Lev nods and pulls out his phone, already dialing as I take the steps two at a time and push open the front doors.
The interior is quiet. Roman must’ve had the sense to keep theshestyorkaaway from the lounge for the time being. It’s the only space in this house that feels remotely… civilian. No weapons on display, no surveillance with a wall of screens showing every nook and cranny of this place.
Just a tastefully expensive sitting room that could pass for a diplomat’s parlor.
My shoes echo on the marble as I move past the reinforced doors, past the biometric security systems keeping the outside world at bay. I pause only long enough to get my bearings before pushing open the door to the lounge and stepping inside.
The tutor, Ivy, is pacing near the couch with her arms crossed over her chest. Her features are pulled tight with fear. Yulia is curled up on one of the lounge chairs closest to the windows while she stares out it. Her little legs are pulled up beneath her and her eyes, usually so bright and mischievous, are glassy and distant.
But she’s safe.
Alive.
That single fact alone lets me breathe a little easier despite the small pang in my chest from her ignoring me. I shut the door softly behind me, and the sound draws Ivy’s attention.
Her head snaps around, eyes widening before narrowing in recognition. “You…?”
I cross the room and head over to the wet bar, pulling two glasses down from the cabinet and filling them both with fresh ice water. “Apologies for the wait. I was coming back from the other side of the city.”
When I turn around with both glasses in hand, Ivy is glaring at me like she’s preparing to throw one of them in my face. She takes one step forward, her expression thunderous.
“What thehellis going on?” she snaps.
The question doesn’t surprise me, though the fire in her voice does.
I hand her a glass without answering. She takes it begrudgingly, as if accepting water from me is a concession she didn’t want to make but is doing so anyway against her better judgment.
I nod toward Yulia. “How is she?”
“She’s traumatized. What do you think?” Ivy bites out.
“Yes, I would assume so,” I say evenly.
Her voice rises slightly when she speaks again. “Tell me why the cafe we were just at got shot up and someguyforced us into the back of a car and took us here. Does he work with you? Only foryou, of all people, to show up? Was that your guy?”
“Yes,” I say simply to her last question.
Her face reddens. “What hell are you involved in? And don’t bother telling me some bullshit likebusinessbecause where I come from, ‘business’ doesn’t involve me having to use myself as a human shield to keep my boss’s daughter from dying!”
I don’t flinch, because she’s right and there’s no spin I could put on it that would change that. “You’re right. Thank you for protecting her. Myvory v zakonesaid you shielded her with your body. That was… an incredibly selfless act.”
The gratitude is real, though it tastes strange on my tongue. I’m not accustomed to saying it out loud. Gratitude, in my world, is currency. It’s delivered in envelopes or power plays, not words.
But she blinks at me, startled for the briefest second. Her fury flickers, interrupted, before it roars back stronger than before. “What thehellis going on? This isn’t what I signed up for when I came over here. I wasn’t told I’d be shot at while trying to enjoy a nice afternoon with my boss’s daughter.”
No, I imagine it wasn’t. But we’re far past the point of telling comfortable lies.
“You and Yulia were at the wrong place at the wrong time,” I say.
Her laugh is bitter. She steps forward, closing the space between us, her chin tilting high in open defiance. The water in her glass ripples dangerously with her movement, sloshing over the rim and onto her knuckles. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”
Her conviction in her tone is… impressive.Frustrating, but nevertheless, impressive.
I study her without meaning to. The defiance in her posture, the clarity in her eyes despite the terror she’s endured. She’s not meek by any standards. She hasn’t collapsed into a trembling mess like so many would in her position.
Instead, she stands in front of someone like me, toe-to-toe, demanding answers. Brave, or reckless, she has the balls to confront me about it.
And that makes her a dangerous liability.
