Her palm tightened against mine. “Then I’m going to hear him say it.”
“You’ll be in the building. You’ll be protected. You’ll speak when it serves you and not when Kask tries to pull your anger into his mouth.”
“That’s close to deciding for me.”
“It’s close because I’m not finished explaining.” I raised her hand and pressed my mouth to her knuckles. “You’ll be there because you choose to be there. You’ll stand where my men can shield you. If you want to leave, you leave. If you want to speak, you speak after I’ve made the floor safe enough for your words to land as choice instead of risk.”
Nadia looked down at my mouth on her hand.
Her voice was quieter when she spoke. “You can make a floor safe?”
“For you, I can make men crawl across it.”
The door opened behind Lev, and Irina stepped in with a garment bag draped over one arm and a flat box in the other. Her gray hair was pulled into its usual knot. Her black dress was plain, expensive, and severe enough to make the room feel like it should stand straighter.
“Miss Yelchin,” Irina said. “I brought options. Mr. Sorin asked for clothing you could move in.”
Nadia glanced at me. “When did he ask that?”
“Last night,” Irina said. “Before the rest of us knew how much trouble the day intended to be.”
Nadia almost smiled. “That sounds like him.”
“It does,” Irina said.
She laid the garment bag on the bed, opened the box, and revealed black wool trousers, a soft ivory sweater, a fittedblack coat, low boots, and clean underthings folded with neat, practical care. The clothes were warm, elegant, and made for walking out of a room without anyone’s permission.
Nadia touched the sweater with two fingers. “This isn’t a dress.”
“No,” Irina said. “Dresses are for men who expect women to stand still.”
Nadia blinked once.
Then she looked at me as if I’d arranged the sentence myself.
I hadn’t, and Irina had just earned another raise.
“I’ll give you privacy,” I said.
Nadia’s grip tightened before I could step back. “Don’t leave the apartment without me.”
“I won’t.”
Lev shifted at the door. “The contact is being brought to the service level. We can question him here or at the club.”
“Here,” I said. “Nadia doesn’t need to stand in front of him.”
Nadia opened her mouth.
I looked at her. “He sold a location tied to your brother. You don’t need to watch me persuade him to regret it.”
“Is he going to leave alive?”
“Yes.”
“Is that because of timing?”
“Yes.”
