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“Mikhail,” he greets as I drop into the seat across from him. “I was starting to think you were avoiding me.”
I lean back against the couch, my fingers drumming against the glass in my hand. “I’ve been busy.”
Evans lets out a low chuckle. “So I’ve heard.” And he’s heard right. “You’re making a mess of New York, Ivanov,” he muses. “I almost feel sorry for the poor bastards who got in your way.”
I don’t respond.
I’ve been cleaning house.
New York has been on fire for months.
With me out of commission for weeks after the ambush, the city had begun to rot from the inside. My absence created a vacuum that lesser men were desperate to fill.
I crushed them all.
Now, I own this city again.
But it’s not enough.
Because Alexei—the man who orchestrated my downfall, who set fire to the balance of power—has vanished like a shadow in the wind.
No leads. No trace.
Like a fucking ghost.
Evans reads the tension in my face and tilts his head. “No luck finding him?”
I roll my jaw, my frustration barely contained. “It’s like he vanished.”
And I don’t like that.
Alexei doesn’t vanish. He schemes. He moves in the shadows. And if I can’t find him, it means he’s planning something. And with Lila still out there, still unprotected?—
He’s a problem I can’t afford to ignore.
Evans swirls the liquor in his glass, watching me carefully. “You really think Alexei has her?”
“No,” I admit.
If he had, he’d have made sure I knew.
But that doesn’t mean she’s safe.
Evans leans back, exhaling heavily. “I’ll do anything to find her.”
I arch a brow. “Will you?”
“She’s my daughter, Ivanov.”
A slow smirk tugs at the corner of my lips. “You have an odd way of showing it.”
His face darkens. He knows he has no ground to stand on. He gave Lila nothing but his name and a childhood riddled with disappointment. She was a pawn to him, just like this marriage had been.
But I believe him.
Not because he suddenly gives a damn about Lila—because he cares about power.
And her disappearance makes him weak.