Chapter 52 Chapter 52
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Dimitri's POV
I stared at the bloody message in my hands. My heart was pounding so hard I thought someone could hear it.
"The Volkov twins must step down, surrender all territories and businesses, or you will lose your lives and the little baby you are expecting."
Irina was in danger, the woman I could not remember but somehow felt connected to was being threatened.
"It is my brother," I said, looking up at Mikhail. "This has to be Alexei, he is the only one who can threaten me like this. He’s lost everything so he wants to hurt me."
But Mikhail was quiet, he just stood there staring at the chaos around us, at the dead bodies, at the damaged estate.
His face was unreadable, but I could see the darkness in his eyes.
"Mikhail," I said firmly. "Did you hear me? This is Alexei's doing, we need to find him."
But he still didn't respond. He just turned and started walking back towards the house.
I followed him quickly. "Mikhail! Answer me!"
We reached the study and he went straight to the window, staring out at the grounds.
"You know who those people are, do you not?" I said, stepping closer to him. "You recognized that tattoo, you know who attacked us."
Mikhail remained silent, his hands were clasped behind his back.
"If you know them, tell me!" I shouted, my frustration exploding. "I cannot keep quiet all in the name of you protecting me when I am in danger! When Irina is in danger!"
Mikhail finally turned to look at me, his face was tired. He looked old suddenly.
"It is not your brother," he said quietly.
"Then who is it?" I asked.
"The attackers," Mikhail explained. "They are not working for Alexei. y
Your brother is powerless right now, he has no guards, no weapons, no resources after I burned down his safe house."
"Then who?" I demanded. "Who would attack us like this?"
Mikhail took a deep breath, his shoulders sagged. "The same people who killed your parents."
My blood ran cold, the words hit me like a physical blow.
"What?" I whispered.
"The Rossi family," Mikhail said. "Italian mafia, they have been enemies of the Volkovs for decades, they killed your father when you were teenagers, and they took everything from you."
"And now they are back," I said, my hands clenched into fists.
"Yes," Mikhail said. "They think you are weak now, they think with your memory gone and your brother as an enemy, they can finally destroy the Volkov empire."
I walked to the desk and slammed my fist down on it. "Then we have to fight back. We have to show them they are wrong."
"We will," Mikhail said. "But first, we need to find your brother and bring him back quickly before he gets killed."
"Not my brother again." I repeated. "Why would we help him? He took Irina, he hurt her."
"Because he is still a Volkov," Mikhail said firmly. "Because together, you and Alexei are stronger than apart. The Rossi family knows this, that is why they want you divided."
I hated the idea of working with Alexei, the man who had hurt Irina, but Mikhail was right.
"Fine," I said. "We will bring him back, but only to fight together, after that, he answers for what he did to Irina."
"Agreed," Mikhail said.
"And we bring Irina back too," I added. "She needs protection."
"No," Mikhail said immediately.
"What?" I asked, shocked. "You just said the Rossi family is threatening her, threatening the baby."
"Which is exactly why she stays where she is," Mikhail said. "Hidden, far away, and safe."
"But the message said..." I started.
"The message is meant to scare us," Mikhail interrupted. "They do not know where Irina is, if they did, they would have taken her already."
"You do not know that," I argued. "They could be tracking her right now."
"She is safe," Mikhail said with finality. "I made sure of it, the family hiding her has disconnected from the mafia world, no one would think to look there."
I got angry, really angry. "She is pregnant! She could be in danger! Her life is important too!"
"I know that," Mikhail said coldly. "But bringing her back here would put her in more danger. With her here, she is a target, but there she is invisible."
"So we will just leave her?" I shouted. "We will just let her hide away while we fight this war?"
"Yes," Mikhail said. "That is exactly what we will do."
I slammed my fist on the table again, harder this time. "This is wrong! She deserves protection! She deserves to be safe!"
"She is safe," Mikhail repeated. "Safer than she would be here."
"How can you be so cold?" I asked.
"How can you just decide her fate without asking her?"
Mikhail's eyes flashed with anger. "Because I am trying to keep everyone alive! Because I am trying to end this war without more innocent people dying!"
"Irina is innocent!" I shouted back.
"I know!" Mikhail shouted. "Which is why she stays hidden!"
We stared at each other, both breathing hard, furiously.
"Well… one more sacrifice will not affect anything. It’s to our advantage of she leaves." Mikhail said coldly.
The words made my stomach turn. "She is not a sacrifice, she is a person. A woman carrying a child. That child is Volkov’s blood."
"That child will be safer if its mother stays hidden," Mikhail said.
I wanted to argue more, I wanted to demand that we bring Irina back, but before I could say anything, Mikhail's phone started ringing.
He pulled it out and looked at the screen, his face becoming concerned.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"Roberto," Mikhail said quietly. "The man hiding Irina."
My heart stopped, why would he be calling now? Did something already happen?
Mikhail answered the phone.
"Roberto, what is wrong?"
I could not hear what Roberto was saying, but I watched Mikhail's face change, his eyes widened, his jaw tightened.
"When did this happen?" Mikhail asked. "How long has he been missing?"
Missing? Someone was missing?
"We will get him back," Mikhail said firmly. "I promise you, Roberto, we will find him, they will not hurt an innocent boy."
Mikhail hung up the phone, his face was pale.
"What happened?" I demanded. "What is going on?"
"Roberto's son is missing," Mikhail said quietly. "Carlo, he is eight years old. And he never came home from school."
"The Rossi family," I whispered.
"They took him."
"Most likely," Mikhail said. "They are sending a message, they are showing us they can reach anyone."
"We have to find him," I said. "We have to get that boy back."
"We will," Mikhail said. "But this confirms what I said, Irina is in danger, everyone connected to us is in danger."
"Then we bring her back here where we can protect her properly," I said.
"No," Mikhail said again. "Here she is a bigger targ
et, there at least she has a chance."
I wanted to scream in frustration, but I knew arguing more would not help.
"What about the boy?" I asked. "How do we find him?"
"We will wait." Mikhail said. "The Rossi family will contact us and make demands."
"And if they hurt him?" I asked.
Mikhail's face became hard. "Then we will make them pay in blood."