Page 118 of The Bratva Betrayal

Cady’s composure shifts, and Benedikt catches it.

He catches everything.

“You have something to say?” His tone is neither warm nor unkind, just direct. He’s pissed, but he’s not going to show it.

Not yet.

Not all the way.

Cady straightens in her chair. “I don’t need to be married. And I don’t need to be an arrangement that benefits anyone at this table. I’m not a piece in anyone’s game, and I’m not a transaction. With respect.”

The last two words land with the precision of someone who means neither of them and is offering them anyway out of the thinnest thread of diplomacy.

“With respect,” he repeats quietly before turning back to me. “I had a sanctioned arrangement with the Gallagher family. Misha agreed to it. Colin agreed to it. I approved it. That arrangement is now gone because you decided to handle it yourself, and I want to be very clear about what that means.” His eyes on mine are steady and serious. “The Gallaghers had obligations to us under that deal. A degree of cooperation and access that benefited this operation in ways that go beyond what Misha’s marriage would have provided. You’ve removed all of that and replaced it with your word and whatever you said to Colin Gallagher in his office to make him agree to it. That is not nothing, Artem. That is a significant restructuring of a relationship I spent months building.”

“I know what it is,” I tell him. “And I know what I cost you by doing it the way I did. I’m not pretending otherwise.”

“Then what are you doing? Because all I’m seeing is a man who sits on my right side and who fucked up.”

“I’m telling you what happened because you deserve to hear it from me directly. And because I need you to understand that everything I did, I did with full knowledge of the consequences and the full intention to stand behind it.”

He sighs and averts his gaze. I went rogue, and he doesn’t know how to take it.

“Colin Gallagher is not going to stay cooperative,” he says finally. “He agreed to you in that office because you gave him no real alternative, but a man like Colin doesn’t forget when someone rearranges his plans. That’s going to become a problem.”

“I told him what happens if it does. He understood.”

“You threatened him.”

“I informed him.”

“You informed him.” He shakes his head. “And Manifold’s people. When they start asking questions about where he went?”

“Manifold was careful about his connection to Misha. He kept it quiet because it benefited him to keep it quiet. The people around him don’t know the details, and without the details, they have nothing to connect us. I’ve already started building the alternate story. By the time anyone looks seriously, there won’t be anything to find.”

“Really thought this one through, huh? I hope it doesn’t backfire on you.”

It won’t.

I’m not new to the game of chess and mob connections, or enemies.

“She’s your responsibility,” he mutters. “Every consequence of what you’ve done this week, every ripple that comes out of it, and every problem that surfaces because of the decisions you made without consulting me, lands on you. Not on my family; on you. If the Gallaghers come looking for a fight, that fight is yours. If Manifold’s disappearance causes problems we haven’t anticipated, you solve them. If any of this causes a war between our family and theirs—“ He looks at me with absolute seriousness. “—it will be your life on the line before anyone else’s. Are we clear?”

“We’re clear.”

“Good.” He picks up his pen again, which means the meeting is over. “Get out of my office. Both of you.”

Cady and I rise, my hand finding her lower back as I guide her toward the door.

In the elevator, she stands beside me and says nothing for a long moment.

“Well…” she finally mutters after several moments.

“Well…”

“He’s terrifying.”

“Mhmmm.”