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“I’m not sure if that’s comforting or not,” I say. “Did you… hurt him?”
“I probably should have. But no, I didn’t.”
“I mean… I am happy about that. As mad as I am at him for what he did, I still don’t want him to suffer. But I’m also a little surprised.”
“Why?” he asks. “Because you expected me to behave like the possessive beast I’ve shown myself to be in the past?”
I suppress a smile. “Your words, not mine.”
He sighs. “Anthony came to me after the hospital. He wanted to talk, man to man. He told me that he was going to leave you and us alone. I decided to take him at his word.”
“Why?”
“Because I realized that he really did care for you. In his own way.”
I’m silent for a few moments, taking that all in. “Wow. Okay then.”
“I didn’t tell you because—”
“There was a lot going on. I know, I get it. But I’m glad you told me the truth now. You know what this is right here?” I ask, gesturing between the two of us.
“What?”
“Growth!”
He stares at me blankly for a second. Then he bursts out laughing.
I can really feel it this time. Things changing. Shifting beneath our feet and reaching towards a new, fresh light overhead.
Our love is a living thing. And the days ahead are starting to look like summer.
57
MISHA
“This is the seventh Ivanov body that’s washed up outside our doors.” Savva’s gaunt face is thick with unkempt scruff and his eyelids droop in heavy purple bags. It’s clear he hasn’t been sleeping.
“Seventh on your side of town,” I correct. “Igor reported three more bodies in the meatpacking district this morning.”
Savva casts nervous glances from me to Konstantin. “These murders didn’t happen under my order, boss.”
I nod. “I know. They happened under mine.”
Savva frowns. “But who carried them out? We’re your men—and believe me, I’d be more than willing to slit those bastards’ throats one by one if you gave the word—but you didn’t order us to flush out the Ivanov scum.”
“Because I already dispatched a separate task force to do exactly that,” I tell him. “Alert the men that more bodies are likely to wash up in the next few days.”
“And if one of them is Petyr Ivanov…?” Savva ventures.
“It won’t be,” I tell him confidently. “The only door he’ll wash up outside of is mine. Thank you, Savva. That will be all.”
The lieutenant looks very unsettled, but he gives me a half-hearted nod and leaves my office.
Konstantin sits down in the now-vacated seat. “What’s the end goal here, man? You’re making the rank-and-file uneasy. They’re gonna start making guesses, and eventually, they might actually make the right one. How do you think they’ll feel when they know the Babai are wandering around the city with murder on their minds?”
“What they don’t know won’t hurt them, and this will be over long before they find out.” I wave my hand. “The point is that Petyr needs to know he’s being hunted. Sooner or later, he’ll feel that pressure and make the wrong move. Desperate men always do.”
“Fine, but in the meantime, the men are going to want to know what’s going on. You saw the look on Savva’s face. He’s scared shitless.”
