Page 5 of Mafia King’s Dangerous Vow

“No,” I say coldly. “I think you decided the timing was acceptable because it solved a problem.”

His eyes narrow. “Careful.”

I hold his gaze anyway.

A muscle jumps in his jaw, but when he speaks again, his voice is quieter. More controlled.

“You know why I chose you.”

I look away first. Because I do know.

Not because I’m the cruelest. Not because I’m the most ambitious. Not because I enjoy this life more than the others.

Because I don’t.

Because I know exactly what damage power can do to people who never asked to be near it.

“I already buried someone I loved once,” I say finally. “I’m not interested in building a family just to watch it die.”

The words settle heavily between us. For a moment, Igor looks less like a boss and more like my brother.

“Elena died because cancer is a vicious bitch,” he says quietly. “Not because you loved her.”

I don’t answer. Her name still lands like a fracture line under the ribs. Seven years later, I still remember hospital disinfectant, morphine, and the way her hand felt in mine at the end.

“You think I want this for you?” Igor asks. “You think I enjoy dragging you back into something personal after what it cost you last time?”

“I think you’d burn any of us if it kept the family standing.”

A beat. Then, without offense:

“Yes.”

At least he’s honest.

“But I also think,” he continues, “that you’re the only man in this family who won’t punish that woman because this marriage started badly.”

“That’s a low bar.”

“In our world?” Igor’s mouth curves without humor. “Not as low as it should be.”

I don’t answer. Because he’s not wrong, and I hate that I care about that. I exhale slowly through my nose. This still feels wrong.

Not the alliance itself. I understand strategy. I understand sacrifice. I understand the mathematics of survival better than most.

But marriage is different. Marriage makes things human.

“How old is she?” I ask.

“Twenty-eight. Interior designer. Kalinin’s only daughter.”

A life reduced to bullet points.

“And what does she know?”

“That it’s happening,” Igor says carefully. “And that her father expects cooperation.”

A polite word that can mean almost anything in our world. A woman doesn’t walk willingly into this unless she’s cornered. Unless the cost of refusing is worse.