Kirill looks at me with a smile. "Bozhe moy, kakaya krasavitsa."My word, what a beauty.
Annika nods beside him.
"Spasibo," I reply.Thank you.
Luca glances at me.
"I used to learn languages out of boredom as a child," I say. "I only know a little."
Annika laughs, and she steps forward and she takes both my hands and she looks at my face with the warm directness I had heard about from Luca and is even more immediate in person. "I have been waiting to meet you," she says. "Properly. He never comes to my exhibits, I was almost ready to forget about him coming."
"He loves your work," I say. Which is quite sincere. He had a lot of her pieces in his study and they never collected dust.
"I hear you paint," she adds, pulling me slightly to the side.
"I do," I answer.
Her eyes light up. "I want to do a joint piece with you. When you're ready." She tilts her head, "—I think we would make something interesting together.
"I'd love that," I reply.
Behind us, I can hear Kirill saying something to Luca in a low voice and Renzo adding something.
Annika glances back at them and then at me and her mouth curves. "He is completely head over heels," she says. "It's honestly a bit alarming for him."
"I know," I tell her. I look back to see Kirill stealing glances at Annika. He loved her to madness just as Luca told me. I had no doubts.
She laughs again. Then she looks at me with something more thoughtful in her face and she asks, "How have the past few months been? Really. We heard about the whole thing."
I think about how to answer that.
The past months were chaos followed by quiet.
After the wedding the story had broken everywhere simultaneously. My father's name had been on every front page within twenty-four hours, the documents passed out as wedding favors finding their way into the hands of every journalist in the city, and the investigation that followed had moved with the speed of something that had been waiting for permission. He had disappeared within a week, which I had not expected, and I had known immediately that Luca had a hand in the speed of it even though I had never asked and he had never confirmed.
Law enforcement got involved, I was questioned and released the same day and I was never questioned again. I know it was Luca. He wasn't joking when he said he would protect me. Not a single outlet had positioned me as anything other than the daughter who had uncovered her father's crimes and come forward.
James and Senator Hartley also disappeared two months later, their connection to my father's financial arrangements surfacingin the same investigation, and they had disappeared from public life with a speed that suggested they had seen it coming and prepared accordingly.
Alana and Michael had tried to come back to the U.S.
I had gotten one phone call, Alana threatening me, saying that I made a mistake and that she had information and that I would regret it. I was in the kitchen eating toast when it came and I put the phone on the table and looked at it. Luca came in from the corridor, looked at my face and took the phone. He listened to Alana rant for a moment and then kissed me and said he would handle it.
He had handled it. Three weeks later I had seen Alana and Michael's faces on a news website under a headline about fraud charges and extradition proceedings. I never heard from her again.
I spent most of my time learning Luca. His habits and his preferences and the way he took his coffee. His quietness when he was thinking through a problem and his calmness when he was simply present and content. I learned that he read in the evenings and smoked in the mornings. I learned that he laughed rarely but that when he did, it was worth waiting for.
I painted, slept well, ate food I actually wanted and wore clothes I chose. I didn't perform anything for anyone and it had taken several months before I stopped waiting for someone to tell me I was doing it wrong.
In the second month, I gathered the courage to visit my mother's grave with Luca and Renzo. I told her what I did to Dad, I told her that I avenged her even if she didn't want it and that I loved her. Luca and Renzo promised her they would take care of me forever and Luca promised her he would come every year with flowers.
"Good," I tell Annika. "I genuinely can't complain."
She squeezes my arm and she shows me three of the sculptures up close, explaining the process of each one with enthusiasm of someone who loves their work completely before we drift back to the men.
Luca has a drink in his hand and he looks at me across the room. He takes one last swallow of the drink and he sets it down and he says, "I'm going."
Kirill rolls his eyes and Annika's eyes twinkle.
