Page 30 of In Her Blood
Her chest burned with his words. She hadn’t been trying to be inspirational. She hadn’t even been thinking about courage. She just hadn’t wanted to lose Otto, and maybe a part of her had wanted to clap back—even if only once—at the walking nightmares that were the Morozovs.
Evelina lifted her lips in a smile and forced her tears down. “So, you’re saying you speak not only from your heart, but on behalf of your entire brigade?”
Artem inclined his head. “Yes, ma’am.”
Evelina held her expression steady.Definitely going to have to train him.“And if it comes to conflict inside the clan? If, say, Viktor”—another brigadier who was known for his cruelty and firm belief that women were meant to be owned—“takes issue with you, or really anyone in power, for supporting me … what then?” She was tossing the question out as a hypothetical, but even as the words built on her tongue, Evelina realized how likely they were.
Viktor was the definition of chauvinist. He had no use for thinking women, let alone women born with personalities. His support of Pyotr for pakhan was all but guaranteed, unless he decided to throw his own proverbial hat in the ring.
Artem grunted, sounding for an alarming moment nearly identical to Otto, and gave a shake of his head. “In your specific example, I wouldgladlystand in opposition to Viktor and his outdated brutality. I have a wife and teenage daughter of my own, and Viktor is precisely the type of man I would kill to keep away from them.” He exhaled roughly. “The answer to your more general question is much the same. While I wouldn’t rush to a physical confrontation, if that’s your fear, there’s no point in claiming loyalty if I won’t show it in the face of opposition.”
Two more marks slipped into the pro column.
Evelina had an absurd moment of thinking she needed to ask him about his flaws. But this was neither a date nor aconventional interview, and the fact was, the very nature of the purpose behind their conversation was flawed by the standards of the society in which they lived. It hadn’t been all too long ago she’d still struggled with that.Funny how tragedy and grief can change a person’s perspective.
She set that reflection aside for a later, more appropriate, time. “I assume you’re prepared for an uphill fight? Because we both know I’m the unpopular choice here.”
A smirk teased the edges of his lips. “Then it’s a good thing the seat of pakhan isn’t decided by popular vote.”
She smiled back, but one more question demanded asking. “And how do I know, or perhaps why should I believe, that you aren’t actually more interested in taking that seat for yourself? That your goal isn’t to crush the biological child and add that to the list of reasons the clan should back you instead?”
Artem chuckled and stretched out his legs, as if settling in. “If that were my goal, ma’am, I’d have this house surrounded while we chatted and eliminate all three of you this very night.Yourdeath would come by my hand, of course, because I couldn’t claim it otherwise. But that’s all I would need to simply snuff out the last of Pakhan Mikhail’s line and her closest allies, isn’t it?”
Evelina saw Otto’s natural scowl deepen in her peripheral vision even as a flicker of anxiety twisted in her gut. Because Artem was right, that was all he’d need.Shit.
Artem raised his hands, palms open and fingers splayed, in a universal gesture of surrender. “Making a point.” He carefully lowered his hands back to his lap. “When we leave here, all of usalive and that aforementioned ambush nowhere in sight, that’s how you’ll know.”
She huffed. “Then I guess an allegiance between us doesn’t start until tomorrow, and only presuming I’m still alive.”Tomorrow…Friday was going to be a big, busy day in a lot of ways. She’d only be home for half of it, but the morning was bound to involve another round with her bastard cousin. He’d be expecting her to have inadvertently forfeited her inheritance and was certain to be livid when he learned last-minute that she’d circumvented his plot to steal it all.
Evelina drummed her fingers on the armrest of her chair, new thoughts popping up like air bubbles in water.
“Lina?” Otto never had been one to miss a change in her demeanor.
She moved to prop her chin up in her hand but caught herself before she could add weight to her healing arm, straightened, and said, “I need blueprints.”
A beat of silence greeted her.
“Blueprints?” Artem repeated.
She nodded. “Otetscouldn’t give up his games when he wrote his will, so he didn’t just leave me things like a normal father might.” She almost winced when she heard her own words. It had been drilled into her how to refer to her father in nearly all settings since she could talk, and only after she’d moved away with her mother and Otto had she begun untraining herself to speak a little more casually. Which meant only with herself, and Otto, did she not always fall into old habits. But there was no sense dwelling on that, so she continued. “He left the main house to Pyotr and me equally—we each ownfifty-percent. Except right at this moment, Pyotr thinks I’m ignorantly letting the clock wind down on accepting my half, and that by close of business tomorrow it’ll all be his.”
Artem scowled. “Which is why you needed to meet with that lawyer.”
“Precisely.” Evelina waved a hand. “It’s done, signatures submitted. I got the email receipt of confirmation before we were out of the garage. The house is as mine as it’s going to get for now, and the next thing I need to do is establish very clearlywhichhalf I’m staking ownership of.” Because Pyotr was just asshole enough to try claiming the half with her suite, or declare some odd boundary of ‘the middle fifty’ or something.I need to be prepared.
She needed to stop playing catch-up.
Artem and Otto exchanged looks, then nods, and Artem faced her again. “Shouldn’t be a problem. Assuming you want to enforce the invisible boundary, though, that might get trickier.”
Otto grunted. “And then there’s the issue of staff.”
Evelina sighed. “Right.” The estate had essentially promised to maintain their pay while it was sorted, which meant on-site employees could expect regular payments to be deposited or otherwise issued on Friday. And from there, it was up to whomever inherited everything. Except they werepeople, so of course legally, no one had inherited them.
She drummed her fingers again. “I trust Kirill enough,” she said. He’d stood at her door for hours and confirmed he’d chased off a ‘sketchy’ maid who swore she’d been told to come clean the room. Which Evelina had most certainly not askedanyone to do. “But given the whole assassination thing, I have reservations about most of the rest.”Maybe Kat would be interested in a venue change?Doubtful. Kat loved the chatty, relaxed vibe at her dive bar.
“You could have staff investigated,” Artem suggested. “We can talk to people, and the techs can dig into their digital histories. Anyone suspicious should be easily sorted out. All we need is permission.”
Evelina blinked at him. She kept forgetting Artem was more than one man. She was too used to only having the people she could tangibly see in front of her. “You have the manpower for that?”
