“Work.”
“Was there some sort of trouble?” She knew this world. She knew exactly what happened when men were late.
“There was, but it is contained now.”
She studied my expression for a moment longer than necessary.
“Are you alright?”
“Perfect,” I replied, walking inside the studio.
“You’re wet,” she observed.
“It’s raining outside.”
“You didn’t bring an umbrella?”
“Do I look like the kind of person who carries an umbrella?”
Her shoulders loosened almost imperceptibly as she kept staring at me, keeping the fabrics and needles down on the little table right beside her mannequin. I already knew she had been a fashion student at university, but it was something else to witness her in her natural habitat. She looked completely at ease.
“You’re quieter than usual,” she added.
“I was thinking something.”
“What exactly were you thinking?” she asked.
“Kliment escalated an operation without consulting me.” Her head tilted slightly as she assessed me.
“That could not have been good. What did you do?”
“I did the only thing that felt right. I went ahead and de-escalated the operation and put a stop to it.”
“Will he not be angry with you over this? I am sure if one of my younger brothers ever went against Iosif, he would be furious.”
“He will be, of course.”
Her lips twitched faintly. “That sounds like treason on your part.”
“Perhaps it is.”
She faced me fully then, “Why are you fracturing your own family?”
“I am doing no such thing.”
“Oh, really? Who was this operation against then, and why did you stop it?”
“That is none of your business, Elisse.”
“Is that so, Fyodor? Because my instincts are telling me that Kliment went against the Chernykhs, and you jumped in to stop it.” I stayed silent, and she went on, reading it as an affirmation. “Did you do it for me?”
“You are making assumptions.”
She looked at me for a long moment, and I saw it again. The way something in her gaze had changed over the past week. There was a little less fury in her eyes and a little more curiosity. For some reason, it unsettled me more than her anger ever had. We both turned when there was a knock at the front door, and Mikhail entered moments later, holding a slim black box.
“We received this,” he said.
“From?” I asked.
