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I turned, even though I knew it wouldn’t do any good. My legs unstuck from the chair, my sweat making them grab hold of the lacquered wood. “I was a little busy. And they drugged me.” My head pounded. I wanted Nora, a bed, and my favorite blanket. In that order. If I couldn’t have all three, I’d settle for them not harassing the piss out of me.

Kirill laughed, shaking his head. “We’ll get you a blanket.” He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over my shoulders.

Maksim gave him a piercing look that probably meant he wasn’t supposed to do that, but Kirill shrugged and closed the jacket over my chest.

It smelled expensive, and I fought the urge to bury my nose in the collar. They could be using this to try and trick me, but it didn’t matter. I couldn’t tell them what I didn’t know.

“Tell us about Alina and the masquerade.” Maksim pulled a chair up next to Roman and sat. Kirill took the other side, leaning casually against the wall with his arms crossed.

I licked my dry lips, not bothering to let myself worry about the consequences of giving them Alina. She wouldn’t hesitate either. I wanted to refuse simply because he’d ordered me to do it, but that would keep me tied to this chair longer, and Nora was waiting. Pride had never tucked my daughter into bed or kept food in our refrigerator. So I swallowed it. “Alina had been talking to three men for a few weeks before the masquerade. She wouldn’t tell me much about them, only that they were older, powerful, and apparently interested in spending the night with her.”

Kirill’s brows climbed.

“Don’t look at me like that. I thought it was insane too.”

Roman’s attention sharpened. “Talking how?”

“I don’t know. Messages. Calls. Whatever Alina does when she decides someone has captured her attention.”

Maksim’s voice dropped. “You never participated in those conversations.”

“No.” They balked at my answer, and I pulled against the restraints. “Would someone like to explain why that matters?”

“No.” Roman smirked. “Infuriating, isn’t it, when someone else has the information you want but they refuse to give it?”

I took a breath before my temper made things worse. “The night of the ball, Alina panicked. She said she’d gotten in over her head and couldn’t go through with it. She was afraid you’d be angry if she stood you up, so she asked me to go in her place long enough to make an appearance.”

Kirill stared at me. “And you agreed.”

“It took her a week to convince me. I didn’t know you were mafia or I would’ve told her to fuck off.” Another shudder tapped its spidery legs down my spine, and I fought not to hug my knees to my chest to conserve warmth. Roman’s mouth flattened, which pissed me off. “What? You didn’t exactly introduce yourselves as terrifying Russian crime bosses.”

Kirill tipped his head. “Would it have changed your answer?”

“Yes.”

Maksim interrupted before I could tell Kirill exactly where he could put his ego. “What did Alina tell you to do?”

“Find the clock. Meet the three men waiting underneath it. Smile. Dance. Stay long enough that you wouldn’t realize she’d backed out. Then leave.” I tried to tick off each point on my fingers, but I couldn’t feel them.

Roman’s eyes narrowed. “But you didn’t leave.”

Heat climbed my throat and flooded my cheeks. Kirill’s grin returned before I could hide my face. “Shut up.” I looked away before the memory of that bedroom could make being naked in front of them any more humiliating than it already was. “Things got out of hand.”

“You spent the entire evening pretending to be Alina.” Maksim, leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees, stared at me with enough heat that I shifted again, but for a whole new reason. “Why?”

“I pretended to be my sister for one night. I never stole from you.”

“You entered our bed under a false identity.” His jaw hardened.

“So did you. That doesn’t make what I did right,” I added before he could turn it into something else. “It was stupid. I know that. I knew it before I even left the room the next morning.”

Roman stepped closer. “What time?”

“I wasn’t checking the clock because I thought someday three lunatics would interrogate me about my departure time.” The chains rattled when I leaned forward again, and I managed to grab hold of the jacket and hold it somewhat closed over my chest. The satin lining felt incredible against my back, and I tried very hard not to think about the last time I’d felt something this luxurious. “It was before daylight. I was home by the time the sun came up. I thought our evening was over.” And I hadn’t wanted to see the disappointment on their faces when they saw me in their bed.

Roman went quiet and somehow even more still.

Maksim tapped his shoulder. “Roman, what is it?”