“You think this is funny?” Alex asks, her voice shaking.
Her shoulders have a slight tremble, and she stares at me like I’m scum. Like I should react to a man murdered in front of me. As if I haven’t seen it before. As if I haven’t killed men myself.
“We need to go,” Lorenzo says to me, taking a step toward the door, and therefore Alex. She moves out of the way to avoid him like he’s a snake that might strike.
Lorenzo walks to the door, and I step up to Alex, taking her cheek. “I’m sorry,” I say, my lips pulling down. I don’t know what exactly I’m apologizing for because I don’t know what’s worse for her right now. I’m sorry she watched someone die. I’m sorry she’s risking her life for me. I’m sorry I won’t leave her alone. I’m sorry Paolo might be right.
I let my hand drop from her face and follow my brother out of the study. Alex’s footsteps don’t sound behind me. I half expect her to grab my arm like she did before and beg me to protect her, to do what I promised. But it’s good that she doesn’t. I don’t want to find out what lengths Nikita would be willing to go to hurt Alex if he knew she meant something to me. The further she can distance herself from me, the better off she’ll be.
But fuck, I don’t want that. Ireallydon’t want that. There has to be another way.
Lorenzo and I make it outside and climb into the car, this time with Lorenzo at the wheel.
“So?” he asks when he pulls out of the drive. “How do you want to do this?”
I sigh and rest my head against the seat. “I’m going to demote him and see what happens next.”
“You don’t want him dead?” Lorenzo asks, taking his eyes off the road to glance at me.
“Yes, I do. But that’ll work itself out. It’s becoming abundantly clear to me that there’s no way out of this with Nikita. We need to strike first. Don’t be surprised if Romano gets caught in the middle and dies a heroic death… Maybe we’ll end up finding out what Nikita wants from him in the meantime.”
My phone chimes, and I pull it from my pocket. It’s a text from Alex.
Need to talk. Meet me tonight?
I should say no. I should tell her I won’t speak to her again. That I won’t make her look any more suspicious. “Thank you for your services. When this is all done, I’ll be sure not to kill you for being Russian.”
But I can’t. I can’t say no. I can’t even keep myself from seeking her out, let alone turn her away. I’m too fucking selfish.
“Who is it?” Lorenzo asks.
I type up a response and hit send.
“Anthony. He wants to know why I haven’t called him back.”
I read my message and hope I’m not making a mistake.
Pick you up at 9.
18
ALEX
For the second time today, I’m standing in front of a door, my heart beating fast. I take a deep breath and ring the bell before I can talk myself out of this. It’s probably unnecessary to ring considering Settimo already knows I’m here. The guard at the gate made the call and got the okay to let me through.
Still, it feels like I should run before he sees me. This was a bad idea.
I’m going to tell Settimo we can’t see each other anymore. It’s too dangerous. If Paolo hadn’t lied for me today, who knows what could’ve happened? I still don’t knowwhyhe lied. He spent the rest of the evening utterly silent, his eyes glazed and lifeless like a zombie’s. On the way to his home, I asked him a million questions, and he ignored every one. He went straight inside when we arrived, and I didn’t follow. I got into my Bug, drove around a while to make sure no one was following me, then came here.
A woman with graying hair opens the door and politely smiles. “Hello, may I help you?”
Settimo appears from a hallway over the woman’s shoulder, and when he sees me, he frowns. He comes to the door and places a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Thank you, Margaret. I’ll let Alex in.”
She looks up at him and gives him the same smile she gave me. “Yes, sir.” She walks away, her thick heels clicking on the tile.
“What are you doing here?” he asks, his brows pinched. “I thought I was picking you up from the Art Institute at nine. It’s seven thirty.”
“I couldn’t wait. I’ll be quick, I just need to talk to you about something.”