Page 205 of Sexting the Pakhan
“But you came.”
He says nothing.
Lenkov steps closer. “You would’ve killed us one by one if we didn’t.”
“I probably will anyway.”
Ilya’s smile tightens. “Still making threats when you’re surrounded.”
“I’m not threatening you. I’m telling you what happens if she gets hurt.”
Mila looks at me, shaking.
I keep my voice even. “Mila, listen to me.”
Ilya jerks her back. “Don’t talk to her.”
I look at his hand on her coat. “Move that gun away from her.”
“No.”
Stepan speaks for the first time. “Ruslan, don’t make him nervous.”
I turn my head slowly. “Don’t make him nervous?” I ask.
Stepan’s jaw tightens. “Think.”
“I am thinking.”
“No, you’re reacting.”
“My daughter is in his hands.”
Stepan flinches at the word daughter.
Ilya laughs once, but there’s no humor in it. “You think this is one betrayal. One man getting greedy. One weak link in your chain. That’s why you lasted this long. You never understood what it felt like to live under you.”
I say nothing.
He goes on, and now he sounds almost calm, which makes it worse. “You built everything around yourself. Your judgment. Your rules. Your instincts. A shipment moved because you said so. A man lived because you allowed it. A man died because you decided he had to. And the rest of us? We were supposed to trust that you always knew best.”
“That’s called leadership,” I say.
“That’s called being a man no one can question.”
Mila is crying quietly. I keep my voice steady for her, not for him. “If this is about your feelings, pick a better time.”
“It’s not about feelings.”
“No?”
“No,” he says. “It’s about fear. Yours worked for a while. Men stayed in line because they were afraid of what you’d do if they crossed you. But fear doesn’t hold forever. It curdles. Men stop admiring it. They start wanting to see if you can bleed like anyone else, and look we finally succeeded.”
I look at the others. “No,” I say. “You’re here because none of you could come at me without using a five-year-old.”
Dima snaps, “You think you’re innocent?”
“No.”
