Page 143 of Mafia King’s Dangerous Vow

They leave with too much silence between them to be casual.

The elevator doors close. Then it is only Aleksander and me. He stands near the new table, gloves still in one hand, looking at the room as if he’s trying to understand when, exactly, it became less his alone.

“You don’t hate it,” I say.

“No.”

“That’s not a very detailed review.”

“I’m still deciding whether you improved the room or staged a quiet coup.”

“Those are not mutually exclusive.”

His mouth almost moves.

Almost.

I feel it anyway.

The phone lights on the new table before he can answer.

Yuri.

I see the instinct cross his face—the old one. The one that wants to take the blow first, name it, measure it, decide how much of it I should receive.

Then he picks up the phone and puts it on speaker.

“Yuri.”

Yuri’s voice comes through low and controlled. “We might have a problem. Someone updated Ivan’s emergency pickup authorization twenty-three minutes ago.”

Aleksander doesn’t reach for me. He doesn’t tell me to breathe. He only turns the phone slightly so I can hear better.

My voice doesn’t shake.

“Tell us everything.”

34

THEN WE MAKE THAT SAFE. (ALEKSANDER)

Yuri goes quiet for half a second over the speaker, deciding how much to soften.

“Yuri,” I say.

One word, but it’s enough. Tamara hears all of it.

He adjusts immediately. “A temporary contact was added to Ivan Morozov’s school pickup authorization. Kornelya Orlov.”

Tamara’s fingers tighten around the back of one of the new chairs.

“Does Anna know?” she asks.

“No. The change was entered through the administrative side. No notification went to her email account.”

That is worse. I see the moment Tamara understands it. Her father has not frightened Anna into changing her routine. He has preserved it.

“Is Ivan home?” I ask.