"I'm already grabbing my keys." I hear movement on her end. A door slamming. "Twenty minutes. Maybe fifteen if I run every red light."
"Amanda—"
"Don't you dare tell me not to speed. I'll be there. Just... just hold on, okay? Whatever it is, we'll figure it out together."
The line goes dead.
I wipe my face with the back of my hand.
Amanda is coming.
And when she gets here, I'm going to tell her everything.
Dmitri
The phone cuts through the silence at 4:17 a.m.
I'm not asleep. Haven't been. My father's body lies in the room down the hall, waiting for the funeral home to collect him at dawn.
Igor's name flashes on the screen.
"Da."
"We found something. Remember the counterfeiter we handled last month? The one selling product with our eagle?"
I sit up, swinging my legs off the leather couch. "The one who mentioned the Sartori marriage."
"Same operation. Different soldier." A pause. "This one's not as strong as the last. He talked within twenty minutes."
My blood warms for the first time since watching my father's chest stop rising. "Where are you holding him?"
"Warehouse on Kedzie. The one we use for sensitive conversations."
I'm already reaching for my jacket. "I'm coming."
"Dmitri." Igor hesitates. "Your father just?—"
"I know what just happened." I pull the jacket on, checking that my Glock sits properly in its holster.
Igor doesn't argue further.
The hallway stretches dark and quiet as I move through the house. Past the living room where my siblings gathered hours ago, past the kitchen where the staff left food no one touched, past the room where my father's body lies beneath a white sheet.
I don't stop. Don't look.
Yuri stands by the Mercedes, he must have heard the door.
"I'll drive tonight."
He blinks. "Sir?"
"Give me the keys."
Yuri hands them over without further question.
The engine purrs to life, and I pull out of the estate's circular driveway. The gates open automatically, and then I'm on the empty road, nothing but darkness and the glow of the dashboard.
I should feel something.
