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He sits back, his fingers steepled under his chin. “Nico’s been obsessed with you for years, you know. Watching you, learning every detail of your life. A man like him, a man with his power and his enemies, he doesn’t let himself get attached. Not to anything or anyone.”

His smile widens and it reminds me of a shark. “But you.” He shakes his head. “You got under his skin. You became his weakness, his blind spot. And now, you’re going to be his downfall.”

I shake my head, tears burning at the back of my eyes. “No. No, you’re wrong. Nico doesn’t…he wouldn’t…”

“Wouldn’t what?” Russo cuts in almost pleasantly. “Wouldn’t risk everything for you? Wouldn’t burn his world down just to keep you safe?”

He leans in again, his breath hot against my cheek. “He already has, Katerina,” he whispers.

Russo leans back in his chair, his posture relaxed, but his eyes glitter with a cruel, knowing light, like a cat toying with a mouse it’s about to devour.

“You know, Katerina,” he says conversationally. “I’ve always admired Nico Barone. His cunning, his ruthlessness. The way he can make brutal choices and never flinch.” Russo’s gaze bores into mine. “But taking the Santoro girl? That wasn’t a hard choice. That was a weakness.”

I shake my head, confusion and dread warring in my gut. “What are you talking about? Nico saved Seraphina. He protected an innocent child.”

Russo laughs and it’s a sharp, mocking sound that echoes off the bare walls of the room. “Is that what you think? That Nico Barone, the Butcher of Brooklyn, suddenly grew a conscience?” He shakes his head, his smile widening. “No, Katerina. Nico didn’t take the girl out of the goodness of his heart. He took her to get to you. To have an excuse to bring you under his control.”

I stare at him, my heart pounding a sickening rhythm against my ribs. “You’re nuts,” I whisper. “I’m—I’m nothing to Nico. Again, I’m just a doctor. I really have no stake in this game.”

Russo tsks, the sound chiding, almost pitying. “Come now, Katerina. Let’s not play these games. We both know you’re far more than just a doctor to Nico Barone.”

He stands, pacing the room with slow, measured steps. His shoes click against the concrete.

“Every man in our world has a weakness,” he says, his voice taking on a lecturing tone, like a professor explaining a particularly fascinating concept. “A fracture point, to use medical terms. A chink in their armor that can be exploited, if you know where to look.”

He pauses, turning to face me with a malicious smile. “Your cousin Maksim, for example. His weaknesses are his wife and children. The people he loves more than life itself.”

My blood runs cold, a sick, twisting dread coiling in my gut. Maksim. Aria. The kids. The thought of them in the crosshairs of this madman’s schemes is enough to make me want to beg for their safety.

But I bite my tongue until I taste blood, swallowing down the plea that wants to rise in my throat. I won’t give him the satisfaction to see how deeply his words have cut.

Russo continues, oblivious or indifferent to my inner turmoil. “And Nikolai? His weaknesses are even closer to home. Maksim, his beloved brother. And you, his precious baby cousin.”

He stops in front of me, leaning down until his face is inches from mine. I can smell his breath, coffee and cigarettes and something rotten and foul. I hold my breath because otherwise I’ll gag.

“Finding Nico’s weakness, now that took patience. It took time and resources and a very particular set of skills. But in the end, it was worth it. Because in the end, it led me to you.” He pokes me on the nose and I try to turn my face away to escape the intensity of his gaze and the suffocating closeness of him. But his hand shoots out, gripping my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes.

“You’re the key, Katerina,” he whispers, his thumb brushing over my lower lip in a grotesque parody of tenderness. “The key to unlocking Nico Barone’s downfall. And I intend to use you to your full potential.”

I jerk my head back, revulsion and terror rising like bile in my throat. “You’re wrong,” I choke out, the words tasting like ash on my tongue. “I’m no one. I don’t matter to Nico, or to anyone else in your sick, twisted world.”

Russo just smiles, a cold, pitiless thing. “Oh, but you do, Katerina. Right now, you’re the single most valuable object in the northeastern United States. And I plan to exploit that value to its utmost.”

He steps back, rubbing his hands together like a craftsman preparing for a particularly delicate task. “I’m going to break you,” he says, his voice almost dreamy and reverent. “I’m going to take you apart, piece by excruciating piece. Then I’m going to send those pieces back to your beloved cousins, to your precious Nico.”

Tremors wrack my body so hard the restraints rattle against the bed frame. “You’re a monster,” I whisper, horrified at what I’m hearing. “A fucking monster.”

Russo shrugs, unconcerned. “Perhaps. But I’m a monster with a vision. And you, Katerina, you’re going to help me bring that vision to life.”

He starts to lay it out, his voice soft, almost hypnotic. The way he’ll use me to lure Nico in, to make him sloppy, reckless with rage and grief. Then he’ll strike when Nico is at his weakest, wiping him and his empire off the map like so much dirt off a boot.

Then, once Nico is gone…

“The girl,” Russo murmurs, his eyes distant, unfocused. “Seraphina. So young, so impressionable. With the right guidance and influence she could be molded into something extraordinary. A weapon honed to a razor’s edge, to cut down all who stand in our way.”

He smiles, and it’s a slow, dreamy thing. “Imagine it, Katerina. A new generation, rising from the ashes of the old. The Russo dynasty, stretching out into infinity. And all of it, all of it thanks to you.”

I can’t breathe or think. The horror of it, the sheer, unmitigated evil, it’s too much. It’s too much to bear.