Chapter 66

“Thank you for putting it in such simple words,” I ended up saying, ironically.

“Nikolai, do you understand what I mean?”

“I understand that I’m not you. And that already disqualifies me for many things, right now.” I sighed, with a snort, and to this day I don’t understand how I gathered the strength to talk to him like that; maybe it was a side effect of arguing with Sebastian. “The thing is, I learned to take responsibility for my mistakes, and maybe I didn’t do it with the same elegance as you or use your resources, but this is something I can do. Or what, will you send Mikhail in my place?”

“It’s not about that,” said Mikhail, in a firm tone. “Why don’t you just listen to Dad, for a minute? If you had listened to him from the beginning, none of this would have happened in the first place. There is a lot at stake here.”

I turned to look at him, frowning deeply. I couldn’t believe that my relationship with my brother, who was once like a small, loving shad