Nikolai’s eyes narrow. “Irina doesn’t need reasons.”
“She likes them anyway,” Selene replies. “It keeps the rest of them in line. If she can say you betrayed her first, she can do whatever she wants and call it justice.”
I press my fingers to my temple, feeling the pulse there. “What was the item?”
Selene shakes her head. “I don’t know the exact thing. I know the shape of it, not the name. I know it was small enough to movein cabin baggage, valuable enough that Kirov didn’t trust cargo, and sensitive enough that Irina didn’t want it touching official channels.”
“That narrows it down to half the world,” I say.
Nikolai cuts in. “Why would Elena steal it?”
Selene doesn’t answer right away. She looks toward the café window as a couple walks past, laughing, normal. Then she looks back at us. “Maybe she didn’t. Maybe she saw who did. Either way, she became a loose end.”
I feel my shoulder throb, the bandage pulling as my hand tightens into a fist. “If Irina thinks I have it, she won’t stop until she gets proof I don’t.”
Nikolai’s voice goes colder. “So what do we do?”
Selene leans in, speaking like she’s telling us the weather. “We find Elena first. Not the police. Not Irina. We find her. Because she’s the only person who was close enough to Kirov at the right time and still alive after.”
“And if she’s not alive?” I say.
Selene’s eyes don’t flinch. “Then we find out who wanted her dead. Because that person either has the item, or knows exactly where it went.”
I sit back, breathing through the anger, through the pressure building in my chest. Bella’s face flashes in my head, Lily’s small body asleep in that room. I promised Bella I’d let her go after this. I can’t do that if Irina keeps hunting shadows.
Then Selene says quietly, “I believe Kirov didn’t die for nothing. I believe someone planned this with care. And I believe theywant you blamed, Aleksander, because you’re the easiest match to throw into a room full of gasoline.”
Nikolai’s jaw tightens. “We need a lead, not poetry.”
Selene gives him a look. “Fine. Elena’s sister. Lives in Brighton. Works nights at a pharmacy. If Elena ran, she’d run to family first. And if someone grabbed her, they’d check family too. We’ll go right there. You don’t mind if I come with you, do you?”
She says it like it’s already decided, like she’s sliding into my plans the way she always does. She takes a slow sip of her coffee, eyes on me over the rim.
I stare at her.
Nikolai watches her the way he watches a weapon someone left on a table. Calm, wary, ready. “No,” he says flatly, before I can answer. “I mind.”
Selene’s mouth curves. “Nobody asked you.”
Nikolai leans back in the booth, broad shoulders blocking half the view from the aisle. “If you’re coming, you’re coming because Aleksander says so. Not because you like the sound of your own voice.”
Selene’s eyes flick to me again. “So?”
I should say no. I should keep this tight: me, Nikolai, and nothing else. Less variables, less risk. But Elena’s sister is a fragile lead, and Selene knows my mother’s habits in a way I don’t like admitting. She knows how Irina thinks. She knows where Irina hides knives.
I also know something else, and it sits under my ribs like a hot stone.
There’s something I haven’t told Bella. Selene and I have history.
I look at Selene. “If you come, you follow my rules.”
She lifts her brows. “Go on.”
“No games. No side deals. No disappearing act.” My voice stays low, steady.
Nikolai’s jaw tightens. He doesn’t like this. He will tolerate it because he trusts my instincts, but he’s filing it away as a mistake that might get us killed.
Selene sets her cup down and leans in just enough that her perfume reaches me. She nods decisively. “Agreed. Let’s go.”
