Page 58 of Triplet Babies
“About?”
“About the fact that you’re distracted, making careless decisions, and apparently entertaining overnight guests.” He slides a photograph across my desk with careful control. Security camera footage from this morning shows Sarah leaving through the side entrance, wearing the same sapphire dress she wore to dinner last night.
The image is clear enough to identify her despite the early morning shadows, though her face is turned away from the camera. She has her arms wrapped around herself, shoulders hunched against the morning chill. Something about her posture suggests vulnerability, like she’s trying to hold herself together or protect something precious.
I study the image without expression, though my jaw tightens involuntarily. “Your point?”
“My point is that Katya is planning a wedding while you’re sleeping with your assistant. She and her family are volatile, Yarik. If they find out what’s really going on, there will be consequences.”
I set aside the photograph and lean back in my chair, maintaining the neutral expression I’ve perfected over twenty years of dangerous negotiations. “What kind of consequences?”
“The kind that end with all of us dead.” He closes the folder and fixes me with a steady stare. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”
“I’m aware of the risks.”
“Are you? Because it looks like you’re thinking with your heart instead of your head.”
The criticism makes my jaw tighten. “I’m thinking clearly for the first time in years.”
He shakes his head slowly, the gesture carrying twenty years of friendship and shared dangers. “Clearly? You’re about to blow up a multimillion-dollar alliance for a woman you’ve known for three months.”
I stand and move to the window overlooking the estate grounds, needing space from his disapproval and the security photograph that makes Sarah look so fragile. In the distance, I see groundskeepers tending to the gardens where she used to work. She’d been invisible then, someone the organization would consider disposable, just another employee whose name wouldn’t be remembered if she quit the next day. Now, she’s become the most important person in my world.
“The alliance was built on false premises from the beginning. The Nikitins have been testing our defenses and probing for weaknesses. They’re not interested in partnership. They want conquest.”
He nods. “True, but that doesn’t change the fact that breaking the engagement will be seen as a declaration of war.”
I watch one of the gardeners pruning roses near the pool where I first saw Sarah swimming. The memory of that night feels both recent and distant as I recall her panic when she saw a figure in the shadows, the way she calmed when she realized it was me, and the conversation that led to our first kiss. Everything changed after that moment, though neither of us understood it at the time.
I turn back to face him. “Then we prepare for war.”
He eases forward in his chair, studying my expression with careful attention. After two decades of working together, he can read my moods better than anyone, which makes this conversation both necessary and dangerous. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“I don’t intend to marry Katya. Not now or ever.” The words are final and irrevocable.
Valentin stares at me for a long moment as he absorbs them and the potential consequences. I can almost see him mentally cataloging the fallout of the broken contract, the territorial disputes, and the inevitable violence that will follow.
“You’re serious?”
I hold his gaze and speak firmly. “Completely.”
He curses softly, which is something he only does when deeply concerned about our survival prospects or deeply annoyed. “What does Sarah think about this decision?”
I hesitate. “She doesn’t know yet. Last night, I told her I wanted to build a future with her, but I didn’t specify how or when.”
He snorts and shakes his head. “So, she’s still in limbo while you figure out how to extract yourself from an engagement that could get her killed.”
The blunt assessment stings because it’s accurate. Sarah deserves better than stolen moments and vague promises of a future I’m not sure I can deliver. She deserves honesty about the dangers she’ll face if she chooses to stay with me, and the choice to walk away if the price is too high. “I’m working on it.”
His laugh is brief and harsh. “Work faster. The longer this drags out, the more dangerous it becomes for everyone involved.” Valentin reopens his folder and pulls out more photographs. “Speaking of dangerous, we’ve identified three more shell companies with suspicious activity, all tangentially or directly tied to Nikitin networks. That’s not all. They’re making some big purchases too.”
I return to my desk and examine the documents spread before me. Bank records, shipping manifests, and corporate filings paint a picture of systematic infiltration that’s been going on for months. Even more alarming are the new invoices and financial transactions Valentin has unearthed showing a trail of massive purchases by the Nikitins. “They’re planning something.”
“The question is what and when.” He points to a series of transactions highlighted in yellow marker. “These payments were made to companies we know are fronts for military contractors. They’re arming themselves.”
“For war with us or someone else?”
He shrugs. “Does it matter? If they’re buying weapons, we need to assume they intend to use them. If you marry her, your death gives Katya control of the Barinovbratva. If you don’t, your death gives her deep personal satisfaction.” He speaks blunt truths that paint a clear picture. I’m screwed either way when it comes to my “dear” fiancée’s intentions.
