“I don’t think so, son.” Ivan closed his eyes like he was frustrated with him already. “Sit down.”
Dimitri spat furious Russian words at his father.
Ivan’s cold stare turned frigid, and the room dropped ten degrees. I longed for the power to control the room with just a look. “Sit down, son. Or I’ll make you sit down.”
Dimitri’s eyes jumped behind him and around the room. No one was there, but then two men came from the shadows. One was Maksim, and he stood behind my chair while another man stood behind Ivan.
“You’ll die for the way you left Boris.” Dimitri pointed behind me, and a vein popped on his neck as his face turned red. “That bitch—”
Ivan’s hand slammed down on the table. Then he stood, and as old as he was, when he curled his lip at his son, the predator in him showed. “You don’t speak to family that way.”
“She’s not family. She’s a bastard child, a mutt.”
The cage that had been holding my emotion broke. The door came unhinged and the beast flew out. “Careful, uncle. A mutt’s bite is always worse than a purebred’s.”
“Is that so?” He laughed maniacally, turning in a circle so he could look at each side of the room. One eye twitched, and he scratched at his arm aggressively. He was sweating, eyes bolting every which way, and then he ripped his gun from his belt. “Why don’t you show me, then? What’s that bite like, niece?”
“We won’t be doing this,” Ivan mumbled and waved a hand behind him. “Dimitri, if you’re going to fight, at least do it when you’re sober.”
The man behind Ivan walked slowly toward Dimitri, who swung to aim his gun at him, eyes wild. “I am sober! I’ve been sober this whole damn time.”
“You got addicted to the drugs you were selling a long time ago.” Ivan tsked. “Put down the gun.”
“No!” Dimitri screamed and waved it. While the gun wasn’t aimed, Ivan’s man quickly advanced and disarmed him like he’d done it a million times before.
Ivan pointed to the table, and the man set the gun there. We all stared at it once Dimitri stopped struggling.
“A long time ago, I would have killed you myself,” Ivan whispered, his tone sending shivers down my spine. “I’d have killed both of you. I would have thought I was invincible, that I would lead the family forever.”
Dimitri struggled in the guard’s grip. “I can lead. I’m good enough. It’s been in my blood from the start.”
“You’ve been nothing but a cancer to me from the start!” Ivan snatched the gun and aimed it at his son. “You’ve been a disappointment, Dimitri.”
“No! Your daughter was the disappointment, Dad. Look at what she left us! A woman mixed with God knows what. She won’t even provide a decent bloodline!”
Maybe it was that freedom to finally do whatever I wanted, maybe it was the girl who’d never fit in coming out to scream she was worth something, but I wouldn’t sit there silently. “What’s a decent bloodline, Dimitri? Just so we’re all clear. Earlier tonight you were ready to have your way with me, no?”
“I wouldn’t have you bear my children. I’d have shown you how to submit to a man. It’s what you’re good for.”
“Is that what every woman is to you?”
He panted out short breaths and shook his head, a frown across his face. “I don’t have to explain anything to you.”
Taking his time, Ivan placed the gun on the table, and we watched as he glanced at his only child, then shoved the gun my way. The sound of steel sliding across wood was heard for miles, across the city, across the mob. “I either give this bratva with all the businesses and money tied to it to you or to her. You’re both my blood. This is what we do. When my mind fails me, my bloodline will not. So I think you do have to explain yourself to her, as she’s a new generation, my son.”
“Those businesses are mine. She’s not a damn thing!” he shrieked and struggled against the man holding him in place. He was out of control, drops of sweat forming on his brow, his arms whipping about until he finally caught hold of his captor’s face and gouged an eye.
He took his freedom quickly and flew at me in a jealous rage, screaming, “You’re a bastard child. A mutt. Your mother was nothing, and so are you.”
“She was your sister.” I flinched at the spittle flying from his mouth, but the cold weapon in my hands held most of my attention.
“She was exactly what you say all women are to me.” He cackled in his mania. “I fucked her and I’ll fuck you. I’ll show you your place whether—"
The shot rang out, and the bullet ripped a hole in his flesh, just like the devil in me wanted to.
His blue eyes widened as he grabbed at his heart. He whispered, “You shot me.”
The red spread like a virus across his shirt and his hands. I watched him realize his fate.