Chapter 93: The Ghost of the Father

I didn't think I would be able to sleep at all after Dmitri left my room. The weight of the watch on my wrist felt like a physical anchor, keeping me pinned to the mattress. But eventually, the exhaustion of the day won. I drifted off into a sleep that felt more like falling down a well than resting.

The dream started in our old house. It wasn't the mansion I lived in now. It was the small, cramped apartment from my childhood where the walls always smelled like stale coffee and old paper. I saw my father sitting at the kitchen table. He looked much older than I remembered. His shoulders were slumped, and his hands were shaking as he tried to organize a stack of legal documents.

"They're coming for everything, Leo," he whispered without looking up at me. "They don't just take your money. They take your shadow. They take the air out of your lungs."

I tried to reach out to him, but the floor felt like it was made of water. Every step I took moved me further away. Then, the walls of the apartment began to peel back like old skin. Behind them weren't bricks or pipes, but the cold, grey stone of the Volkov estate.

I saw Ivan and Dmitri standing in the corner of the room. They weren't men in the dream; they were shadows with eyes that glowed like the watch face on my wrist. They weren't looking at me. They were looking at my father.

"He's finished," Ivan's voice echoed through the room. "He doesn't own his name anymore. We bought it."

My father looked up then, and his face was completely blank. No eyes, no mouth, just smooth, pale skin. He pointed a finger at me. "Run, Leo. Before they find where you've hidden your heart."

I tried to scream, but my throat felt like it was filled with sand. The shadows moved toward him, and the sound of a thousand ticking watches filled the air until it was deafening.

I lurched awake with a gasp that tore at my lungs. My chest was heaving, and I was drenched in a cold sweat. For a moment, I didn't know where I was. I thought I was still in that drowning apartment.

"It’s okay. You’re okay. We’re right here."

The voice was deep and steady. It was Ivan. I felt a large, warm hand press firmly against my chest, right over my heart. I looked to my left and saw him sitting on the edge of the bed. He wasn't wearing his suit jacket anymore. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, and his expression was unusually soft.

Then I felt a movement on my right. Dmitri was there too, propped up on one elbow, his other hand resting on my shoulder. They were both on the bed with me, flanking me like guards.

"You were shouting in your sleep," Dmitri said quietly. He reached over and wiped a bead of sweat from my forehead with his thumb. "You sounded terrified, Leo. What were you dreaming about?"

I tried to sit up, but my muscles felt like jelly. I just stayed there, pinned between them. "My father. I saw him. He was losing everything again."

Ivan’s hand moved from my chest to the side of my neck. He felt my pulse with his thumb. "He is a ghost, Leo. He can't reach you here. No one can reach you here."

"He told me to run," I whispered. I looked at Ivan, searching his face for a reaction. "He said you bought our name."

Ivan didn't flinch. He just leaned closer until our foreheads were almost touching. "Your father was a weak man who didn't understand how the world works. He thought he could play the game without getting his hands dirty. We didn't just buy the name, Leo. We saved it. We saved you."

"I felt like I was suffocating," I said, my voice trembling. "In the dream, and even now. It’s all too much."

Dmitri shifted closer, pulling the duvet up higher around my shoulders. "It’s just the shock of everything changing so fast. You’ve had a hard day. First the incident with the driver, then the gift. Your brain is just trying to process it all."

"The watch," I said, looking down at my wrist. It was still there, glinting in the dim light of the bedside lamp. "I want to take it off for the night, Dmitri. Please."

Dmitri sighed and looked at Ivan. Ivan didn't move his hand from my neck.

"You heard what I said earlier, Leo," Dmitri said gently. "It stays on. It’s for your protection. If you take it off, it sends an emergency signal. We’d have to call the security team, search the grounds... it would be a mess. Just leave it. We’re right here. Nothing bad can happen while we're holding you."

"But it feels like a brand," I argued. "I can feel it ticking against my bone."

Ivan gripped my chin, forcing me to look at him. "Everything in this world has a price. You want safety? You want a family that will never leave you? Then you wear the mark. It’s a small price to pay for never being alone again."

I looked from Ivan to Dmitri. They looked so much alike in the shadows. They were beautiful and terrifying at the same time. I realized they weren't going to leave. They were going to stay here, one on each side, until the sun came up.

"Go back to sleep, Leo," Dmitri whispered, laying his head back down on the pillow next to mine. He kept his hand on my shoulder, his fingers tracing the line of my collarbone. "We aren't going anywhere. We’ll be here when you wake up."

Ivan didn't lie down. He stayed sitting up, leaning against the headboard, watching me with those dark, unblinking eyes. He kept his hand on my neck, a constant reminder of his presence.

"I don't think I can sleep," I said.

"Try," Ivan commanded, though his voice wasn't harsh. "Close your eyes. Focus on my hand. Focus on the fact that you are safe in this room."

I did what he said. I closed my eyes and tried to block out the image of my father’s faceless head. I focused on the heat of Ivan’s palm and the weight of Dmitri’s arm across my chest. It was a strange kind of comfort. It was heavy and demanding, but it was there.

For the first time in my life, I didn't have to worry about the door being locked or someone breaking in. I had the two most dangerous men I knew acting as my shields.

"Is he asleep?" I heard Dmitri whisper after a long silence.

"Not yet," Ivan replied. "But he will be soon. His heart is slowing down."

"He’s so fragile, Ivan," Dmitri muttered. "I don't think he realizes how easy it would be for someone to break him."

"That’s why he has us," Ivan said. "We’ll make sure he gets stronger. Even if we have to break the old parts of him first to do it."

I kept my eyes shut tight, pretending I couldn't hear them. I listened to the steady rhythm of their breathing and the faint, eternal ticking of the watch on my wrist. I felt like a prize being guarded in a vault. I was safe, but I was also buried deep underground.

Eventually, the warmth of the bed and the rhythmic stroking of Dmitri’s fingers on my shoulder pulled me back down. As I drifted off, my last thought was of the dream. My father was wrong. I didn't need to find where I had hidden my heart. Ivan and Dmitri had already found it.

And th

ey weren't planning on letting it go.