Page 76 of City Of Thieves

Renzo flicks me a look.

Trust me.

My breath catches, and then I nod.

“Are you a businessman, Belov?” he asks calmly.

His question is met with stony silence. Eventually, Konstantin’s shock at hearing Renzo’s voice dissipates into mocking laughter.

“Mr. Marchesi. The family fuck up himself. You made my brother a lot of money fighting in his cage,Widow Maker.”

There are connotations to that nickname I can’t think about right now.

“I've decided to try new streams of revenue,” he says coldly, freezing out the last of Konstantin’s mirth. “Oleg didn’t take too kindly to my resignation, so I wrote it in his blood on his office wall.”

“He was a greedy fool. HimandVasily. They never understood what was truly at stake.”

“Which is?”

“You are a fool, too, for aligning yourself with Marchesi, Tatiana,” he calls out to me. “Now you willneversee your daughter again.”

“Then you’ll never see the ‘Atonement’ again,” says Renzo swiftly, staring straight at me, rebranding his promise with his penetrating gaze.Trust me.“Considering you’ve been busting balls all over London to get your hands on it, I’m guessing it might mean something to you.”

“I believe you are confused with how an auction works, Mr Marchesi,” he says smoothly. “I won. You lost. Payment has already been settled, and the painting will be in my possession within twenty-four hours.”

“Which version?”

There’s a pause. “What do you mean?” he snarls, ripping his cool pretense to shreds.

“I heard a nasty rumor about a forgery.”

“Mudak!” he roars. “This is bullshit... Tatiana! Did you know about this?” His rage is so great it’s distorting the phone’s speaker. “You have no idea what you have done!”

But I do. Because every bruise you’ve given me, every cruelty you’ve dealt me, has left a mark on my soul.

I can’t do this.

I can’t lose my daughter.

I sink down on the edge of the bed as Renzo drops to his knees in front of me, still holding the phone. Taking my jaw between his fingers, he forces me to look at him.

Trust me.

“If you lay one finger on that girl, Belov…” His voice is like a razor blade: slashing clean with a threat and oozing consequences. “I will personally set fire to the original myself. So, I ask again… Are you a fucking businessman? Do you want this goddamn painting or not? Because I have a deal for you… In three days’, time we’re making a trade. The real ‘Atonement’ for Anastasia. There’s a warehouse near Elizabeth Marine Terminal in Newark.

I shake my head at him frantically.

We don’t even know for sure if Seb has the original.

“And walk myself right into a Carrera/Marchesi ambush?” Konstantin scoffs. “I am no fool. I know who owns the dockyards…Iwill make the details of this…trade.”

“Then I’ll await your call. And Belov…? For every hurt you deliver Anastasia between now and then, I will take my retribution out on that fucking canvas. Are we clear?”

“Go fuck yourself,mudak.”

The second he hangs up, I let out a tortured breath.

“Tatiana, listen to me.” Chucking my phone across the bed, he takes my face between my hands again. “Belov has no idea of the war that’s coming to him. We’ve been fighting our battles on our own for so long,dolcezza, but this time we’re fighting together. We’restrongertogether.”