“Natalya let me in,” he says in answer to my silent question. His eyes drift to the drink in my hand. “Drinking alone?”
“Looks like.”
“Mind some company?”
“Not at all.” I motion to the caddy across the room. “Help yourself.”
He walks over to the minibar and starts making himself a drink. “You’ve been quiet since that whole thing with Kat. Is everything all right between you and Natalya?”
“It’s as good as it could be,” I say and drink from my glass. “She’s not talking to me at the moment, which is probably the best possible thing that could happen, all things considered.”
He drops several lumps of ice into a glass and reaches under the bar for the decanter of vodka. “This is where I say I told you so, isn’t it?”
I throw him an annoyed look.
“You know I’m right. Natalya’s a sweet girl, but she’s a distraction. How long before she wants to leave?”
I sigh. “Probably. After Kat’s little temper tantrum, I wouldn’t blame her if she did ask to leave.”
“Will you let her go if she does ask?”
I scowl at him. “She’s not a prisoner, Mikki.”
“Yeah, okay, but you have put a lot of energy into this whole thing. You’ve really been determined to be protective of her. What happens when she doesn’t want to be protected?”
I sigh. It’s a valid question, one I hadn’t thought that much about since this whole thing started. “Not sure,” is all I can say as I sip from my glass.
“Hmm.” Mikki takes his drink and sits down on the corner of the end table near me. “You know, this whole obsession you have with her is getting pretty close to being a bit Medieval. If this house had a tower, I’d be wondering at this point when you were planning on locking her in it.”
I roll my eyes at him. “I’m not a monster. If she truly wanted to leave, I would have to let her go. The problem is if I did that…”
I start thinking about my conversation with Nikolai. His rather convincing argument to me that he is not responsible for the death of my mentor echoes in my mind. If it’s true, does that change whether or not Natalya is in danger? If I put a pause on this war, would it be safe for her to leave?
“Her father would surely protect her,” Mikki says. “She’s his daughter.”
“If he was going to protect her, then she would have gone to him,” I say.
“A young girl who’s definitely deeply enamored of you? I don’t know about that. Infatuation can make you do wild things.”
“No doubt. I don’t think that’s the case with her. There’s something going on there that I can’t put my finger on. I don’t think she has the kind of relationship with her father that speaks of safety. All of this might be besides the point anyway.” I set my drink down. I need to speak about this meeting with Nikolai. I’ve put it off too long. I have to get it out of my head and examine it properly.
“My meeting with Novikoff. We need to talk about it.”
He crosses his arms, locking in as I tell him about what was said at the meeting. When I’m done, he’s scowling hard. His brow is dipping down so much that his eyebrows are knitting themselves together.
“You don’t believe him, do you?” he asks me.
“He was convincing. More importantly, he and Maksim were allies. That’s been bothering me since Maksim’s death. I was viewing it as the worst kind of betrayal instead of what Nikolai is presenting as an alibi.”
“Brothers betraying brothers is par for the course for us,” he says. “The first thing we’re ever taught is to never fully trust anyone. Not even your closest friend.”
“And the second thing we were ever taught is if you plan on betraying your brothers, you’d better have a damned good reason.” I feel like that was my first lesson given how my father left me. “I’ve been thinking about that meeting and there’s onething I can’t figure out. If Nikolai was the one to betray Maksim, what was his reason? What did he have to gain by taking him out?”
“Control of this Bratva, perhaps? The changing of the guard is often full of turmoil, even in the tightest run Bratvas.”
The very thing I’ve been struggling with spoken right back to me. I consider it for a moment, sipping my drink thoughtfully.
“When Maksim died,” I say, “I stayed in Russia for another two weeks to be sure that he was laid to rest in his home region.”
