“I gave the order,” he says calmly.
I turn on him, fury igniting so fast it steals my breath. Or maybe that’s just because I’m facing a literal mountain of a man. His hair is disheveled, pieces hanging around his jaw, eyes dark and full of anger. My heart leaps into my throat.
“You think you can just drag me out of my life because you feel like it?”
“You’re in danger,” he replies evenly. It’s the same flat voice he used that night at The Foundry, in the alley. As if he didn’t care, though his hands told another story when they touched my skin.
“I didn’t ask you to protect me.”
“No,” he agrees. “You didn’t.”
Liev turns toward him sharply. “You should have told me what you were doing.”
Kaz doesn’t look away from me. “I did what was necessary. You’ve trusted me all these years, Liev. Trust me now.”
With your daughter’s lifegoes unspoken. Kaz’s jaw ticks, but I’m the only one who sees it. Liev and Nika are both watching me. Expecting more of a fight, maybe, but it finally sinks in…
That feeling of being watched at the bar, despite Kaz’s absence. The certainty that something is wrong.
I could stay and find out; leave if it’s nothing.
They usher me inside; the house swallowing us with polished floors and quiet luxury. We move through hallways that feel too wide, too deliberate, past closed doors, until Kaz leads us to a staircase.
Down one level. Then another.
The air cools, the walls turning from elegant to utilitarian, stone and reinforced steel replacing plaster and hardwood. The space opens abruptly into a massive room humming with low energy, screens lining the walls, maps glowing softly, men pausing mid-conversation as we enter.
Every eye turns toward me.
My face burns.
“What is this?” I whisper.
Kaz gestures, and the screens shift, routes and ports lighting up, names appearing in crisp white text.
“A cartel,” he says. “Moving north. This,” he points to several sections, “is my territory.”
It’s not a brag. Just information. But information that I wish I could sear from my brain. I wantnothingto do with this, whatever lies live underneath Baranov Tech.
“Okay,” I say slowly. “So, what does this have to do with me?”
The nondescript men in the room filter out in seconds, quietly, like ghosts. The door clicks shut behind the last one, leaving me with my father, Nika, and Kazimir Baranov. Not just a silver fox watching me from the shadows, but the leader of an empire built on bones and blood.
My dad speaks before Kazimir can answer. “Did they mention her by name?”
My brow furrows. Surely, he doesn’t mean…?
“No,” Kaz bites out, the word a low rumble. “But I know it was her he was talking about.”
“How?” Liev’s neck is turning a dark red-purple at his collarbones, rising slowly like a warning. “Howdo you know he meant her, Kazimir?”
“That’s not possible,” I break in after a beat of heavy, electric silence. “Whoever this is—thispersonon your map, trying to take over, I don’t know them, and they don’t know me.”
“They intend to use you as leverage,” Kaz continues. “To force concessions.”
I laugh, and the sound comes out sharp and brittle. “That’s insane.”
“It’s strategy,” he replies, finally turning toward me. He has on a plain shirt and tailored pants. His shirt sleeves are rolled up to his elbows. His skin is damp with sweat, and I swear I can smell it. It makes me sway forward, entranced by the possibility of how he might taste.
