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“He bought a black Rolls-Royce.”
This stirs a memory, one of the few good memories I had with my father. A memory that is now tainted.
I swallow the taste of bile. “He named that car after me.”
Angel drums the fingers of his free hand restlessly on his knee. “Yeah, he did. He drove it to our front door, called you out to see it, and told you its name. Then, he took you for a ride in it.”
“We went to the bookstore. He bought me all the Austens. Not just a single book in a collection, but individual hardbacks.”
“He drove you to your favorite place in a car named after the daughter he traded it for.”
I tighten the grip I have on my brother’s hand. That memory…so precious. It was like someone had shined a light on it but replaced the filter. All of the details were clearer, more gruesome. The smile on my father’s face. The way he beamed at my excitement to have such a collection of books. The way he held my hand as the wind whipped my hair around on the drive home.
His smile was no longer loving and fatherly. It was sinister.
Angel places his hand on top of mine, reversing the gesture of comfort and squeezing. “Every single step that I have taken was to protect you and Lulu. You two were never going to be safe unless we were the only family operating in New York City. I failed you.”
“You didn’t fail. Lulu is alive. And we’re all so…intertwined now. The Valachis have a hand in everything now, Angel.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“I was the one who smuggled her out of the city.”
I lift my chin. I shouldn’t be surprised. “She is back now.”
Angel sighs. “Damnit. Then, I really have failed. You are married to Ivan, and Lulu is back in the middle of this war.”
There are two knocks on the door, and Nikolai returns to the room. I grip my brother’s hands one more time before I stand, then whisper, “You have done so much for us,fratello. Now, it’s my turn.”
I return with Nikolai to my room, to my cage. I don’t like being here. I’m still a moth, battering my wings against the glass.
But there is a crack in the bell jar.
Chapter 8
Ivan
The city never sleeps.Monsters are aware of this, aware of how the world can change in the time it takes to close one’s eyes.
Being a monster does not keep one safe. No. There are other monsters with dripping teeth and poised claws ready to strike when one blinks. And then there are the hunters of monsters who live by a creed.Monsters should never sleep easily.
Which is why I don’t. The only person I have ever truly trusted is resting in a cemetery outside of the city with a foot of Russian soil piled on top of him. Maxim Romanov made me into the man that I am, and in the process, removed everything human about me.
This is why I do not travel; I prowl. I always have a driver, never trusting someone to sit in the seat behind me. I learn the course before I get into the car, and reject any deviation from thecourse. A wrong turn means a bullet to the back of the head of the man sitting in front of me. I have done it before.
There are certain fluids in the human body that just do not come out of leather seats.
Human trafficking is one of the main incomes for the Romanov family. This requires me to spend a lot of time at the various docks in the New Jersey and NYC areas. The route is familiar to me, as well as approved alternatives when traffic gets bad. My driver is taking the route perfectly. Traffic starts to slow, and from a distance, I see why we are almost at a halt.
A police blockade stops the cars in front of us. The police are under the thumb of Luca Marzano, an Untouchable. Both law enforcers and mafia members are forbidden from harming Luca, one of the few men in our world with unswerving protection. Other than the Dons—I'm learning that the Commission is fiercely protective of them.
“Boss?” My driver asks. I’m sure his thoughts have gone where mine have, too. Luca could be the one stopping the cars in front of us right now. Every bicyclist that speeds by my window could be Azrael taking their opportunity to strike.
“Dimitri, pull over. I’m getting out here,” I say abruptly. He knows better than to question me and immediately stops the car.
I open the door, almost taking out a passing bicyclist. The guy turns to shout at me but stops cold when he sees two of my men join me. Smart move.
