The Enforcer He Kept

Ilya Sorokin was the Sorokin Bratva's best knife until he refused one order. Now he is a babysitter for a rival heir, posted to a Black Sea house with no phone, no rank, and a man he is not allowed to hurt. Ruben Daskalov has thirty days of house arrest and no intention of behaving. He breaks the locks. He unpicks the wiring. He says Ilya's mother's name just to watch the wall give way. Thirty days. Two men who have been weapons since they were children. One kitchen, one generator, one collapsing ceasefire. On day twenty-nine, Ilya is given an order he cannot refuse and does anyway. He was not built to keep anything. He keeps Ruben.