Chapter 85: You’re Afraid Of Him

Dimitri looked at her with something like wonder. "You understand."

"Of course I understand. You explained it to me." She smiled. "This is your world, Dimitri. I’m learning the rules. And from what I can tell, this is a smart play."

"Most people would be horrified."

"I’m not most people." She lifted their joined hands, kissed his knuckles. "I’m the woman who loves the Devil. I knew what I was signing up for."

They pulled up to the restaurant...a small, family-owned place that Dimitri had cleared out for their privacy.

Over pasta and wine, he told her everything else. The Volkov conversation. The clause. Alexei’s warning about desperate people.

Eve listened, asked questions, made observations that were sharper than Dimitri expected.

"So the real question," she said, twirling fettuccine on her fork, "is what Enzo and Isabella do after you crash their victory. Do they escalate? Do they back off? Do they try something else entirely?"

"That’s what I’m trying to predict."

"You can’t predict it. Not really. Because they’re not thinking strategically right now, they’re thinking emotionally. Enzo wants to prove he’s not in your shadow. Isabella wants to prove she’s worthy of respect. Those are emotional drivers, not logical ones."

"So what do I do?"

"You give them a way out that preserves their pride." Eve set down her fork. "Look, I don’t know much about your world. But I know people. And I know that when you back someone into a corner, they either submit or they come out swinging. You don’t want them to submit, that creates resentment. But you also can’t let them swing at you. So you give them a third option."

"Which is?"

"Partnership. Of a kind." Eve leaned forward. "What if, after you crash their Hartford celebration, you offer them a deal? They can keep operating independently. Building their own thing. But they do it in territories that don’t conflict with yours. And in exchange, you don’t actively sabotage them. You let them succeed....just not at your expense."

Dimitri stared at her.

"You want me to negotiate with them."

"I want you to give them a way to win without you having to lose. Because right now, this is zero-sum. Either they succeed and you look weak, or you crush them and they become desperate enemies for life. But if you offer them a path where both of you can succeed..."

"They might take it," Dimitri finished. "They might accept boundaries in exchange for independence."

"Exactly." Eve picked up her wine glass. "Of course, I could be completely wrong. Like I said, I don’t know your world. But in business, the best deals are the ones where everyone walks away feeling like they won."

Dimitri reached across the table, took her face in his hands, and kissed her.

"You’re brilliant," he said against her lips.

"I’m practical."

"Same thing." He sat back, his mind already working through the logistics. "It could work. If I position it right. If I make them feel like they’re choosing it instead of accepting defeat."

"That’s the key. Make it their idea."

They finished lunch, and as Dimitri drove her back to Phoenix Talent, he found himself marveling.

Eight weeks ago, Eve had been a broken woman in a bar, desperate to forget her cheating husband.

Now she was strategizing mob politics with the ease of someone who’d been born to it.

"What?" she asked, catching him looking.

"Just thinking about how lucky I am."

"Because I suggested a compromise with your enemies?"

"Because you see solutions where I see only problems. Because you make me think differently. Because you’re exactly the partner I needed without knowing I needed one." He pulled up to her building, put the car in park. "I love you, Eve Thorne."

"I love you too, Dimitri Valentino." She leaned over, kissed him softly. "Now go plan your dramatic entrance at Enzo’s victory party. I’ll be at home later, waiting to hear how it goes."

"You’re not coming?"

"God, no. That’s your world. I’ll stick to mine for now." She smiled. "But I want details after. All of them."

"Deal."

He watched her walk into the building, Marco immediately at her side and felt something settle in his chest.

She was right.

There was a third option.

One that didn’t require crushing Enzo and Isabella. Just... redirecting them.

And if it worked?

Everyone won.

If it didn’t?

Well.

He was still the Devil.

And the Devil always had contingencies.

****

POV: ALEXEI

In Moscow, Alexei Volkov sat in his office, staring at the signed clause his lawyers had just delivered.

The neutrality agreement.

The one that would infuriate Enzo and Isabella when they discovered it.

His father Dmitri Volkov, head of the family walked in without knocking.

"You made a deal with Dimitri Valentino," the elder Volkov said. Not a question.

"I made a strategic decision to avoid unnecessary war."

"By betraying our new partners."

"By protecting our interests." Alexei stood, faced his father. "Dimitri Valentino is not someone we want as an enemy. Not for a partnership that’s three weeks old with two operators who have more ambition than sense."

"They have connections. Valentino and Russo blood."

"They have names. That’s all." Alexei pulled up reports on his computer. "Look at this. Enzo Valentino twenty-seven years old, spent his entire life trying to prove himself to a father who doesn’t respect him. Isabella Russo twenty-three, groomed since childhood to marry a man who chose someone else. These are not stable, strategic thinkers. These are wounded children playing at being powerful."

"And you think Dimitri Valentino is different?"

"I know he is. I spoke with him this morning. Do you know what he did? He didn’t threaten. He didn’t bluster. He laid out exactly what war would cost us, gave us a way to preserve our investment while avoiding conflict, and then waited for us to make the logical choice." Alexei shook his head. "That’s not a wounded child. That’s a chess master. And I’m not playing against him for pawns."

Dmitri Volkov studied his son for a long moment.

"You’re afraid of him."

"I’m respectful of him. There’s a difference."

"And if Enzo and Isabella make moves anyway? If they decide our clause doesn’t matter?"

"Then we cut them loose. Immediately. No hesitation." Alexei met his father’s eyes. "I’m not inheriting a war with Dimitri Valentino because two spoiled children couldn’t control themselves. Are we clear?"

Dmitri smiled, slow and approving.

"You’re learning. Good." He moved to the door, paused. "But Alexei? Don’t underestimate them entirely. Wounded children often become the most dangerous enemies. Because they have nothing left to lose."

Then he was gone.

Alexei sat back down, staring at the clause.

His father was right.

Enzo and Isabella were dangerous.

Not because they were strong.

But because they were desperate.

And desperate people burned everything down.

Even themselves.