A woman like me—a woman who left everything behind specifically so no one could ever move her like a piece on a board—never even saw it.
Oh, my God. The book he sent the night his family put two of my cousins in the hospital! It was all part of this grand scheme to get to me, to get myfamily.
My mouth goes dry, and my lungs burn, screaming at me to breathe. A single tear tracks down my cheek, and my body trembles. “Was all of this just an assignment?”
“No,” he rushes to answer. “My father didn’t send me.”
“Don’t lie to me now.”
“I’m not lying.”
The anger rises so fast that my hands shake. “Then why? Why me?”
Lev takes one step toward me and stops when I recoil. I see the reaction land, and I don’t care.
“Because I saw your file,” he responds. “I expected another Kozlov tied to the family business, and you weren’t. I kept watching, and I couldn’t stop.”
I grab the edge of the counter and squeeze until my fingers hurt. “You’re saying this like it helps.”
He drags a hand through his hair and drops it. “I’m trying to tell you what this was.”
I stare at him and taste rage at the back of my throat. “Then say it. What the hell was it, Lev?”
“It was an… obsession.”
I wait for him to add something. To explain that he used the wrong word, or maybe for the word itself to sound less insane. But when he just stands there, looking at me the way he alwayshas, like he knows who I am and all of my secrets, I realize obsession is the right word to use.
“Get out,” I scream, jerking my head toward the door.
“Polina.”
“Get the fuck out of my apartment, Lev, or I swear to God?—”
“I’m not leaving until you agree to let me take you to Dmitri.”
I blink at him. “You do not get to make demands in my home.” I grab the nearest thing on the counter without thinking. A water glass. Heavy enough to feel solid in my hand. “Leave.”
His eyes drop to the glass and come back to my face. “No.”
I throw it at his head, and Lev jerks aside. The glass misses his temple by inches and explodes against the wall behind him. Water sprays across the tile, and shards skitter under the table.
Neither of us says a word, and I stand there breathing too hard while water runs down the wall behind him. My hand shakes, and I stare at the wet mark in the plaster.
Lev straightens slowly. “That was a good throw.”
“Do not compliment me right now.”
His mouth tightens. “I’m not joking.”
I grab the dish towel by the sink and twist it in both hands, so I don’t reach for something heavier.
I breathe through my nose and speak clearly. “I am not going with you tonight. I need time to think, and I need time to get my head on straight before I walk into anything with my family attached to your name.”
“Morning might be too late.”
“It’s what you’re getting.” I point at him and then at the door. “I will call Dmitri. If this happens, it happens because I say it does. You do not get to drag me into a car again and decide for me.”
I can see the argument building behind his eyes as he watches me, but I lift my chin before he can start.
