“I want … freedom. I want choices. Even before this happened, my father controlled everything. I want to be away from it all—for real. Forever.”
I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “I can get you a new identity. Passport, papers, money. You can fly to wherever you want. Anywhere away from Chicago and from Italy, from anyone who might recognize you. You will be hiding, but you can live a normal life.”
She gnaws on her bottom lip, thinking. “Or?”
I settle back in the chair. “Or we go to Russia.”
Her nostrils flare. “Those are my only two options?”
“Yes.”
“Why can’t I just stay here?” She sweeps an arm across the terrace. “We were careful, leaving the city. You just said they think I’m still in Paris. They can’t check every town in France.”
“This house belongs to a man my family does business with. Next week, he’ll bring his mistress here.”
She makes a face. “Glad I washed the sheets. Don’t you have other safe houses?”
“They could be inhabited at any time. Youwould not be safe in any of them.”
“I still don’t understand why I can’t go back to Paris. They can search as much as they want. That doesn’t mean they’ll find me.”
“They will. And then my father will know they succeeded and I failed.”
She hesitates before speaking again, catching my slip. “You don’t have a lot of faith in me.”
“I could say the same.”
“Youtoldme not to trust people.”
“And you said you wanted choices. I am giving you them. Take my help and disappear, or come to Russia.”
“If I went to Russia … what would happen?”
There’s a sudden clench in my chest. I didn’t think that was an option she’d entertain at all, and I’m not sure I could actually allow it.
“I am not sure,” I admit. “We would decide what to ask for in exchange for your return. Then arrange a meeting.”
“Could I—would I have the option to stay in Russia, if I wanted?”
Another clench, tighter.
I force myself to shake my head. “You are a Caruso. No one would believe your loyalties were different.”
“If I were loyal to my father, I wouldn’t have run.”
“Blood is blood. This could have been your father’s plan—for you to be captured and brought to us as a spy.”
She scoffs. “You really think I’d do that?”
“No, I do not. But I would have thought differently if I had first met you yesterday.”
“You would tell them though, right?”
“I am not thepakhan. It does not always matter what I say. I can promise you won’t be harmed, but I can’t promise anything else.”
Carina connects the dots quickly. “Your father is thepakhan?”
I nod.
