“In the eighties—” I begin, but Maya cuts me off.
“Yeah, yeah, it goes back about a billion years. Doesn’t it always?” She polishes off her drink and replaces the glass, too hard. When she sits forward, hands clasped between her knees, her expression is suddenly determined, resolute. A little frightened. “I won’t lie to you guys. I’m tired of lying. I want it—the whole thing. The money, the power, the name. I would have beaten both of you out in an instant—hell, I still might. And if the only thing I had to do to prove myself was kill Uncle Yvan—”
A pang of disgust goes through me. “He’s not our uncle.”
“OK, notliterally. C’mon, have a little imagination, won’t you?” But Maya’s smile is short lived. “Look. My dad gave me the job when I was young. They all thought I was a shoo-in. Aw, don’t look so hurt, Nikky. They all thought you two were going toRomeo and Julietthe fuck right out of the mafia. And can you blame them? You’re together now, after all.”
“We’re not—” Zane says, her face pink and eyes wide. She looks astonishingly innocent, and it makes my heart ache.
“Iknow, it’s a fucking insurance policy. I get it. I’ve been in this family as long as you two have.” She sits back, blue eyes flashing toward the dark windows. “Back then, I wanted to prove myself. I was angry. After Mom died… I lost direction. I let my dad push me where he wanted to. And you know what? I enjoyed it. The deception. The danger. I’m good at it. And when you feel like you have nothing to lose, every door seems to open up.”
I watch her. I can see that she means what she says. Her jaw is tense, and her left fist keeps closing and opening, a reflex. But something is off. “You killed your man, back there.” Her eyes go to me, and in them, I read her plan. “He was a witness to you not killing us.”
She smiles. “Look who’s paying attention.”
“Lebedev won’t take you back,” Zane says. “But you already knew that, didn’t you? When you agreed to follow us?”
“I’m a bit of a cunt, yeah, but when I heard about your dad working for Lebedev and your little sham marriage, I knew the jig had to be up. It sucks, honestly. Lebedev is a good teacher. And he’s a hell of a lot more honorable than any of the Sokolovs. If I could, I’d switch sides for real. I mean, if he wasn’t a piece of shit hell-bent on killing all of us.” Maya twists a loose strand on the sleeve of her sweater and yanks it off. “I mean—he wanted me to execute you.”
Zane’s eyes widen. “Me?”
“Yep.”
“Shit.”
“Right?”
“Thanks,” Zane says, half-smiling, her face tellingly white. “You know. For not.”
“Look. It’s not as easy as it seems to divorce yourself from the things you love. I don’t know how all of our dads did it.” Maya watches Zane, whose eyes lower guiltily. “Right,” Maya says. “I guess not all of our dads. Just the Sokolovs.” She looks at me. “I knew as soon as Lebedev sent me after you guys that my game was over. No—changed. The goal has shifted.”
I frown, studying my cousin thoughtfully. “You don’t want to inherit the mafia after all?”
“Oh, I do.” Maya grins, and in her eyes, there is total mayhem. “But to build my own empire, first I gotta overthrow theirs.”
8
Zane
Overthrow it.
Those words echo through my skull as I shower and get ready for bed. Sleeping in Maya’s old house feels even stranger now with her in it. In a way, though, it’s almost comforting.
Overthrow it.
My mouth is dry. I can’t quite wrap my mind around it. The mafia is more than our lives and our families and bloodlines—it’s an institution; old and secure, its scaffolding built into every aspect of our world. It can’t just be overthrown. Not even by the likes of Maya Sokolov.
And Nik said as much when Maya told us her plan—to kill Lebedev and use her inside information to cripple all of our fathers. To blackmail, threaten, and coerce her way into power, from where she could steadily, brick by brick and person by person, burn every bridge until the Sokolovs were inexorably impotent.
And from those ashes, build a new mafia. One without grudges or attachment. One where there was honor, and the only way out wasn’t in a black bag, feet first.
Despite the insanity of the idea, the way Maya spoke made it all feel tangible, physical, a future I could hold in my hands. Did Nikolai see it the way I did?
As a way out?
He’s standing by the window when I return to the bedroom. He wears nothing but black boxer briefs, outlining the sleek strength of his legs, his abs, the powerful curve of his spine and shoulders. I find myself oddly tempted to go up behind him and stroke those smooth shoulders, the nape of his neck. I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to run my hands through his curls…
Nik senses me and looks up, pinning me with the cool intensity of those green eyes. My stomach lurches, warmth fanning over my face. I’m in my nightshirt and underwear—this is still a marriage after all, one we’ll eventually have to fulfill—but with the way he’s looking at me, I might as well be naked.
