This fight for power and control has corrupted me. It’s turned me into a man like Jorik, like my brother, like my father. I’d rather die a failure and also a good man than to live with the power of the Bratva and yet not be able to look myself in the mirror.
I’d rather be a man Arya can be proud of in death than a monster she won’t have in her life.
“You forfeit?” he asks slowly. “After everything you’ve gone through?”
“I’m done with this fight. I’d rather lose my Bratva than my soul.”
Ilyasov hesitates for a moment and then laughs, throwing his head back. “Good God, the dramatics! Since the moment you stepped into my office, you’ve been insufferably philosophical. You’ve done worse things than this, brother. We both have. Let’s not pretend otherwise.”
He isn’t wrong. But it doesn’t m
