29. Viktor
VIKTOR
Dimitri drops a stack of bank records on my desk like he’s laying down a winning hand of cards, entirely too pleased with himself given the actual content of what he’s holding.
“Confirmed,” he says. “It’s not just Pavel operating alone out of nostalgia for the old days.
The surveillance is funded directly through Ivanov family accounts.
Property taxes on the storage unit, the sedan lease, even the equipment purchases, all traced back to an account controlled by the grandmother. ”
“The grandmother.”
“The sweet old woman who cried in court, yes. Turns out grief makes excellent cover for wiring money to a surveillance operation targeting your own granddaughter’s household.
” Dimitri drops into the chair across from me, unbothered in the specific way that’s always separated him from men who scare easily.
“I’ll give them this much. It’s a clean operation.
If I weren’t currently furious about it, I’d almost respect the paperwork. ”
“How’d you find the account?”
“Same way I find everything. Patience, a favor owed to me by a woman at the bank who owes me considerably more than she’d like to admit, and about six hours I’ll never get back staring at wire transfer records.
” He shrugs, like six hours is nothing, and given the fifteen years I’ve known him, it probably is.
“The old man’s not the only one running this.
He never was. He just happens to be the one with the face I recognized. ”
“So this isn’t Pavel acting alone.”
“This is a family business, same as ours. Pavel’s the muscle and the history. The Ivanovs are the funding and the legitimate cover story. Whatever they’re planning, they’ve been planning it together, probably since before Harper ever walked into your club.”
I sit with that a moment, the full shape of it settling somewhere heavier than anything Dimitri’s brought me so far.
Not a lone wolf resurfacing. An entire family, patient, resourced, coordinated, hiding behind grief and a custody case for months while they built toward something neither of us fully understands yet.
“What’s the endgame,” I say, mostly to myself. “If they wanted Ginger back through the courts, they lost that fight months ago. This isn’t about winning custody anymore.”
“No. It’s not.” Dimitri leans forward, all business now, whatever ease he walked in with fully gone. “Which brings me to the actual reason I’m here, and I already know you’re not going to like it.”
“Say it anyway.”
“Tell Harper. All of it. Today, not soon, not once you’ve got one more piece of intelligence to feel comfortable about.
” He holds up a hand before I can respond.
“I watched that woman almost get her daughter grabbed off a chain link fence yesterday because a stranger felt confident enough to walk right up and start a conversation. That’s not a man testing distant boundaries anymore.
That’s a man who thinks he can walk right up to your family in broad daylight. ”
“I know what happened yesterday, Dimitri.”
“Then you know exactly how close we are to something worse than a conversation at a fence.” His voice stays level, no fear in it at all, just the flat conviction of a man who’s watched enough operations go sideways to know exactly what patient men eventually do once they’ve finished testing.
“I’ve fought alongside you for fifteen years.
I’ve never once told you how to run your own house. I’m telling you now.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It’s exactly that simple. You’re protecting her from information.
Meanwhile, the real danger isn’t waiting for you to feel ready.
” He sits back, arms crossed, studying me with the particular patience of a man who’s decided he’s not leaving until this conversation actually lands.
“You want to know what I think? I think you’re not protecting her at all anymore.
I think you’re protecting yourself from watching her face when she finds out how deep this actually runs, and how long you’ve known parts of it. ”
That lands harder than I expect, mostly because he’s right, and I hate how easily he’s diagnosed something I’ve spent weeks refusing to look at directly myself.
“I’ve buried men for less honesty than what you’re demanding right now, Dimitri.”
“You’ve also buried men who waited too long to act on information their own brother handed them, so let’s not pretend one of those facts outweighs the other tonight.
” He says it dry, almost amused, though there’s nothing soft underneath it.
“I’m not scared of Pavel Ivanov, Viktor.
I’ve handled worse men with less patience and more firepower behind them.
What scares me, if I’m being honest with you for once, is watching you make the same mistake our father made every single time he decided silence was a form of protection. ”
“Don’t compare me to him.”
“Then don’t act like him. Just this once.
” Dimitri’s voice softens, just slightly, an old wound surfacing that neither of us usually names out loud.
“He kept us in the dark our whole childhood, thinking it kept us safe. It didn’t keep us safe, Viktor.
It just meant we found out everything the hard way, usually at the worst possible moment.
I’m not watching you do that to her too. ”
“She’s thirty-four weeks pregnant.”
“I’m aware. Which is exactly why this needs to happen now, while she’s still capable of making informed decisions about her own safety, instead of after something happens that takes that choice away from her entirely.
” Dimitri’s jaw tightens. “I like her, Viktor. I liked her before I trusted her, which frankly surprised me more than it should have. I like Ginger enough that I’ve started letting her win at cards, which anyone who actually knows me will tell you never happens.
I’m not pushing you on this because I think you’re weak for hesitating.
I’m pushing you because I think you’re wrong, and because I care what happens to both of them almost as much as you do. ”
I don’t have any good argument left. I’ve been running the same one in my head for weeks, certainty before honesty, protection through silence, and every version of it has gotten thinner with every new piece of intelligence Dimitri’s brought me.
“You’re right,” I say finally, the words costing me more than I expect them to. “I’ve been protecting myself from her reaction more than protecting her from the truth.”
“Glad we agree. Took you long enough.”
“I’ll tell her tonight. Everything. The club, my father, Pavel, the Ivanovs, all of it.”
“Good.” Dimitri stands, gathering the folder, some of his usual ease returning now that he’s actually gotten through to me.
“For what it’s worth, she’s tougher than you’re giving her credit for.
She proposed marriage to a stranger in a strip club and then talked her way through a custody case, a pregnancy, and months of you being cryptic about your entire double life.
I think she can handle the truth about a rival family, Viktor.
I think she’s been ready for it longer than you have. ”
“Since when did you become the expert on my wife’s emotional resilience?”
“Since I started actually paying attention, unlike some people in this room.” He grins, brief and genuine, the tension of the last ten minutes finally breaking. “Also, since she beat me at poker last month and didn’t even gloat about it properly. I respect restraint like that. It’s rare.”
“You let her win. I was there.”
“I did not let her win. I was distracted by strategy on multiple fronts, one of which happened to be your entire life falling apart in real time.” He heads for the door, pausing with his hand on the frame the way he always does when he wants the last word to land.
“Tell her tonight. And Viktor, for once, don’t make it about managing her reaction.
Just tell her the truth and let her decide what to do with it herself. ”
He leaves before I can respond.