Chapter 13 - An Offer of Ash
Sofia backed away until her spine hit the tall leather chair of the judge’s bench. The veneer of cold, intellectual control was finally crumbling. ""Viktor... she won't survive the night. Five bullets? She’s an ordinary girl! She doesn't have our blood!""
""She has something better,"" Viktor replied, his hand closing around Sofia’s throat, not with crushing force, but with a deliberate, terrifying weight. He leaned in until his stubble brushed her cheek. ""She has loyalty. Something you couldn't understand if you lived a thousand lives.""
Marcus stepped onto the platform, holding a secure satellite phone. ""Boss. Hospital line. Dr. Chen is on.""
Viktor took the phone with his free hand, keeping his eyes locked onto Sofia’s trembling face. ""Speak.""
""Mr. Rostov,"" the surgeon’s voice sounded exhausted, but steady. ""The secondary hemorrhaging has been controlled. She woke up ten minutes ago. Her vitals are stabilizing. She... she wants to speak with you.""
Viktor lowered the phone to Sofia’s level, switching it to speaker.
""Elena,"" Viktor said gently.
Across the speaker, Elena’s voice was faint, but every syllable cut through the silent courtroom like a scalpel. ""Viktor... don't kill her.""
Sofia gasped, her eyes widening in sheer disbelief. Viktor remained motionless, his brow furrowed.
""Elena, she tried to slaughter you,"" Viktor said, his tone pained. ""She tried to erase our mother.""
""If you kill your own sister in cold blood..."" Elena whispered, her breathing shallow, ""you become what they say you are. You become what she wanted you to be. Don't give her that victory, Viktor. Take her empire. Strip her of the name. Leave her with nothing... but let her live with what she did.""
The line went quiet, save for the faint hiss of the hospital monitor.
Viktor stared at Sofia. His fingers slowly unclenched from her neck. He stepped back, his chest heaving with restrained fury.
Sofia slumped into the leather chair, rubbing her throat, her chest heaving. ""You... you’re letting me go?""
""You’re not going anywhere,"" Viktor said, his voice dropping into an arctic register. He turned to Marcus. ""Take the laptop. Cancel the upload using Elena’s remote token. Then call the Federal Marshal’s director—the one on our payroll.""
""And what do we do with Sofia and Alexei, Boss?"" Marcus asked, gesturing to the wounded man groaning on the floor.
Viktor looked down at his sister one last time, his gaze entirely devoid of emotion. She was no longer his blood. She was a ghost.
""Hand them to the state,"" Viktor said. ""With the unredacted ledgers for Alexei's shell companies and Sofia’s private bank accounts. Let them spend the rest of their lives in a federal penitentiary, wondering why they traded a family for a cell.""
As Viktor turned toward the double doors, Sofia let out a scream of pure frustration. ""You think this ends here, Viktor?! The Berlin Council will send an army for you!""
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Viktor paused at the threshold, not bothering to look back.
""Let them come,"" he said. ""I have something to fight for now.""
