Chapter 17 The Council

• The Volkova estate was a fortress in both function and form, carved from granite and steel with high ceilings and darker shadows. The walls whispered secrets from a century past, and tonight, they hummed with discontent.
• Konstantine adjusted his cufflinks with the same precision he used to silence his enemies. He stood before a long marble table surrounded by twelve men—each a Bratva elder, each wearing power like a second skin. Some were hunched with age and experience, others bloated with ego and wealth. But all of them looked at him as if he were still the boy who inherited his father’s seat too young, too fast.
• Grigori leaned against the wall near the door, arms crossed. His scowl deepened by the second.