"Then I'm not going anywhere."
I fall asleep with his heartbeat beneath my ear, and his promise wrapped around me like armor.
Outside, Brooklyn continues—sirens and traffic and the ordinary violence of a city that doesn't know what happened tonight.
Inside, a killer holds me while I dream of fire.
And for the first time, I don't wake up afraid.
10
Izzy
"You married who?"
Mother's voice cuts through the phone like a blade dipped in acid. I'm curled up on Sergei's couch, wrapped in one of his shirts, and her rage makes me smile.
"Sergei Orlov," I repeat, savoring each syllable. "The Wolf. You remember him, my former bodyguard? Dad hired him for me? The one who made Uncle Matthew nervous?"
Silence stretches so long, I check to see if the call dropped. Then she laughs, sharp and brittle. "You stupid, foolish girl."
"Mrs. Orlov now, actually."
"This is a disaster." Her voice shifts, losing the icy control. What's underneath sounds like panic. Like fear. "Isabelle, you need to get this annulled immediately. Before?—"
"Before what?" I sit up straighter, blood pounding in my ears. "Before Uncle Matthew finds out? Before Cal realizes he can't have me?"
"Before you get yourself killed." The words come out raw, unfiltered, and cold spreads through my chest. "You have no idea what you've done."
"Then explain it to me."
"I can't." She's breathing too fast now, the polished facade cracking. "Just end this marriage. Today. I'll handle Cal. I'll handle Matthew, but you cannot stay married to that man."
"Why? Because he scares you?" My fingers find Dad's lighter on the coffee table. Sergei returned it to me this morning. "Because he's the one person you can't manipulate or control?"
"Because he's dangerous, Isabelle. The kind of dangerous that gets people killed."
"Like Dad?" The words slip out before I can stop them.
Another silence. This one feels different. Weighted. Guilty.
"Your father's death was an accident," she says finally, but her voice wavers.
"Was it?" I grip the lighter harder, metal biting into my palm. "Because it's awfully convenient timing. The will clause, the marriage requirement, Cal waiting in the wings?—"
"Don't." Her voice hardens again, the mask sliding back into place. "Don't go looking for conspiracies where there are none. It will only cause you pain."
"Or it will give me answers."
"Answers won't bring him back." She takes a breath, composing herself. "Come home. We'll discuss this properly, face to face."
"I am home." I look around Sergei's living room, warm and lived-in, nothing like my family's sterile perfection. "With my husband."
"That man is a killer."
"I know." Warmth spreads across my skin, remembering yesterday. The way he moved, efficient and lethal. The way he protected me without hesitation. "That's why I married him."
The line goes dead.
