Aleksander could not bring himself to notice anything around him. Kneeling on the floor of the Pakhan's office, sweat beading his forehead, face ashen, and nausea rolling in his stomach to be surrounded by various photos depicting his wife through the past few months.

Letting out a shaky breath, his chest ached to see the images in front of him. Sofia sitting at a café, her head thrown back and laughing with Nicole. Her stepping out of the Maserati, dressed in a black pencil skirt dress under a grey blazer. Then another of her sitting at a bench, hugging herself with her hair hanging out of its updo, tears streaming down her face and staring at the ground.

It broke his heart to see his wife so torn up, hunched into herself and sobbing. He didn't know what she was crying. He wanted to know why. What had happened to leave her so vulnerable and distraught? His mind conjured the worst of worst cases, but he saw no physical wounds, no blemishes on her porcelain skin, no cut skin, nothing to indicate that she had been harmed. And that hurt him more to know that her wounds didn't have a visible manifestation, making it an emotional wound that forced pain to ripple through her. Knowing that the cause of that emotional pain was thousands of kilometers away from her.

The heir gritted his teeth when he felt his body tremble, the tears stinging his eyes as he choked back the lump in his throat. Struggling to his feet, he exhaled into the air above him in an attempt to compose himself and scrubbed at his face. Walking out of the office and formulating a plan.

Salvatore sat with his knuckles pressed to his lips, the chair rickety and hard, but he was too deep in his thought to comprehend his body's unease, his mind racing with his gaze vacant. Trying to fit all the puzzle pieces together. Why would Aleksander attack his children? What would he get out of it? But most of all, why did he break their agreement? And now, even if there was a valid reason behind the attack, Salvatore still had to retaliate for him having broken their pact.

This had become much too personal much too quick.

He knew the appropriate action would be to wipe out the Romanov's – that task itself wasn't a hard one – but then there was Aleksander to consider as well.

"Fuck," He hissed and gripped at his hair, his mind and heart clashing.

"Daddy?" His daughter's voice jolted him out of his reverie, looking up at the two beds to find his eldest awake, blearily blinking her eyes before they widened, her breath stuttering in her through as the memory of the crash came resurfacing back to her. "Daddy," She gasped, reaching out to him in a broken sob.

"Sono proprio qui," Salvatore jumped out of his seat and rushed to her, scooping her up into his arms and combing his fingers through her hair as she sobbed into his chest. "I'm right here, sweetheart, nothing will happen to you, I promise,"

"Daddy! Daddy..." She gasped between her tears, pulling back far enough to try and get a look around her. "Daddy, Mattia, and Tonio? And-and-and Demetrio? Daddy where is Demetrio, daddy, where is he?"

"Demetrio is right here," Salvatore shifted to show his daughter her brother lying on the bed next to hers, his arm in a cast with bruises and cuts littering his face. "And Mattia and Tonio-"

"-Victoria!" Nicole's voice gasped as she entered to the sight of her daughter awake. "O, to moró mou," She put the coffee down on the table and rushed towards her husband and daughter, kneeling before them and took her daughter's face into her hands, eyes glassy to see the bruises and cuts littering her porcelain skin with a bandage wrapped around her crown, a spot of red blossoming at her temple.

"Oh, my baby," Nicole choked breathlessly and took Victoria from Salvatore, clutching her close to her chest and rocking back and forth.

The commotion awoke Demetrio, the boy wincing on the bed before blinking his eyes open, a deep lethargy settling in his bones when the foreign weight of his arm drew his attention to the cast. A strangled sound escaping him as he tried to scamper away from it.

"Hey, hey," Salvatore got up to go to him, redirecting his son's gaze to him before he could panic. "It's okay, you're alright. Just a broken arm, nothing else is wrong,"

Demetrio's breath labored in his chest, shifting his gaze from his cast to his father, before wincing at the aches in his body, tears welling in his eyes with his lower lip trembling to find his elder sister clutching at their mother and sobbing.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Salvatore sat on the edge of the bed, cupping his son's face into his hands and wiped away the tears that fell down. "Even I've had a broken arm, your bone has just cracked and the doctors put a cast on it so you don't move your arm too much and so that the bone can heal on its own like before, okay? You know how much you like to move your arms around," He smiled softly at his son, pushing his ruffled hair back.

"Mattia?" Demetrio choked up at his father, recalling the two men, his blue eyes pleading. "And Tonio?"

"They're fine," Salvatore chuckled at the words. "They're alright. Tonio has a cast around his hand because he was a broken wrist, and Mattia got away with bruised ribs. You broke your arm and Victoria's head needed stitches,"

"They're fine?" His son choked out through the lump, tears trickling down his cheek and was unable to keep a sob from bursting worth, crying into his father's chest. Comforted by the familiar warmth and his cologne.

"Boss?" Tazio's voice followed the knock on the glass doors, Salvatore looking over his shoulder at his second in command. "Fio is here," The words having the Mafia Boss grit his teeth.

"I'll be right back," He assured Demetrio, placing a kiss on his forehead before lifting him into his arm and shifted him to Victoria's bed where Nicole instantly pulled him closer to herself. "I'll be right back," He told Nicole and Victoria and placed a kiss on his daughter's forehead before making his way towards the doors, drawing the curtains shut before exiting.

The sight of his bodyguard has his blood boil, knowing that he had left this man in Russia to look out for Aleksander and to ensure he doesn't do anything rash like this.

"Boss," Fio bowed to him when Salvatore came stalking in his direction, gasping when he was grabbed by the front of his suit and slammed into the pillar behind him, a cry escaping him at the harsh impact of his spine against the concrete. Freezing when the cold barrel of a gun was placed against his forehead, eyes wide as he stared back at the impassive expression of his superior. "Boss,"

"Who the fuck does he think he is to attack my children?" Salvatore demanded from the guard in his hold. "How could you let this happen, Fio?"

"What?"

"What?" Salvatore taunted, shifting his hold and grabbed Fio from the back of his neck, dragging him across the hall and into the hospital room, sliding the doors open before sending the guard stumbling and falling to the floor. "This is what you let happen, Fio," The Mafia Boss spoke behind the guard, Fio's gaze shifting up to find both Victoria and Demetrio cur and bruised, one of them with gauze around her temple and the other's arm in a cast.

"Ha," Fio's heart fell in his chest at their conditions, his throat running dry to see the accusatory glare Nicole regarded with him. "No, Boss, no this-" He stammered, unable to get the words across.

"-What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Boss," He turned to face his superior, kneeling at his feet and rushing into an account of everything that had happened when he left Italy. How Nikolai despised the fact that Aleksander managed to create an entourage of his own, how they found Yakov and where he. Fio told Salvatore how Yakov was moved to a hunting cabin where Aleksander dealt with the matter himself, despite knowing that Yakov was Nikolai's lover and hidden away from the world due to the Pakhan's conservative thinking and upbringing. Then Aleksander killed him, and Nikolai was devastated and was now out for the Russian heir. "I came back to tell you that Aleksander is in danger! That Nikolai is going to kill him! Aleksander would never do this, boss, you know that. He wanted me to tell you the worst-case scenario,"

"How can you all be so fucking stupid?" Salvatore laughed humorlessly, pressing a hand to his forehead and staring at the man kneeling before him. "The worst-case scenario isn't Aleksander dying. It's Nikolai doing this and then planting all evidence implicating Aleksander," He growled and pointed to his children.

"What should I do, boss?"

"You will tell me every little detail of what happened after I left, I want to everything Aleksander did when he targeted Yakov," Salvatore walked out of the room and towards Tazio. "Tazio, move Sofia to the estate. She cannot leave nor have any visitors and stays under surveillance until the heat dies down," He ordered as his second-in-command nodded, then watched him walk back to the hospital room and beckon his wife to him.

"Stay with them a minute," The Mafia Boss instructed Fio who walked in when Nicole walked out.

"What?" Nicole sniffled and looked up at her husband, arms crossed over her chest.

"I know this is the last you want to do," Salvatore sighed. "But I need you to go with Tazio and convince Sofia to stay confined in the estate,"

"Salvatore, I am not leaving Demetrio and Victoria-!"

"-I know you don't want to," Her husband halted her. "But Nikolai is punishing Aleksander for killing Yakov. He is pissed as fuck and is retaliating by attacking those whom Aleksander holds most dear then making it look like he did it to create a rift between us,"

"This was all Nikolai?" Nicole demanded through gritted teeth.

"Yes, and his next target could be Sofia, I'm sure that she's being watched,"

"Why do you need me to go to Sofia?"

"I need you to get Sofia and tell her to stay in the estate,"

"Anyone can do that, you can do that," Nicole bristled in agitation. "Just tell her what is going on-"

"-Will she believe me without proof?"

"Then fucking order her, but I am not leaving my children after what they just went through,"

Salvatore looked at his wife with an impassive mask, her face flushed and eyes bloodshot with her teeth visibly gritted, and he knew, she would not do what he has asked her.

"Tazio," The Mafia Boss called over his shoulder, his second-in-command stepping forward. "Have Sofia, mom and dad, Serafina and her family, and Arsenio and his family all moved to separate warehouses with Protocol 15 put into place. Then once Victoria and Demetrio are discharged, enforce Protocol 23,"

Nicole's eyes narrowed to see Tazio still for a second, but the man nodded obediently and moved away, ready to take care of everything.

"What's Protocol 23?" Nicole demanded from Salvatore, taking hold of his arm before he could walk away.

"Pack your bags, you three are going out of station,"

"And you?"

"I'll be preparing for war,"

Aleksander growled and paced the length of his room, his mind racing with all the things he could do. He remembers Salvatore's burner number from the top of his head, he could call the Mafia Boss and tell him everything, but if Nikolai has someone adept in computers, he would know and kill Sofia. He could send someone to the Mafia Boss, cursing himself for sending Fio a little too early, but knew that it didn't matter, his messenger wouldn't even get to the airport. Aleksander could go himself, sneak out with the help of his men and secure his exit – but how would he do that? He didn't have the influence. He could contact Sofia, but again, the call would be traced.

With every plan he thought of, a new problem arose and the ultimate outcome proved to be either the death of those he cared about or the death of Sofia.

The Russian heir wanted to scream, a deep growl rumbling through his chest as he clutched at his hair. The reality of his situation hitting him harder as he leaned against the wall at his back, sliding down and clutched at his knees, knowing that for years he trained not only besides, but also with Salvatore, and despite all that, he couldn't find a way out of this situation, couldn't find the lesser of two evils. Hating how helpless he had become.

"Sir?" A knock sounded on the door, Pyotr stepping in and grimaced. "Everything alright?"

"I'm pathetic," Aleksander shook his head, rubbing his forehead in an effort to get rid of the pounding against his skull. "I don't know what to do anymore, Pyotr,"

The older man sighed, stepping into the room before coming to sit down beside him, patting his shoulder.

"It's not my place to ask you what is bothering you," The Russian spoke in a thick accent. "But I understand enough from all the chatter going on,"

"It is a very tough decision. On one side you have you're the assurance of the Regnante's allegiance, and on the other side you have your wife," Pyotr held up his hands like a scale, Aleksander listening to him with his head against the wall. "If you were to choose the Regnante's, you would be securing your Mafia's future but that would be at the cost of your wife. And if you choose your wife, it would be at the cost of your Mafia."

"That is if I take over," Aleksander scoffed.

"You will take over, but your life would be a living hell before you do because in both cases you are hurting the people you love. Now, you have to choose who you love more,"

Aleksander swallowed thickly to realize he was right, the tears stinging his eyes and his heart ached in his chest. Who did he love more? The man who saved him and gave him this life and stuck with him through the thick and thin? The man whose children he got killed? Or the girl who came into his life and helped him move on from a loss and stood by his side through the toughest years he has ever faced? The man who was more of a father figure than a brother? Or the woman with his heart in her gentle hands?

"It's not fair," Aleksander ground out, slamming his fist onto the wooden flooring. "It's not fair,"

"V mafii net nichego spravedlivogo," Pyotr sighed, ruffling the messy hair on top of the younger's head, knowing he was crossing a line, but felt the man needed this comfort. "There is nothing fair in the Mafia,"

"Nothing is fair..." Aleksander muttered to himself, blinking away the tears and stood up, dusting his suit and running a hand through his hair before stepping out of the room, Pyotr and Grigory behind him.

The two guards watched his back in silence as they walked down the steps before heading towards Nikolai's office. His guards stood opposite Nikolai's men as the heir entered unannounced, the door clicking shut behind him.

Without a word of greeting and a face set with grim determination, he approached Nikolai leaning back in his chair, standing before the Pakhan's desk and couldn't help grit his teeth in repulsion at the man, his words just as tense and tight as his shoulders and Aleksander felt a piece of his heart dying away inside him. Convincing himself there was no other way.

"What would you want me to do?"