I held up my hand.
"I won't need to kill the girl. Her mother will fall in line. She has more at risk than just the life of her daughter."
"What does that mean?" Mikhail asked.
Artem stood, grabbed four glasses from the side table and the bottle of scotch I'd brought from London.
"The necklace uses technology the US government developed. Top secret. Part of a program approved by a committee the senator sits on."
"So?" Artem asked as he poured.
The amber liquid glowed in the cut crystal. I couldn't help but think about the way Anna's blood reflected in the diamond, how the liquor caught the light in the same way.
"So, it's top secret. If it gets out that the technology was leaked to the Russians, there will be a full investigation. They'll investigate every member of that committee, and her secrets would come out."
"Her secrets?" Artem handed me the glass.
I lifted it in a toast. We all drank.
I slammed my glass back down on the table. Artem refilled it. The burn slid down my throat and warmed my gut.
"Do you know why the senator has not been returning your calls? Why she's going to vote against you? Because another family bought her. Which one it is—I'm not sure. What I do know is we're being outbid. That is not something we can allow to happen."
"So your solution is to blow this girl's head off?" Gregor scoffed as he took another long drink.
I laughed. "Aren't you listening?"
"I am. You have an explosive hidden in a diamond necklace around that innocent girl's neck."
"No. I told you the US government was developing the technology. A top-secret military project farmed out to a private company. That necklace cost millions in R&D." I paused. Letting it sink in. "And it doesn't fucking work."
"What?" Artem sat down. "So she knows it's a bluff?"
I took my time. Long sip of the scotch. Enjoying the gentle burn before I looked back at my nephews.
"No. Congress thinks it works. Congress thinks a lot of the James Bond-level shit they have works. None of it does."
“So you’re betting on a bluff," Mikhail said.
"No. The senator doesn't realize what the actual threat is. She thinks I'll kill her daughter. But if she doesn't comply, I'll expose her. Ruin any chance she has at holding a security clearance again. I'm not threatening her daughter. I'm threatening what she really cares about—her position."
"Then why the theatrics?"
"The message. This isn't just for the senator; it's for anyone else who dares to cross us again."
My phone dinged.
Andrei: We've confirmed that the senator will be at the gala.
Perfect.
Darius: Get the girl a dress for tonight. Understated.
She's there to be on my arm, to terrify her mother, not to garner attention. The last thing I need is for my picture to end up in some fucking tabloid.
Andrei: Understood.
"So then you just put a random million-dollar necklace on some girl?" Artem asked. "How do you know she won't just take it off?"
