Page 148 of Merciless Daddy

She accepted the water glass.

I watched until she drank.

Then I washed her hair slowly. Her eyes fell half closed. The fight left her body by degrees.

Afterward, I wrapped her in the scratchy blanket and carried her back to bed.

She curled across my chest, one leg over mine. Her hair spread warm against my shoulder. I held her until her breathing deepened.

Outside, guards walked the grounds.

Beyond them, Gianni still hunted. Lev still calculated. Men with guns still believed they could turn blood into leverage.

But Yelena slept against my heart.

For one night, I believed I had made the world small enough to protect completely.

The SUV arrived shortly after sunrise. I saw it from the upstairs window while Yelena still slept across my chest. Black vehicle. Mud along the wheel wells. Two guards in front. Serafina in the back seat.

I eased out from beneath Yelena without waking her.

She made a small unhappy sound and reached for me. I put the scratchy blanket around her shoulders again.

“I’m here,” I whispered. “All’s well.”

Her fingers closed around the edge of it. She settled.

Downstairs, Serafina stood in the entryway wearing yesterday’s clothes.

Her dark hair had come loose from its tie. There was soot on one sleeve of her coat. She carried a tablet beneath one arm and a paper folder in the other.

She did not greet me.

“Library,” she said.

I led her there.

Pietro joined us from the hall. Tonio was already awake, though his face told me he had not slept much. Kiryl remained upstairs with Olimpo.

Serafina placed the tablet on the table.

The screen showed a loading bay at night.

Mezza Notte.

Flames climbed the brick wall behind the restaurant. Black smoke poured through the rear door. Men ran through the alley in masks and dark coats. One threw something burning through the loading entrance. Another watched the street with a rifle under his jacket.

Tonio went still.

Not loud. Not angry.

That was worse.

“The staff?” he asked.

“Evacuated,” Serafina said. “No deaths at the restaurant.”

“Then what happened?”