off the well-wishing without breaking stride.
“Hand her the paperwork and let’s go,” I said, straightening my jacket.
My father could stay if he wanted, but I did what I came for.
??
??
??
I stared at the document.
Her signature was a scrawl, but I’d checked it against her old student card and her bank documentation.
It was on time and ready to be delivered to my lawyer.
She had agreed to every single clause.
I was protected. As was my progeny.
PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT
Entered into between Vadim Mikhailovich Dragunov (“Mr Dragunov”) and Iskra Natalya Kozlova (“Ms Kozlova”), hereinafter referred to collectively as “the Parties,” in anticipation of their forthcoming marriage.
CLAUSE 1 — OBLIGATION TO PRODUCE A MALE HEIR
Ms Kozlova acknowledges and accepts, as a material condition of this agreement, the obligation to conceive and deliver a viable male child.
The birth of a female child shall not be deemed to satisfy this obligation.
The Parties shall continue attempts at conception until such time as a male child is born alive and healthy.
This obligation shall persist regardless of the number of prior births or the duration of the marriage.
CLAUSE 2 — MEDICAL DEFICIENCY
In the event that Ms Kozlova is found, upon reasonable medical assessment, to be incapable of fulfilling the obligation set forth in Clause 1, Mr Dragunov reserves the sole and unilateral right to pursue dissolution of the marriage or to seek fulfilment of the heir obligation via surrogacy, at his absolute discretion and without requirement for consent from Ms Kozlova.
CLAUSE 3 — MONTHLY STIPEND
Mr Dragunov agrees to provide Ms Kozlova with a monthly stipend of eight thousand United States dollars ($8,000), payable on the first day of each calendar month.
This stipend is conditional upon Ms Kozlova’s continued residence at the Dragunov estate, her fulfilment of the obligations set forth in this agreement, and her ongoing compliance with all terms herein.
Any breach of the terms of this agreement renders the stipend immediately void and no arrears shall be payable.
CLAUSE 4 — BIRTH BONUSES
Upon the live birth of each child born of this marriage, Mr Dragunov agrees to make a one-time payment to Ms Kozlova as follows—(a) Female child—twenty thousand United States dollars ($20,000)
(b) Male child—one hundred thousand United States dollars ($100,000)
Payment is conditional upon the child being born alive and upon Ms Kozlova’s full compliance with all terms of this agreement at the time of birth. Mr Dragunov reserves the right to withhold payment pending his satisfaction that no terms have been breached.
CLAUSE 5 — DIVORCE SETTLEMENT
In the event that the marriage is dissolved at the initiation of Mr Dragunov, Ms Kozlova shall be entitled to a settlement payment of two hundred thousand United States dollars ($200,000) for each complete year of marriage at the time of dissolution, subject to her full compliance with all terms of this agreement.
CLAUSE 6 — RIGHT TO DISSOLVE THE MARRIAGE
Mr Dragunov reserves the unilateral right to initiate dissolution of the marriage at any time and without requirement to provide grounds.
In the event that Ms Kozlova initiates or pursues dissolution of the marriage by any means, all financial entitlements set forth in this agreement, including but not limited to the monthly stipend, birth bonuses, and divorce settlement, shall be rendered immediately and permanently void.
No payment of any kind shall be owed to Ms Kozlova in such circumstances.
CLAUSE 7 — FIDELITY
Ms Kozlova agrees to remain strictly faithful to Mr Dragunov for the duration of the marriage.
Any act of infidelity on the part of Ms Kozlova shall constitute a material breach of this agreement and shall render all financial entitlements herein immediately and permanently void.
For the avoidance of doubt, no fidelity obligation of any kind is placed upon Mr Dragunov under the terms of this agreement.
CLAUSE 8 — CONTRACEPTION
Ms Kozlova agrees not to use, obtain, or seek any form of contraception for the duration of the marriage without the express written consent of Mr Dragunov.
Any confirmed use of contraception by Ms Kozlova shall constitute a material breach of this agreement and shall render all financial entitlements herein immediately and permanently void.
CLAUSE 9 — HARM TO A FOETUS
Ms Kozlova agrees to take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety and wellbeing of any foetus conceived during the marriage.
Any act or omission on the part of Ms Kozlova that results or is reasonably suspected to have resulted in harm to or loss of a foetus shall constitute a material breach of this agreement and shall render all financial entitlements herein immediately and permanently void.
Mr Dragunov reserves the right to determine, at his sole discretion, whether a breach of this clause has occurred.
CLAUSE 10 — CUSTODY AND GUARDIANSHIP OF CHILDREN
All children born of this marriage are hereby acknowledged as the legal issue of Vadim Mikhailovich Dragunov and shall bear the Dragunov name.
Sole custody and guardianship of all children born of this marriage is vested in Mr Dragunov, effective from the date of each child’s birth and continuing regardless of the marital status of the Parties.
Ms Kozlova acknowledges that she holds no independent custody rights over any child born of this marriage.
In the event of dissolution of the marriage by any means, all children shall remain under the sole custody and guardianship of Mr Dragunov.
Ms Kozlova’s access to the children following dissolution shall be determined solely at the discretion of Mr Dragunov.
CLAUSE 11 — GOVERNING TERMS
This agreement is entered into freely by both Parties. All terms are binding from the date of signature. No term may be amended or waived except by written instrument signed by Mr Dragunov.
Only Mr Dragunov.
Any seed of mine remained with me.
I sealed the document. One quick trip to the lawyers would ensure all my rights were protected.
??
??
??
The week breezed by. Tau was back from Moscow and working with Konstantin. Once certain people began to disappear, so did the insurgency. The older members who had started the dissension kept their mouths shut with a speed that suggested they valued them.
Grigori remained resolute, and everyone beneath him stayed in order. Aleksandr and Mikhail had no issues with the senior captain. Smart men, both of them.
It was poker night.
The cards had been dealt, the cigars lit, the vodka poured—and every single one of these fuckers was eyeballing me.
I studied my hand and said nothing.
“So, Pakhan,” Grigori said, with the certain ease of a man old enough to risk it. “Is this your mal’chishnik?”
I looked up from my cards and stared at him.
“I don’t need a bachelor party.”
“Leave my brother alone,” Konstantin said, tossing a card onto the table without looking up.
“He has a few weeks yet. He might change his mind,” Ruslan said, lifting his cigar and examining the ash with great interest.
“End of an era,” Aleksandr said mournfully.
“We’re growing old,” Mikhail joined in.
“Speak for yourselves. I’m the youngest one here,” Konstantin said.
“You’re two years younger than me,” I said, shaking my head.
“And I have never once wanted to be in your shoes, brat.” He grinned and reached for his glass. “Not even for a second.”
The table shifted—small smiles, exchanged glances, the atmosphere of men who were enjoying themselves at someone else’s expense and had no intention of stopping.
I set my cards face down.
I reached into my holster, drew my gun, and placed it on the table with a quiet and deliberate click.
“The next man to mention marriage gets a bullet in his skull,” I said.
Silence.
“Harsh,” Ruslan muttered, and took a long draw of his cigar.