I inhale a steady breath, forcing the anger aside. Dimitri taught me better. Emotions serve a purpose, but not when they distract from my goal.
I won’t let Max best me.
My gaze drifts around the ballroom, drinking in the excessive decorations and oblivious crowd. “It’s Sanskrit, actually. My name.”
He shifts in his combat boots, the one piece of his ensemble that still reveals him as an outsider. “Never thought Roman would come up with that.”
Wrath spirals in my chest like barbed wire. “He didn’t. My mother did.” Memories surface, and I blurt what’s on my mind before I can stop myself. “Roman only cares about his work and the one city where he matters. Mom had broader interests. She took me to a museum the first Thursday of every month.” I don’t want to keep revealing things, but the truths just keep spilling out. “And the theater. I sawThe Nutcrackerevery year until I was nine. Until she died.”
“Mine died when I was eight.” Max exudes practiced nonchalance, as if he’s commenting on the weather.
Is he trying to one-up me? Spinning tales to…what? Bond? “Did you murder her?”
He shrugs. “Not on purpose.”
Disgust wrenches my stomach.
No surprise that another Kozlov man slaughtered a relative. That’s what they do. That’s who they are.
I’ll make him suffer for that callousness, for the cold disregard of his mother’s life. I’ll kill him slowly.
“What does Anika mean?”
I blink away the mental image of slicing his tendons until he’s a useless sack of muscles to find him staring at me. “It meanssoldier,army, andfearless.Graceful, even.”
“That fits.” An almost playful smile sharpens his features. “So, tell me, Nika?—”
I flinch. “Don’t address me like we’re friends.”
Before tonight, I haven’t heard that name in years. No one’s called me that since the island, since Dimitri picked me up and christened me “Kai.”
Max’s gaze doesn’t waver.
I decide to take this discussion in a different direction. “Are you going to be a gentleman and ask me to dance?”Get close to me, you bastard, so I can rip your dick off.
A cold laugh shakes his shoulders. “I’ve never been mistaken for a gentleman.” He brushes his hair back from his face and leans in. “Maybe you’re not as intelligent as I thought.”
A server passes between us, holding her tray up high. By the time she clears my line of sight, Max has already vanished into the sea of bodies.
I grit my teeth. Before the night ends, I vow to kill this man.
If only to stop him from annoying me to death.
Chapter 6
Max
I post up next to the west wall, my position obscured by a cluster of people chatting, laughing, and using animated hand gestures.
None of them notice me. I’ve perfected the art of being present without being seen, occupying space without sticking out.
From here, I have a clear line of sight to Nika.
She stands where I left her, her posture rigid.
I catalogue the micro-expressions flickering across her face. The tightness around her eyes, the way her jaw clenches and releases. The rapid rise and fall of her chest.
From our brief interactions, I’ve learned that Anika Kozlov is disciplined, lethal, and smart.
