“You shouldn’t have to.”
She looked at me again.
The doors shut. The elevator rose without a sound.
Nadia’s body trembled once against mine. She turned her face from the mirrored wall as if she couldn’t stand seeing herself held in pale silk under bright light.
I kept my eyes on the doors.
Not on her breasts under the thin chemise.
Not on her thighs.
Not on the mouth that had told Gennady no in a room where men had paid to hear yes.
The elevator opened into my penthouse foyer.
Black stone underfoot. Warm lamps burning low along the walls. City windows beyond the living room, Manhattan spread in cold lights below. The heat was already on. Irina had done as instructed; a cashmere throw lay across the nearest sofa, a tray with tea, water, bread, fruit, and soup waited on the low table, and a robe hung over the back of a chair.
Irina stood near the hall in a dark dress, silver hair pulled into a neat knot, hands folded at her waist.
Her eyes went once to Nadia’s face. Not the chemise. Not the bare legs. The face.
“Mr. Sorin,” she said. “The guest room is ready. I warmed the bed and put clothing in the dressing area.”
“Thank you, Irina. No one enters unless I call.”
“Of course.”
Nadia’s head turned. “Guest room?”
“Yes,” I said.
Irina stepped away without a question.
I carried Nadia into the living room and lowered her onto the sofa. She grabbed the edge of my lapel when her balance shifted, then let go as if the fabric had burned her.
I took the cashmere throw and placed it around her shoulders.
She pulled it closed herself, her fingers tight in the soft gray weave.
Lev remained near the foyer, phone in hand.
“Petya,” I said.
Nadia went still.
Lev looked at her, then at me.
I gave him one nod.
He spoke plainly. “We have two men outside your building and one following your brother. He left a deli on Brighton Sixth six minutes ago. No Kask men are on him now.”
Nadia’s face drained. “Petya’s outside?”
“He is walking fast and looking at his phone,” Lev said. “Angry, but alive.”
She gripped the blanket. “He doesn’t know where I am.”
