"I'm working on it. Tracing the deposits, following the money trail." He stands. "What do you want to do about the men downstairs? They're waiting."
"Let them wait a little longer." I check my watch. "I want them nervous."
"Some of them think you're going to start executing people."
"Good. Fear is useful." I straighten my suit jacket. "But I need to see who's stupid enough to challenge me now that I'm back."
Danil grins. It's not a pleasant expression. "You think someone will?"
"Ivan will. He's been positioning himself as the logical successor." I move toward the door. "He'll see this as his last chance to make a play. And when he does, I'll put him down hard enough that no one else gets any ideas."
"You want me to handle him?"
"No. This one's mine." I unlock the door. "I need everyone to see what happens when they challenge me."
We walk down the hallway toward the great room. I can hear voices inside, low and tense.
"One more thing," I say, stopping just outside the door. "About Lena."
Danil nods. "I'll make sure everyone knows she's protected."
"More than protected. She's mine. My fiancée. That means anyone who threatens her answers to me personally."
"Understood." He reaches for the door handle, then pauses. "Are you sure about this? Bringing her into this world? It's not safe. Especially not now."
"I'm sure." And I am. "She saved my life, took me in when I had nothing. She could have turned me over to the police or left me to die, but she didn't."
"And now you'll keep her safe."
"Yes. No matter what it costs." I nod toward the door. "Let's go."
Danil opens the door, and we step into the great room.
The shock on their faces when they see me is visceral. Some go pale. Others freeze mid-step. A few cross themselves like I'm a ghost made flesh.
"Sit," I command.
They obey immediately, filling the chairs and couches, some standing along the walls. The silence is absolute.
I stand at the head of the room, Danil at my right hand, and let the silence stretch. Let them squirm.
"I'm back," I finally say. "That's all you need to know about where I've been. What matters now is that I'm here, and I expect the same loyalty you gave me before I left."
Ronnie, one of my most trusted captains, stands. "Pakhan, we're glad you're alive. We've been holding things together, waiting for your return."
"I know you have, Ronnie." I let my gaze sweep the room. "But I also know that some of you got comfortable in my absence. Started thinking maybe the old order didn't need to come back."
Movement near the back. Ivan rises slowly, his tall frame unfolding with deliberate casualness. The scar cutting across his left eyebrow catches the light as he tilts his head, studying me with those pale blue eyes that have always held too much ambition.
"With respect, Pakhan," he says, and the word drips with something that isn't respect at all, "a month is a long time. Long enough for people to wonder if their leader is coming back."
"Operations continued because I built systems that function in my absence," I say. "That's called good leadership, Ivan. Not weakness."
"Is it?" He takes a step forward. Several younger soldiers shift their weight, hands moving closer to their weapons. Ivan's people. "Or is it a sign that maybe the organization has outgrown the need for one man's absolute control?"
The room goes deathly silent. What Ivan just said isn't a question. It's a challenge. A direct challenge to my authority in front of fifty witnesses.
Danil moves slightly, his hand sliding toward his jacket, but I raise one finger. Stop. This is mine.