"Significant. We lost a lot of good men." Alik's voice hardens. "It was like the D’Ambrosios knew exactly where to hit and how to hit. Almost like someonetoldthem."
"That's impossible." My voice comes out flat, automatic.
“Are you really being this naïve?”
"What are you talking about? Speak plainly.”
“Think.” Alik sighs. “Really think. Who did we see speaking face to face with Nico D’Ambrosio? Who was conveniently kidnapped that very night so you’d bring her to your penthouse? How was it possible that a D’Ambrosio hitman went after your son a week after I brought her there? Who went to France with you? Who stayed at the chateau? Who had access to everything?"
"Don't." It can’t be her. I won’t believe that it’s her.
But then again… I think as I recall Bella asking me if there was a way to contact Lydia from the plane on our way back from France.
Was that when she did it?
“Slava, are you there?” Alik’s voice hovers by my ear but it sounds so far away.
“I’m here.”
“I think it’s pretty fucking obvious that Bella has been working with the D'Ambrosios this whole time. Just like her brother."
"No." I shake my head. "She's not—she wouldn't?—"
"You caught her snooping in your office, didn’t you? Twice. You told me yourself."
"She explained?—"
"She lied.” Alik’s voice drips with poison. “And you believed her because you wanted to believe her. I'm not saying this to hurt you,bratok. I'm saying it because someone has to. That woman is not who she pretends to be."
I think about Bella in the hunting lodge, her body warm against mine, her voice breaking when she said my name. I think about her face when I told her about Gia, the grief in her eyes, and how she didn't look away.
If you ever betray me, malyshka, you'll wish you were still my enemy.
I said those words to her after I saved her from the water, when she asked me if we were still enemies. I said them and then I kissed her, and she kissed me back.
I let myself believe she was something other than a threat.
"I'll prove you wrong," I say. "There's another explanation. There has to be."
"Slava—"
“I’ll be in touch.”
I end the call before Alik can argue. My hands are shaking in a fine tremor I haven't felt since the night Gia died and I promised her ghost that I would burn the world down to avenge her.
Alik is wrong. He has to be wrong.
And the first place I can prove that is in my office.
I walk over to my desk, bend down to the safe that Bella had examined, and press my thumb against the pad.
The lock clicks and the door swings open. Reaching inside, I pull out one document after another. My hand pauses slightly as I look at the list of baby names Gia wrote before we settled on Alessandro.
Nothing looks out of place so far.
That’s when I see something else—somethingnew.
It’s so thin that I almost miss it. It’s a fragile little thing—translucent and feather-light—and it threatens to crumble in my fingers. I kneel down, pick it up, and hold it to the light.
