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Trapped in a basement with no windows.
12
URI
“Well? Any news?”
“I said I’d call you when there was news to share.” There’s a little static on the line, but not so much that I can’t hear Nikolai’s irritation.
“You’ve had twelve hours. Do you need me to find someone actually competent to do the job?”
I should’ve known better. What I call follow-ups, Niko calls micromanaging. What I call delegation, he calls control. When I say the sky is blue, he likes to say it’s green, solely because it pisses me the hell off.
“These are delicate matters. I have to be discreet. We don’t want everyone knowing that ourvors’sbody parts are showing up in the mail, do we?”
I suppress a sigh. “I called all the main men. Pavel and Igor are the only two that didn’t pick up.”
“Igor always picks up.”
“Exactly. I just need confirmation.”
“As I said, I’m on it.”
I hang up before I say something regrettable. Then again, if I did, it would be the first time in a long time. These days, I tend to tread lightly around Nikolai and his ego. Not simply because I took the title that was meant for him, but also because he is my elder brother. And he’s also a good one—at least, when he’s not busy feeling sorry for himself.
The shatter of breaking glass gets me on my feet and out of my office room in an instant. I find Lev in the upstairs living room, shaking his head in distress and hugging his knees tight to his chest. Svetlana is standing a few feet away, marooned in place by the shards of crystal littering the floor between her and Lev.
She pales when she sees me. “I-I’m sorry, sir,” she says quickly. “I didn’t mean to upset him. I was just—”
“It’s okay, Svetlana,” I say gently. “Just tell me what happened.”
Her hands are trembling badly and she keeps glancing over at Lev, who’s muttering fast under his breath.
“I told him he couldn’t go down to the basement and he… he got upset with me…”
There are tears shimmering in her eyes. I kick away some of the glass. “This was my mistake. I should have been the one to tell Lev.” The frown lines on her face reduce drastically. “Could you give us a moment?”
She nods quickly and jumps over the broken crystal. Her feet land on a few straddling shards and the crunch has Lev rocking back and forth even faster.
“Lev,brat,” I croon softly as I approach him. He’s skittish, his eyes veering up and down, up and down, again and again. “Can you come over here for a second?”
He shakes his head furiously. The rocking doesn’t stop. “I want… m-my basement.”
“That’s not gonna happen today, buddy.”
He lets out an angry wail and lunges up at me. The first time it happened, he literally knocked me off my feet, but after seven years, I’m prepared. I grab him before he can throw the full weight of his body on me. I wrap my arms around him and squeeze hard like a boa constrictor.
Lev snarls but I don’t let go. I don’t even loosen my grip. I just apply pressure until he stops struggling as much.
“Lev, take a deep breath.”
“I don’t want breath. I want my basement!”
Keeping one arm firmly placed across his chest, I stroke his hair with my free hand. It’s a very different experience now than it used to be. Even at twelve, Lev was a tall kid. But the years have turned him into a man. His muscles have grown, his strength has grown, his body has grown.
His mind, though, has stayed right where it was.
“I know you do, buddy, but not today, okay?”
