Chapter 77: The Security Breach

Dinner was a quiet affair, but it wasn't the peaceful kind of quiet. It was the kind of silence that feels like a stretched wire.

Leo sat at the long table, picking at a piece of roasted chicken. He hadn't tasted a single bite. Every time his phone buzzed in his pocket—even if it was just a low battery notification—his whole body flinched. Across from him, Ivan was watching him with a concerned frown, while Dmitri sat at the head of the table, cutting his meat with surgical precision.

"You're not eating, Leo," Ivan said softly. He reached out as if to touch Leo’s hand, but Leo pulled back to grab a water glass. "I had the chef prepare this specifically because you liked it last week. Is something wrong with the seasoning?"

"I’m just not hungry, Ivan," Leo said, staring down at his plate. "I had a long day in the studio."

"Dmitri told me you didn't paint anything," Ivan countered. His voice wasn't mean, but it had a sharp edge of disappointment. "He said you spent the afternoon staring at a blank wall. That doesn't sound like a long day of work. It sounds like a long day of worrying."

Leo looked up, his eyes darting to Dmitri. Dmitri hadn't looked up from his plate.

"I have things on my mind," Leo muttered. "I’m allowed to have thoughts that aren't about paint or the Volkov brand, aren't I?"

Dmitri finally laid his knife down. The clatter of the silver against the plate sounded like a gunshot in the dining room. "Thoughts? Yes. Secrets? No. We’ve discussed this, Leo. You’ve been acting like a guilty man since four o'clock."

"I’m not a guilty man!" Leo snapped. "I’m a person! I’m a human being who wants five minutes of peace without being analyzed like a lab rat!"

"Leo, please," Ivan said, his voice pleading. "We just want to help. If something is bothering you, you can tell us. We are the only people in the world who truly have your back."

Leo felt a laugh bubble up in his throat. It was a dry, bitter sound. "You have my back? You have me in a cage. You watch my studio, you watch my meals, and now you’re watching my face to see if my expression changes. That’s not 'having my back.' That’s ownership."

Dmitri stood up slowly. He didn't look angry; he looked resolved. That was always scarier. "The phone, Leo. Put it on the table."

Leo’s heart stopped. He felt the weight of the device in his pocket. It felt like a ticking bomb. "No. I told you, it was nothing. It was a spam message."

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't be shaking," Dmitri said. He walked around the table, his footsteps heavy on the floor. "You wouldn't be hiding it. You’ve never been a good liar, Leo. It’s one of the things we liked about you. But now, that honesty is gone."

"It’s my privacy!" Leo shouted, standing up so fast his chair scraped loudly. "Do you even know what that word means? It means there is a part of my life that belongs to me. Not to Ivan, not to Dmitri, and certainly not to the Volkov name!"

Dmitri was inches away now. He was much taller than Leo, and the shadow he cast seemed to swallow the light. "In this house, privacy is a luxury you earn by being trustworthy. Right now, you are a security risk."

"I am a person!" Leo yelled, tears of frustration stinging his eyes. "I am not a 'risk'! I’m a man who got a text message! Why can't you just trust me for once?"

"Because the last person who asked us to 'just trust them' tried to sell our mother’s medical records to the press," Ivan said, his voice cold now. He stood up too, joining Dmitri. The twins were a solid wall of black silk and cold eyes. "We don't do trust, Leo. We do protection."

"Give us the phone," Dmitri repeated. His hand was outstretched. It wasn't a request anymore.

Leo looked at Ivan, hoping for a spark of the kindness he sometimes saw. But Ivan’s face was like stone. He was worried, but his worry had turned into the same controlling instinct that drove his brother.

"I hate you," Leo whispered. "I actually hate both of you right now."

He pulled the phone from his pocket and slammed it onto the table. Dmitri picked it up instantly. Leo watched as Dmitri’s thumb swiped the screen. He hadn't changed his passcode in months. Dmitri knew it.

The room went deathly silent. Leo watched Dmitri’s eyes move as he read the message. Dmitri’s jaw tightened. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the phone.

"Who sent this?" Dmitri asked. His voice was a low growl.

"I told you! I don't know!" Leo cried. "It’s an untraceable number! I didn't reply, I didn't call them back. I just... I didn't know what to do."

Dmitri turned the screen toward Ivan. Ivan read it, and for a second, he looked like he might get sick. The name 'Arthur Volkov' seemed to drain the life out of him.

"You should have told us the second it arrived," Ivan said, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and rage. "Do you have any idea what this means? Someone knows you’re here. Someone is trying to use our father’s ghost to get inside your head."

"And it worked, didn't it?" Dmitri said, looking at Leo with pure disgust. "You chose to protect a stranger’s message instead of your family. You chose to keep a secret about our father from us."

"You aren't my family!" Leo screamed. "Family doesn't treat people like property! You took my phone, you took my space, and you’re standing there acting like I’m the one who did something wrong? Someone messaged me! I didn't ask for it!"

"But you kept it," Dmitri said, his voice dropping to a terrifyingly calm level. "You sat at our table, ate our food, and looked us in the eyes while hiding a threat. You aren't the victim here, Leo. You’re the breach."

Dmitri handed the phone to Ivan. "Take this to the security team. I want the location of that SIM card traced, even if it’s been bounced through ten different servers. Now."

Ivan nodded and hurried out of the room, not even glancing back at Leo.

Leo was left alone with Dmitri. The dining room felt like a courtroom. "Are you happy now?" Leo asked, his voice breaking. "You broke into the last private thing I had. Does that make you feel safe?"

Dmitri stepped closer, grabbing Leo’s chin firmly so he couldn't look away. "It makes me feel like I know where I stand. You’re not ready for the real world, Leo. You think privacy is a right. Out there, privacy is just an opportunity for someone to kill you. From now on, you don't have a phone. You don't go into a room without a camera. You wanted to know who Arthur Volkov was? He was a man who knew that the only way to keep what you love is to chain it down."

Dmitri let go of his chin and walked away, leaving Leo standing alone in the middle of the room. The dinner was cold. The house was silent. And Leo realized that by trying to keep one se

cret, he had lost everything else.