Page 79 of Filthy Lies

“I know what I saw.” His voice rises, then he catches himself, glancing toward the door. Toward Sofiya’s room. “He was communicating with them. Right there in the fucking church.”

I take a deep breath. “Let’s say you’re right. What happens after you ‘eliminate’ your father? Another enemy will just take his place. And another after that.”

“So we do nothing?” Vince throws his hands up. “We just wait for the next attack?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what are you saying, Rowan? Because I’m running out of patience.”

I stand up, facing him directly. “I’m saying we have more than two options. This isn’t just about choosing between killing your father or continuing this endless war.”

“Enlighten me.” His tone drips with sarcasm, but I can see the desperation hiding beneath it.

“We build our own power base,” I state firmly. “Not aligned with your father. Not aligned with mine. Something entirely new.”

“That’s not how this works.”

“Why not?” I step closer to him. “Why do we have to play by their rules? My father stayed away for years. Your father is losing control. The old alliances are shifting—Marat said it himself.”

“You don’t understand?—”

“No,youdon’t understand!” I’m shouting now, months of fear and frustration boiling over. “We can’t keep living like this, Vince! Bulletproof glass and security teams and tracking devices disguised as jewelry? Fuck that! Our daughter deserves better.”

He grabs my shoulders, his fingers digging in, just shy of painful. “You think I don’t know that? You think I want this for her? For you?”

“Then help me find another way.” I reach up to cup his face between my palms. “We’re caught between these old men fighting old wars. But we have something they don’t.”

“What’s that?”

“Each other.” I hold his gaze. “And more importantly, we have something worth fighting for that goes beyond pride or power.”

His eyes flicker toward the nursery again.

“So we double down on what we’ve been doing. The Costa Rica development,” I continue. “The shipping contracts. The real estate ventures. We accelerate all of it. We build legitimate power that can’t be taken away by a bullet or a betrayal.”

“My father will never allow it.”

“So we don’t ask for permission.” I release his face and step back. “We use the FBI investigation to our advantage. We give them just enough to redirect their attention to the Solovyovs.”

“And Grigor?”

I pause, considering. “We leverage his desire to know his granddaughter. We don’t align with him, but we don’t make him an enemy, either.”

Vince shakes his head, but I can see him turning the idea over. “It’s not that simple.”

“Nothing worth having ever is.” I sit on the edge of the bed, suddenly exhausted. “I’m just tired of reacting, Vince. We’realways sitting around and waiting for the next disaster, the next kidnapping, the next knife in our backs. Aren’t you sick of that?”

He’s quiet for a long moment, staring at nothing. Then he looks at me, and his entire aura shifts.

He comes to sit beside me, the mattress dipping beneath his weight. His hand finds mine. The touch feels electric, awakening something in me that’s been dormant since Sofiya’s birth and the trauma of her delivery.

“You make a terrifyingpakhansha, you know that?” A smile plays at the corners of his mouth.

“I learned from the best.”

He leans in, his lips brushing my ear. “Is that a compliment?”

“Take it however you want,” I whisper back.

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