Pink-cheeked, Victoria darts away, rushing into the kitchen with a quick look sent to me.
“Leave her the fuck alone, Ilya, or I’ll cut out your tongue.”
“Is that a promise? Sounds like a promise to me.”
Ipromisea slow, painful death via a glower. To Niko, I demand, “Is everything okay? I didn’t realize you were coming to the city.”
There, that’s a polite way of asking what the fuck he’s doing here without warning me.
Unless Misha knew.
That little fucker.
“Were you ever going to tell me you married?”
When I grimace, Ilya cackles. “I was starting to think she was a figment of your imagination, Maxim.”
“Ilya,” Niko grumbles.
The pest takes my earlier position on the couch. “Not everything has to be so serious.”
“Where the Veronians are concerned, it does.”
I glance between them. “Is there a problem?”
“Not a problem, per se,” Ilya answers. “Just… something to be wary of.” His attention turns to Victoria, who brings in a tray, one that’s hammered brass and not her style at all. That Camille or Inessa must have given this to her is rather sweet. “Wonderful. It’s been a long day and I need a shot or ten.”
After using an ornate jug to fill intricate metal-worked glasses, Victoria passes Nikolai his water first. Her fingers mark the frozen bottle of vodka as she pours Ilya a shot.
“Maxim?”
Seeing that she brought enough glasses for all of us to drink either beverage, I murmur, “Water, please,kotik.”
Ilya snorts at the endearment, but Nikolai looks surprisingly pleased. Until Victoria sits down.
Before either man can say another word, she remarks, “If it’s to do with the Veronians, then it’s my business. Not Maxim’s.”
Ilya shoots back his shot.“She has a point.”
“Maxim?”
I nod. “She’ll only hound me for intel later.”
Practically purring with delight at “winning,” Victoria tucks her feet beneath her and rests against me. “What the hell is going on?”
“I see why you call her ‘kitten.’”
I hiss at Ilya, “Shut up.”
He just reaches for the bottle and pours himself another shot. “Nikolai contacted me after Misha informed him that Victoria had gone missing.”
My eyes widen. “Sencis! I had it under control.”
“Not according to Misha. He said you were losing your shit.” Nikolai rubs his chin. “And I was… worried for you. I know what she means to you. I didn’t want anything to happen to her, and I knew Ilya has been sniffing around the East Coast for a while now.”
“You have?” I pin a look on the most irritating man on the planet. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about it?”
“I don’t need to ask you to take a shit, Maxim.”
