“He’s my cousin, Stan,” Sofia chimed in.
She was surprisinglychipper. I was used to the more studious side of her nature, so this version came as a complete culture shock.
Her entire demeanor shifted.
I could only assume that Dmitri Turgenev was the reason for that—whether they were an item or not.
“Your cousin?” I stiffened. “Who’s the connection?”
She grimaced. “Father, but he’s a good man.”
“Hardly,” the stranger disagreed, a moue of distaste flashing across his face.
Taube snorted. “Don’t offend Ilya, Sony. There’s a good girl.”
“Sony?” Kitty asked.
“It’s a diminutive,” Sofia,Sony, explained.
ThisIlyadrummed his fingers against the table. “Are we eating at some point this year or what?”
It took me a moment to realize that he’d purposely tucked himself amid the shadows, his back to the wall, his position easily allowing him to scan the expansive dining room.
“Two minutes, Ilya.” To me, Sofia formally introduced, “Ilya Levin, meet Custanzu Valentini.”
We both dipped our chins at one another—that was the sum total of our greeting.
But as much as I had a name, I didn’t know who this Ilya Levinwas.
Warily, I pressed a hand to Kitty’s hip then encouraged her to slip into a seat while I sank into the one next to her.
While servers popped the seal on a fresh bottle of soda water and topped off two glasses loaded with ice in front of us, my gaze remained locked on the intruder’s. “Why are you here?”
“For a discussion.”
“About?”
“We should talk over our meal,” Dmitri inserted calmly.
“With Taube here?”
The woman in question hooted. “Know more than you do,boy.”
That shattered my focus on Levin. “The fuck did you call me?”
She stuck out her chin. “I’m older than you.”
“By how many years?”
“One.”
“Oh, wow, should I bow down in respect of my elders?”
“That’s more like it.”
“Lucinda,” Sofia chided. “Don’t spoil it for me, please. I’ve been dying to meet him for so long?—”
“You haven’t been dying to meet anyone,” Dmitri broke in as he gently nudged her with his elbow. “We talked about this.”
