Not only do I need to make them happen, but every path the other party takes should, without a doubt, lead back to me. I have a zero percent margin of error and no tolerance for mistakes.
A fact my men know about me, which is why they’re fine with training like machines all day, every day, just like we’re still in the army.
It’s one of the reasons I took them to Russia in the first place. Some needed discipline, and others needed to be acquainted with a harsh lifestyle and to know what it’s like to live with a sense of deprivation.
Unlike what they thought, I never planned to stay in the military all my life. It’s bland, too strict, and doesn’t allow any type of meaningful progress.
However, they had to believe that or else they wouldn’t have put their all into it.
It’s not a question of training as much as it’s a change of mindset.
I did miscalculate my father’s desperation to bring me back to New York, though. Despite all his clinginess and his annoying fucking existence, I never thought he’d kill my men—hismen—just to force me back to where he thinks I belong.
After I went through his logs and papers, I found out exactly why he did it. His power was wavering, and his accounts are suffering.
The first happened because he made a few mistakes and took the side of the wrong people in other crime organizations’ internal wars. As a result, he gradually lost the Pakhan’s trust. Interestingly, the one who gained it for making all the right choices is none other than Adrian.
He has impeccable information-gathering skills, a secretive method of working, and keeps a low profile, even within the organization.
Most importantly—he makes the right decisions. All times. Every time.
Since I came back, I’ve known exactly who my ally would be, and he goes by the name of Adrian Volkov. No, he didn’t agree and merely ignored me, but he’s already on my side.
He just doesn’t know it yet.
The second mistake my father made, on a financial scale, was apparently getting on Yulia’s shit list, because she’s been slowly but surely distancing him from her banking people. She made it her mission to forbid her family to give him low-interest loans and slowly cut his relationship with them.
This didn’t happen when he was in his prime, no. Yulia is too smart to commit an amateur mistake that would’ve gotten her killed. She waited, bided her time for decades, and was very patient.
As soon as the illnesses started to gang up on him, she slithered out of her hiding space like a snake, snatched the power that he married her for, and started to gradually funnel it to the useless Konstantin.
Unlike what other people would assume, I don’t hate my brother. I just find him utterly…impulsive. If he were to get full rein, he could and would get himself, Yulia, and Karina killed sooner rather than later.
It’s probably why my father didn’t want him in power, no matter what.
He knew that I’m a better fit to keep his legacy alive and protect his little Karina. As much of an asshole as my father was, he did dote on my little sister. After he screwed up her life, that is.
One of the reasons why I’m a better fit is because I have solid control over my men, unlike that fool Konstantin, who lets them do whatever they wish.
It’s a sense of respect as well. They were more avoidant and scared of me before Russia. But after the military and the countless missions we carried out together, they respect me as a leader, which is, again, another reason that Russia had to happen.
Is that manipulative? Maybe. But in order to be at the top, it’s imperative to have the right people by your side.
I tell myself this is also why I’m basically torturing Sasha in training. It’s been a month since we started, and she’s still on the ground more often than not.
Someone else would’ve given up already. Many of my guards definitely did when I started this test back in the military. They just admitted defeat and went on with their lives.
Not Sasha.
Every day, she comes to the training ground dressed in sweatpants that majorly fail to hide the line of her hip and stomach.
Sometimes, I wonder if I’m the only one who notices her feminine traits or whether they’re all completely oblivious.
She has an hourglass waist, for fuck’s sake. Yes, she hides it, but still, those two fuckers, Maksim and Yuri, are touchy with her all the time.
They also had the audacity to ask Viktor if they could take over the night duty for Sasha so she could get some sleep.
I had Viktor shoo them away in his signature unwelcoming tone.