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“Will do. Can I talk to Mike?”
“One moment.” His voice sounds far from the phone. “Mike, it’s Sasha.”
A boyish squeal comes through the phone before his short breaths follow. “Sasha, Sasha, is it really you, Sasha?”
My shoulders relax, and I soften my voice. “Hi, my love. I miss you.”
“Miss you more than to the moon and back then up again, miss you, miss youuu, Sasha.”
“Not more than me. I want to eat you up.”
“What do you mean? I’m not candy!” He laughs, and I laugh, too. “When are you coming back?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t right now, Mishka. I’m in a faraway place and won’t be able to come home for a while.”
“As far as the moon?”
“No, but it’s hard to come back right now.”
“But you will one day, right?” There’s a tremor in his little voice, and I want to kick myself for putting it there.
“Of course! I’m doing this to keep you safe, but one day, I’ll come back and never leave, okay?”
“Okay,” he says with little energy. “Here’s Papa.”
I look up to fight the tears and my eyes meet icy ones.
Kirill stands at the top of the stairs, leaning against the railing with a hand in his pocket.
Shit.
Fuck.
Please don’t tell me he heard the entire thing?
No, I made sure no one was there when I started talking to Uncle, so he couldn’t have…
I try not to be jerky when I hang up the burner phone and slip it into my gun holster. “Were you looking for me?”
His expression is neutral, but that’s by no means a good thing. I’ve learned that Kirill hides his emotions, or whatever emotions he has left, frighteningly well.
You can never see his anger or contemplation when he so successfully tucks them where no one can see.
When he doesn’t answer, I walk to the stairs, summoning a sense of ease that’s opposite the anxiousness knotting my stomach.
Every step feels as if I’m dragging a dead body.
“Boss…”
“Who were you talking to?” His question is casual enough, but an edge lurks beneath it.
“No one—”
“Don’t fucking lie to me.”
The commanding tone of his voice renders me speechless.
It takes me a few moments to summon my courage and whisper, “Since when have you been listening?”
