“That doesn’t mean—”
Before she could finish, my phone vibrated sharply in my pocket; the timing was almost ironic. I glanced at the screen, noticing that it was Viktor. He wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t urgent after we had just met, especially. Her eyes flicked to it as well.
“Guess war doesn’t pause for romance, hunh?” She murmured.
“No,” I agreed.
I stepped away, answering the call as I moved toward the hallway.
“Yes?”
Viktor’s voice was tight.
“Kliment is lashing out.”
Of course he was. I walked further out, but behind me, I felt her gaze lingering. She was still neither angry nor sad but something in between those two things. And for the first time, the thought of her choosing to stand beside me at that masquerade felt more dangerous than any war waiting outside.
Chapter 17 - Elisse
I wasn’t meant to hear it. That much was obvious from the way their voices dropped the moment I stepped into the hallway. I had been on my way to the kitchen, barefoot, restless, and unable to sleep after Fyodor had walked away to take that call, which had only gone on for too long until Viktor had shown up eventually. The penthouse was quiet at this hour, the city below humming in a distant, indifferent rhythm.
His study door was half open, and light spilled across the marble floor.
Viktor’s voice carried outside first, low and clipped.
“—third interception this month.”
My steps slowed down as I tried to hear as best I could, all other thoughts escaping me as I heard him talk about an interception.
“There won’t be a fourth,” Fyodor replied evenly.
“You can’t keep dismantling them without Kliment lashing out the way he is. You know as well as I do that tonight was too much.”
“I’m aware.” It was followed by silence and then a faint rustle of paper.
“He was already suspicious before,” Mikhail added. “And he knows now that tonight’s warehouse was not an isolated incident. I know he was moving arms toward Brickell again, deliberately within Chernykh surveillance, and I know that we did the right thing, but you cannot forget that he is still your elder brother and the head of this family, and most control lies with him.”
My breath caught. Brickell. Chernykh territory. That only meant I had been right earlier, even if Fyodor had not confirmed my suspicions. Kliment’s operation had been against the Chernykh’s after all.
“And just last week you went ahead and pulled back the shipment,” Viktor finished.
Pulled. My fingers curled against the wall. That wasn’t the first time, apparently.
“Kliment believes escalation forces negotiation, and no matter how much you try, you cannot explain things to Kliment. He will always believe what he wants to believe, and there is no reasoning with him,” Mikhail said.
“He’s wrong,” Fyodor replied.
“All I am saying is, you’ve redirected three operations in the last five weeks. Two shipments. One raid. And now you have also told Kliment that you are the one who did this all, so we need to stop now.”
Five weeks. My mind stumbled over the number. He had been preventing escalations for so long?
“I don’t want this to turn into a civil war between you and Kliment. He already thinks you’re shielding the Chernykhs.”
There was a faint, almost imperceptible shift in the room that I felt even through the doorway.
“I’m shielding stability,” Fyodor said.
“For her,” Mikhail added quietly.
