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I smirk, nodding. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I deployed custom-built web crawlers and scrapers to scour the deep web and less savory corners of the internet.”
“Excellent,” I tell her, unable to wipe the grin off my face.
“These men all have some connection with my family. This one, for example …” She clicks through to the next profile. “He went to the same school in the same county as several of myfather’s men. This came from a data leak from a sports insurance company that covered all of them for football.”
“Let’s see them again,” I say, and she clicks through them.
I pause when she comes to Denis.
“I highly doubt it’s him,” I tell her. “He’s been with our family for as long as I can remember. I’ve been in several meetings when he tried to talk my father down from some scheme. Look at this connection. The same cell phone provider?”
Mila frowns, then nods. “Yeah, you’re right. My program made a mistake.”
“Hey …” I say as I kneel beside her, placing my coffee on the desk and kissing her softly. “I’m not criticizing. You’ve helped so damn much.”
“It’s becauseIhaven’t spent the last several years working on video games.”
“My hacking …”
“Don’t say hussy,” she says, laughing.
I chuckle, then turn when I hear somebody clear their throat. It’s Ania, standing with her hands clasped, her cheeks red as she watches us.
“Hey, sis,” I say, smiling widely, wondering how much she saw. Did she see the kiss?
“Hey. How’s it going?”
“Great, thanks to Mila,” I reply. “I’m going to shoot Dimitri a text.”
Maybe this is a way to distract myself so I don’t have to stand here as Ania picks me apart with her gaze in that searching way she has. It’s a mean thought, but sometimes, my baby sister unnerves me with her penetrating stare. I’m done with that sort of thinking. After shooting off the text, Ania says, “Shall we get lunch? I can make us something?”
I smile again, then say, “Sure, Ania, that sounds great.”
She tilts her head at me, almost like she’s suspicious. I can practically read her thoughts.Why’s he suddenly being so nice?
Ania makes some sandwiches—even when Yuri insists multiple times that he can do it—and then we eat on the back porch. Water glistens off the pool, reminding me of a few days ago, watching my big brother and Mila talk awkwardly out here.
Mila and Ania talk about ballet and programming. I’m happy to sit here and listen, watching as they bond. Mila is so animated, beautiful, and talented. There’s always a hint of sadness in her, though, as though the impending wedding, the disaster, is on her mind constantly.
“Excuse me,” I say when my cell phone rings.
“He’s way more polite since you came along,” Ania tells Mila, and they laugh.
I wander over to the pool and answer the phone. Dimitri sounds on edge. I’d almost thinkanxiousif I didn’t know him better. “Any news?”
“It’ll be hunting time soon. I’ve narrowed it down to six.” Right away, I feel guilty. I should’ve saidwe. I really should’ve saidMila, but I’m trying to hide how badly I want her. “A couple days of tailing and data gathering, and we’ll have our marks. Then you don’t need to marry Mila.”
Dimitri pauses, then says, “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
I must be messed up in the head because I want to shout and roar at him, saying that he should feel lucky for even having the chance to marry Mila. It’s an insane thing to think, considering it’s the last thing I want.
“What if we hit the deadline?” I ask. “Will you do it?”
“I know what you’re going to say. I have to put the family and the business first. I get it.”
He’s talking to me like I’m the old Mikhail, the pre-Mila Mikhail. It’s like she’s changed something in me just by being herself. “No, actually,” I grunt. “I was going to say … fuck Nikolai. Why should we let him dictate what the Sokolovs do?”
