She came around a waiter, set her tray down on the service station without looking at it, and stepped between Petya and Gennady’s two men.
“Go home,” she said.
Petya looked at her, then past her. “I’m not leaving.”
“This isn’t the place.”
“It became the place when he came to your work.”
Gennady’s smile widened. He turned a little so the nearest tables could see him enjoying himself.
Nadia lowered her voice. “Petya, look at me.”
“I’m not a child.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“Then don’t talk to me like I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Gennady laughed. “That would be difficult, yes? Since you’ve proved many times you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Petya took one step forward.
Nadia’s hand came up against his chest, her palm flat and her fingers spread over his hoodie.
He stopped because she was the one touching him.
Gennady’s men shifted their weight. One had a scar under his left eye. The other wore a brown leather jacket too expensive for the hands hanging out of its sleeves. Neither reached for Petya. They didn’t need to reach. Petya was already close enough to make a mistake.
The lounge kept moving, but the tables nearest the bar went quieter. A woman at a corner booth lowered her drink. The bartender set down his towel. No one looked directly at Gennady for too long.
Petya lifted the envelope. “It’s five hundred.”
Gennady glanced at it and then at Nadia. “Five hundred.”
“It’s what I have tonight,” Petya said.
Nadia’s fingers tightened once against the front of his hoodie. “Don’t do this here.”
Petya kept his eyes on Gennady. “You’ll take it and leave her out of this.”
His voice came out low, rough, and forced through his teeth.
Gennady set his drink on the bar. “Leave her out of what?”
Petya’s jaw flexed.
Nadia said, “We’re leaving.”
Gennady angled his body so the room saw his smile and not the threat underneath it. “No, no. Petya came to speak. Let him speak.”
“I said we’re leaving.” Nadia stepped closer to Petya, putting more of herself between him and the men. “You’re not taking money from him in my place of work.”
“My place of work,” Gennady said softly. “You say that as if it protects you.”
Petya’s face flushed dark.
Nadia caught his wrist before his fist came up. Her grip was small against his bones, but Petya froze like she’d locked iron around him.
