My father doesn’t move, but his expression goes cold. “Sit down, Kirill.”
“No.” The single word sucks the air right out of the room. I look at the Morozovs. “My apologies for cutting the evening short. It was a pleasure meeting you.”
I turn and head for the door.
“Kirill.” My father’s furious voice follows me out of the dining room, but I don’t stop. His chair scrapes back, his footsteps pounding in the hallway behind me.
I’m almost to the front door when he catches up.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he seethes. “You walk out on this dinner. You insult the Morozovs. You damage an alliance I’ve been building for months.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have ambushed me.” The anger I’ve been holding back bleeds into my voice. “You never thought I’d catch the Ghost. You gave me an impossible task and then set up your fallback plan before I even had a real shot. You wanted me to fail so you could force this.”
His spine stiffens, but he keeps his expression schooled. “What I want is for you to think strategically instead of emotionally. The Morozovs offer exactly what we need to secure the next fifty years of this family’s dominance.”
I step forward, closing the distance until we’re inches apart. “What are they really offering you? You and Vasily talk in riddles and codes, but what exactly is this business venture you’re planning?”
“You’d find out if you did your rightful duty and married Varvara instead of letting yourself get distracted with that whore of a Velour server. You think she’s in the same league as Varvara? Not even close.”
I let out a harsh, dry laugh. Why the hell is he bringing Evelina up now?
“You’re old enough to know how this world works. I married your mother for strategy, because it benefited me and our empire; it had nothing to do with love. It never does.”
The mention of my mother causes a sudden, sharp ache that catches me off guard. “Don’t you ever use her name to justify your business deals. My jaw locks so tight I’m surprised my teethdon’t shatter. “How long have you been planning this? Deciding my future while I’m here busting my ass hunting the Ghost.”
“If we ally with the Valentis and the Morozovs through marriage, we’ll be powerful enough to wipe the Ghost off the face of the earth. I wanted you to see for yourself that you’ll only get so far on your own. Strategic alliances are necessary.”
I clench my hands as the space between us feels suffocatingly small. “I have ten days left. A deal is a deal.”
He doesn’t blink, his pale eyes locking on me with chilling focus. “A deal is a deal,” he finally echoes.
I push open the door, having nothing more to say to my old man. He doesn’t follow me outside, but he stays in the doorway, watching as I throw my leg over the bike and jam the helmet on.
I fire up the engine and gun it down the driveway without looking back.
The roads wind down through the hills, curves and switchbacks that demand focus. I push the bike faster, the speed burning off the anger still simmering under my skin.
Halfway to the city my phone buzzes repeatedly.
Finally I pull over at an overlook, kill the engine, and yank the phone from my pocket. Miron’s name lights the screen.
“What,” I clip out, all patience drained from me.
There’s a pause on the other end, and I know before he speaks that whatever comes next will change everything.
“We got an ID on Evelina Panova,” Miron says. “And you’re not going to fucking believe who she is.”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
KIRILL
The rideto Brooklyn takes thirty minutes on my Ducati, weaving through traffic with the kind of reckless speed that usually clears my head. It doesn’t work this time. The only thing I hear is Miron’s voice on a loop, spelling out the truth about the woman—the only woman—I’ve ever let close.
Dinara Potapova.
Elite hacker for the Belov Syndicate.
