“Sure,” I say. “I’d love that.”
She turns to reach for a plate on the top shelf and can’t quite get it. I move before I can think, stepping behind her, taking it down easily. She laughs softly.
“You’re always so quiet,” she says. “You and Aleksei both. You sneak up on people.”
“It’s a family trait,” I reply.
Her smile lingers, tired but kind. There’s something grounding about Lena. She’s warmth in a house full of ghosts. I don’t know how she does it, living among killers and kings and still managing to look like light.
“Is Aleksei asleep?” I ask.
Her smile falters. “No. He’s in Moscow. Something urgent came up. Leo sent him.”
Before I can answer, a low voice cuts in from behind us.
“Speaking of Leo,” it says, smooth and heavy, “mind if I join this midnight feast?”
Lena stiffens. Her hands go still on the counter.
“Of course not,” she says politely, without looking at him.
Leo steps into the light, jacket off, shirt sleeves rolled, as if he hasn’t aged a day since I saw him last night. But the lines around his eyes tell a different story. His presence fills the room in a way that makes the air feel smaller.
He nods to me. “Dmitry.”
“Leo.”
Lena turns away to busy herself with the food. The silence between them hums with history. I know enough to understand why she tenses up around him. Lena is two years older than me. She was once a Griffin Society member. Leo sent her on a mission so dangerous she almost didn’t come back. He never wanted her with Aleksei. Thought she was too ordinary. Too American. Plus, she was an orphan.
And now here she is, married to Aleksei Antonov, mother of his children. Proof that Leo doesn’t always get what he wants.
I wonder, uneasily, if he’ll feel the same about Callista. Callista is American, too, and though she’s from a rich family, her family is dysfunctional.
Leo takes a seat at the table. Lena sets a bowl of reheated pasta between us, the kind she makes when she’s tired but still wants to feed someone.
I thank her and she smiles back at me.
“Thank you, Lena,” Leo says.
She nods without meeting his eyes and turns back to the counter.
I sit down across from him, the chair creaking in the quiet. “How’s the laundromat situation?”
He exhales through his nose, rubbing his temple. “Handled. We removed the clerk. Things should settle, but the feds are sniffing around. It’ll be tense for a while.”
I nod. “I can adjust the routes if needed. Push more through the florist and the car wash.”
He studies me for a long second, then leans back. “Aleksei told me what you’re doing at the college. Recruiting smart ones. Future money launderers for the organization.”
“We’ll have to see if they can perform well with training,” I said. “This is still just an experiment. But I can’t keep handling the finances forever, especially since the men you have helping me are dinosaurs who can’t even use a computer.”
“They’re loyal men. Loyalty matters more in this business than brains,” Leo reminds, tapping the edge of his glass. He poured himself a glass of whiskey when I wasn’t even looking. He drinks more nowadays. Maybe because he has more headaches to deal with. Besides, I know he doesn’t like being in America as much as he likes being in Russia.
“If we want to survive the next generation, we need people who understand systems,” I say. “Banks. Digital transfers. Hidden ledgers.”
Leo’s eyes gleam faintly. “You’re thinking ahead. That’s what I like about you.”
The words hit harder than they should. Praise from Leo isn’t rare for me. He has always appreciated my brains, wanted me to take an important role in the family business. But his words sit warm in my chest for a moment, unexpected. It’s like being patted on the back by the father I never had, the father who died when I was young.
