Page 53 of Baby for My Ex’s Dad

I pass him a well-padded envelope and send him off while my gut locks up. They think I’ve gone soft. My enemies, my dearest rivals, my terrible friends have begun to doubt me, and that means one thing.

I’m vulnerable.

Lev returns at six and finds me ruminating at the window. I update him with Fedya’s threat, and he takes a stiff breath before he speaks. “You know what I’m going to say.”

“Surprise me.”

“The other families can overlook a lot of sins, Maxim. But they won’t ignore a son who uses his father’s name as leverage with his father’s enemies. Every one of the people watching you has sons. Every one of those sons is watching. Waiting. They want to see what a pakhan will do to his treacherous son.”

“He’s having dinners, Lev. Dinners and cognac.”

“You’re not that naïve, and we both know it.” Lev’s voice stays level, but I see the pain in his eyes.

He taught Niklaus how to fish, how to woo a woman. How to pray, even when I mocked such things. He has been an uncle to my son whenever he could be. But he also knows what Niklaus will cost us if he keeps this up.

“Fine. I’m not naïve. Now what?”

“Treat him as what he is. A traitor.”

Lev’s advice nearly takes the wind out of me. Ever since I fired Niklaus, I’ve replayed those last few minutes again and again, and I wouldn’t do anything differently, save for having my hand on my piece. My anger… I controlled it. Managed to keep myself in check.

But for a brief moment, I was my old self again. A beast I didn’t trust with my son.

Had he been anyone else, Niklaus would have eaten a bullet that day. One does not simply suffer a betrayal. They answer it. Yes, I fired him, but that was nothing.

Still, I’m not that beast. I refuse to be him again. “Traitors get bullets. What do sons get?”

“Their ass handed to them?”

It’s the right action to take. I know it. And yet, even that I cannot stomach. “Not yet. Let him circle Alexei. Let him think himself safe for now.”

“And then?”

Lev is right to push me on this. I know he is. But I hate it all the same. “And then, I will decide the next move when the right time comes.”

“I see.” He stands, ready to leave.

“I’m not sure you do. I’m not sure I do, either.”

“How do you mean?”

“I know what is required of me to do the work I do. But… Thea is pregnant, and⁠—”

“Congratulations…?”

A smile tugs at my mouth. “Yes, we are happy about it.”

“Well, good then.” But I see the logistical nightmare in his head all too easily.

“My point is, I will not treat my youngest the way I treated my eldest. I will be present for them. Which means I will need to back off here some.”

He considers this. “Are you looking to bring Niklaus back into the fold?”

“Bring a traitor back into my house? No. I might be sentimental, but I’m not suicidal. I may lean on you more, regarding the business end of things, or install a figurehead CEO in my place to make life easier for both of us. All of that aside, I’m doing things differently for this child, and that includes how I intend to move forward with Niklaus.”

“Meaning?”

“That is the part I’m unsure of at present.”