In the end, he backs down first. The bravado slips. The shoulders sag.
“C’mon, guys,” he calls to his friends. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
The boys slink off the court in the opposite direction. And I stand there in the open space, staring at the broken hoop they’d been playing on.
I’ve put my phone on silent, but the vibration still comes through loud and clear. I sigh when I realize who’s calling, but I pick up anyway.
“Phoenix.”
“What the hell?” he yells into the phone. “Why the fuck am I hearing about this only now?”
“I take it you’ve been filled in.”
“Filled in?” he balks. “Yes, I’ve been fucking filled in. And I should be filling your head with a goddamn bullet for doing something this crazy! Why the hell did you keep me in the dark, Kian?”
He’s pissed, obviously. But it only makes me laugh. He sounds just like his father in moments like this. All dark, righteous fury. God help whoever gets in his way when he becomes don.
“Because I gave my men instructions not to tell you until it was too late for you to intervene. For this exact reason.”
“Are you seriously giving yourself up?”
“That depends on how this goes.”
“Rokiades isn’t going to just let the Lombardi girl go,” he insists. “She’s too important to his plan. He needs her to bind the Marianis and the Lombardis behind him.”
“And the only reason he needs that is so he can fight us,” I point out. “Taking me will make him feel invincible.”
Phoenix scoffs. “He can’t actually believe that the Clan will follow him, even if he has you.”
I grin. He’s a perceptive one, the young Kovalyov. “I’m counting on it. He doesn’t know that taking me won’t change a fucking thing.”
“Except that he will have you!” Phoenix roars in exasperation.
I shrug. “I can handle myself. What’s a little torture between friends?”
“Kian! This is madness. Even I know that. You can’t give yourself up for the girl. Why are you even considering this?”
The answer is right there in his face. But right now, he’s too young to believe that there’s anything greater than winning. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“Fuck that. It’s not the right thing for the Clan. Or for the Bratva. Or for anyone except that Greek mudak.”
“I didn’t say I was doing this for the Clan.”
Phoenix stops short. His silence is telling. I can practically hear the gears churning in his head. “For… her?” he asks, sounding absolutely dumbfounded. “But why? For God’s sake, why?”
I sigh and kick a loose rock across the court. “I’m gonna tell you something you’ll absolutely hate, something that Cillian told me a long time ago: ‘Maybe one day, you’ll understand.’”
“You’re right,” he drawls sarcastically. “I do absolutely hate that.”
I chuckle. “But for now, I need you to stay where you are and let me handle this my way.”
“You need backup.”
“I have backup.”
“I should be with you.”
“No,” I reply. “You shouldn’t. I want you to stay put. That’s an order.”