Pavel looks sympathetic for a second. The expression is almost foreign to me at this point. And then it vanishes without a trace.
He’s the ruthless pakhan once more, a devil in a world of saints. “I’ve never been to one of those parties, but I’m sure I can secure a seat.”
My heart hammers with hope. “You can get her?”
“I can try.”
“Pavel, that—”
Nope, the bile won’t stay back. I flip around and barf into the sink, holding my hair back as everything from my stomach comes up.
Which isn’t really much.
I’m trembling when I feel the ice pack on my forehead. Pavel gently dabs my lips with a cloth. He steadies me and then guides me to the kitchen table, where he sits me down.
Willow is being sold.
Zoya isdead.
No, Zoya can’t be dead. Cardona wouldn’t do that. He either gets me or her.
And since he has her…
I force myself to say, “Zoya isn’t dead.”
Pavel steps back, giving me a curious expression. I can’t quite read it, but I know he’s not convinced by what I’ve said. “You don’t know that.”
“And you don’t know that sheisdead.”
Stern concentration shrouds his face. He bows his head and stares at the table for a minute or so, quietly mulling through something in his mind. Maybe he’s going back over the last two hours. Or maybe he’s trying to figure out the most effective way to get me to shut the hell up.
But then he looks at me and says, “You’re right. I don’t know that.”
“Did he show you she’s dead?”
He shakes his head.
“Then she’s not dead.” I rub the back of my neck. The headache is getting worse, and my stomach is twisting, but I can’t stop talking. “What did he say to you about Zoya? Tell me his exact words.”
Pavel frowns. “He said,Not your concern.”
“What’s not your concern?”
“I’m not sure.”
I inhale sharply. “He’s being ambiguous on purpose, Pavel. He has to be. He didn’t say she was dead. And he didn’t say where she was either.”
“But why would he lie?”
I frown. “I don’t know.”
“I think you do.”
I stare at him for a second and realize that Idoknow. I just thought about it.
Zoya is pregnant with my brother’s child. That child is a Bernadetti, and an heir to the Citta Nostra.
“He wants to keep Zoya for himself,” I whisper. “For her child.”