Page 49

YULIAN

I take them to my favorite restaurant.

It’s a pizza place in the heart of Manhattan: white tablecloth, wine glasses, complimentary champagne. Not exactly hole-in-the-wall goodness.

Nor is it suited for a child.

But Eli is so busy staring at everything with wide eyes that he ends up behaving impeccably. He leaves most of his pizza uneaten because “the sauce is not right,” but practically inhales the crusts.

“You should take it as a compliment,” Mia laughs as we’re taking a walk around the block, Eli snoozing on her hip. “He never eats the crusts.”

She’s beautiful. She always is. But tonight, there’s something about her I just can’t place. Something that makes her face shine brighter, her eyes light up like stars.

Soon, she won’t be looking at me like that anymore.

By the time we’re back at her place, Eli is still sound asleep. I start to ask, “Do you need?—”

Help carrying him upstairs? The words stick in my throat halfway out. I’ve got no right to ask that. Not when I’ve been placing his mother in unspeakable danger.

“—anything else?” I finish instead.

“Like the moon?” Her laugh echoes in the darkness of Brownsville night. A sound so pure has no place there, in the depths of everything dirty and discarded, but it rings out all the same. “Nah, thanks. I’m fine here, down on boring ol’ Earth.”

“Too bad. Had my spaceship parked down the road.”

“Parked or double-parked?”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that sounds like you’re threatening me with a tow truck. Again.”

We’re close enough to kiss. I can tell she wants to. One sign from me, one look, and her eyes will fall shut, lashes fluttering like blue-winged butterflies.

I draw back. “I should get going. Business to be finished.”

“Yeah,” she says, quickly bouncing back from the moment. “Me, too. Got an early shift tomorrow.”

“I know.”

Her eyes narrow, but her lips curve playfully. “Are you stalking me, Mr. Lozhkin?”

Yes. All the time. Even when I’m elsewhere. Even when I shouldn’t be thinking about you at all.

“If I was, you’d never know.”

“Guess I’ll have to catch you in the act, then.”

It’s a promise. Soft, dark, alluring.

I don’t let myself be tempted.

“Goodnight, Mia.”

“Goodnight, Yulian.”

Then she’s gone.

Afterwards, I drive for hours. Just on and on, drawing circles around New York, burning gas like it’s free.

By the time I make it back to the office, Maks is waiting for me. “Back so soon from your trip?”

“Couldn’t go. CPS showed up and vetoed it.” I shrug off my jacket and hang it. “But you already knew that. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.”

“Eh. Little bird might’ve told me.”

“Little bird by the name of Kalinda?”

“What can I say? Girls text each other. Like, all the time.”

I circle my desk. Maksim stands, makes room for me at my seat, and I squint at him. “Did you call them? CPS?”

“Me?” He barks out a laugh. “Fuck’s sake, no. Though it might’ve been smart.”

“It would have kept me here,” I say suspiciously. “I know how you feel about Mia.”

“Okay, one: I’m no rat. Would I take candy from a baby? Yes. Would I tell their mom if they took candy from me? No way in hell.”

“Hm.” I’m not the trusting type, but it fits. “And second?”

“Second: I don’t feel any particular way about Mia. I feel about the way you feel about Mia.”

“If you’re trying to give me a headache, you’re succeeding.”

“Did you even need me for that?” He peers at me. “From where I’m standing, it looks like you’re doing fine yourself. Unless those narrowed eyes are a sign of sudden onset astigmatism.”

“Maybe I’m suspicious.”

“You always are. But you rarely let it show.”

Game, set, match. As always, Maks knows me way better than I wish he did. That’s on me for letting him, but then again, only one person was there when my family was turned into Swiss cheese in front of my eyes.

Maksim Goncharov—my late father’s freshest recruit.

Everybody else ran, but he didn’t. He got me out of there. Even as I was screaming and kicking, clawing at the carpet to stay with the bodies of everyone I’d ever loved, he got me out of there.

He hasn’t let go since.

It’s the only reason I don’t punish him for his insolence. The only reason I let him get away with commenting on my relationship with Mia.

Deep down, I know Maksim is the only person who will never lead me astray.

Of course, there was Nikita. But Nikita is lost in the wind, and her scent isn’t exactly blowing this way.

“You can rest easy,” I sigh, slumping into my chair. Maks is right—there’s a killer migraine right behind my temples that’s torturing me worse than my enemies ever could. “I’m done. I’m ending the contract first thing tomorrow. We’ll find someone else to play bait.”

“You can’t.”

My head snaps up. “Excuse me?”

“Before you bite my head off, look.” Without the slightest hint of a smile, Maksim slides a file my way.

His tone is dead serious, which tells me this must be, too.

“While following Nikita’s trail, I stumbled upon something.

I was going to call you once you landed, but this is better, actually.

I never thought I’d say it, but thank God for cops. ”

In the dim light of my office, I have to squint to see what he’s talking about. The page he’s showing me is filled with numbers. Dates, figures, timestamps.

“Tell me what I’m looking at.”

“Our enemies are moving.” He points at a few key rows.

“I’m afraid we must’ve spooked them. Warehouses emptying out, street corners freeing up all of a sudden, warlords looking for new weapon suppliers.

” When he speaks next, he stares me dead in the eyes.

“They’re leaving, Yulian. They’re packing up shop, retreating overseas. ”

Maksim’s words freeze my blood. “You can’t know that.”

“With people like these, you can’t know anything. But what else could it be?”

Anything. Literally anything else. But no matter how badly I wish it, I know he’s right. Fuck me, I know.

“How long until they’re gone?”

“Two weeks, maybe three.”

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Fury fills my thoughts, swirling with a panic I haven’t known for a long while. Cold, all-encompassing, gutting.

I’m going to lose them.

I’m never going to find Nikita.

I’m never going to avenge my family.

“ BLYAT’! ” I slam my palms on the desk, sending papers flying. “How did we not notice sooner?!”

“Because they’re damn good at what they do,” Maksim replies, unfazed by my outburst. “So if you want to get them, Yulian, you’re going to have to lay a damn good trap. With damn good bait.”

I know what this means. Deep in my gut, I’ve always known. I’ve tried to run from this, rewrite the story, reshape reality to suit whatever I wanted to believe. That I could save her and get my revenge.

But that would have been fair.

And the world has rarely been fair to me.

Maksim draws closer. “You have to choose, Yulian.” For once, his voice is quiet. Pained. “Either you end the contract, or you end Prizrak. There is no more time.”

Choose. Between Mia and my family. Her safety, or my revenge.

It’s an impossible choice. It’s absurd. It’s cruel.

But it’s the hand I’ve been dealt.

It was never going to end any other way.