I didn’t know where else to go.

The cab driver had driven around the city aimlessly before I’d eventually given him the address of the Brooklyn Armor House. Don’t ask me why I didn’t just go to a hotel because I wouldn’t have had an answer.

For some reason, the distillery just felt…comforting.

Nico had given me the access codes to the security systems at every property he owned in the city, so I was able to get inside the building without triggering the alarm. I figured I could at least wait here long enough to get my thoughts in order and come up with a plan.

And until Dimitri came to pick me up.

I’d told him in my message to meet me at the distillery.

Because it was time to go home. The home with my father, in Russia. Brooklyn wasn’t my home, and the Rossettis weren’t my family. No matter how much it had begun to seem that way.

No matter how much I want it to be that way.

Of course, Nico’s scent had to be all over the bloody place. The leather couch in his upstairs office smelled so much like him, it nearly had me bursting into tears.

And yet, I still found myself falling asleep on it…

Some time later, a sound from downstairs in the taproom roused me from a light sleep. Blinking my eyes open, I realized someone had entered the building without setting off the alarm. Which meant they had the code.

Nico.

How had he already found me? And why would he even care to come after me? After all, he was ready to pass me back off to my father. Because he thought I was a traitor. Even before tonight, he’d never once indicated that I was anything more to him than a negotiation tactic.

A business transaction.

A nuisance.

And I’d apparently served my purpose.

Sitting up on the couch, I slipped my ankle boots on over my leggings and pulled my oversized sweater down. I knew I couldn’t have been more than five weeks pregnant, but I weirdly felt that he would still be able to tell if he looked too closely.

He hadn’t been able to tell earlier.

No, he’d been too busy being a jackass to notice anything except whatever jackasses noticed.

I wound my way down the spiral staircase to the first floor. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on staying here,” I called out flatly. “My ride is on his way, and then I’ll be out of your hair forever.”

“No need, kotyonok. Your ride is here.”

I stilled on the last stair, my gaze lifting to find Dimitri and two of my father’s byki flanking him on both sides.

“Dimitri? I didn’t expect you to arrive so fast.”

His smile seemed almost triumphant, which I found a bit out of place. Although, he wasn’t the one who had just been tossed away by the father of his child, so he didn’t have any reason to feel melancholy, did he?

“You forget, I’ve been watching over you,” he said gently. “I’ve been ready to collect you at a moment’s notice if the situation became too dangerous.”

I stepped further into the room, ducking my head self-consciously. “I wasn’t sure you even would after our last conversation.”

His face softened, genuine affection shining from his features. “I’ll always be here to protect you.” Then he scowled. “You’ve been in Rossetti’s company too long anyway. He was starting to corrupt your mind. You don’t belong here with him.”

Corrupt my mind? I felt that was a tad overstated. I was a big girl and could think for myself, thanks very much. Besides, Nico wasn’t capable of corrupting me. Enlightening me, perhaps. Infuriating me, sure.

Wait, was I defending him?

Surely not. He didn’t deserve that.

Dimitri held out his hand to me, the two byki at his back moving aside to clear a path for the door. “Come, Alexia. It is time for you to go home.”

Call it instinct or some Spidey sense, but I didn’t move.

Why are you being so jumpy? It’s Dimitri. Your decades-long friend, Dimitri.

The room was mostly dark with shadows, save for the outdoor street lights streaming through the windows that casted a bluish, eerie glow over Dimitri’s face. It added a sinister quality to the atmosphere that made me unaccountably nervous.

“The danger has passed?” I asked. “Has Batya settled all of his debts?”

If it weren’t for that bluish light, I would have missed the way Dimitri’s jaw hardened. “The matter has been handled. That’s all you need to know.”

“And the Voiny? Have they been subdued?”

His eyes narrowed just slightly before clearing. “I’m afraid there is no subduing them. But that matter has been handled, as well. There is nothing to fear. We can finally leave this godforsaken city.”

Still, I didn’t move.

Something felt seriously off with this situation.

For one thing, why were the byki here? I was under the impression that all the byki were standing vigil by Batya’s side, protecting him. Why did Dimitri need these men with him? And for the second thing, if the danger had been alleviated, why hadn’t my father come to collect me himself? He’d said he would.

“May I please speak to my father? It would make me feel better to hear his voice.”

Dimitri finally lowered his hand. His shoulders shifted restlessly in his black bomber jacket. “You may call him as soon as we leave this place. I do not relish the idea of staying here a second longer than we have to. I don’t know how you were able to stand being around this man for so long. These Rossettis are thick-headed vultures who like to feed off the remains of those who do the actual work. They stand on the broken backs of the heavy lifters.”

That pinged an inner alarm.

Sure, Nico and Dimitri hadn’t exactly shown affection toward each other. But Batya had trusted Nico enough to provide me with shelter and protection for almost two months. That should have been endorsement enough for his underboss.

“Nico has kept me safe, Dimitri,” I said in a stern voice. “He has honored the deal he made with Batya and respected his wishes. At the very least, he should receive the same kind of respect from you.”

Dimitri’s eyebrow climbed up his forehead. “And yet he let you walk off his property, completely alone and defenseless. Some protector. He didn’t even realize when you left, did he?”

Who knows? He sure hadn’t chased after me. He either didn’t know I was gone or simply didn’t care.

As irrational as it was, that strange defensiveness toward Nico remained. Apparently, my heart didn’t realize it had been bludgeoned to oblivion. It still loved Nico, still wanted to protect him. Though my brain steadfastly maintained that while I might love him, that didn’t mean I had to like him anymore.

“If I had been in imminent danger, he would have protected me,” I stated firmly. “He is not a coward. My father knew that. Otherwise, he never would have entrusted me to him.”

Dimitri visibly vibrated with anger. “Your husband couldn’t stop Raphael Esposito from escaping, and he got shot in the shoulder for his troubles. Do you really think he’ll be able to protect you if Esposito decides to come after the Rossetti family?”

Was his reaction purely from a jealousy standpoint? Based on the crush I’d always sensed he’d harbored for me? Or was this something deeper? Because it felt deeper.

The thought of the sadistic Raphael coming after any member of the Rossetti family again, especially Nico, caused my stomach to violently churn with nausea. Those people had become very special to me. I loved them as much as—

I took a step back. “I never told you where Nico was shot, Dimitri.”

His brow furrowed. That was either confusion or anger, but I couldn’t discern which. It was almost as if he couldn’t believe he’d—said that out loud. Slipped up.

Oh…God.

“I never said anything about his shoulder,” I reiterated. “How would you know where the bullet hit him?”

It was like Halloween. Or a weird Sci-Fi movie.

Dimitri dropped all pretense in that moment, like he was shucking an elaborate costume or a mask. His shoulders slumped in relief, his face transforming completely. He bared his teeth in more of a sneer than a smile. And his eyes…they were no longer warm with familiarity but cold with ruthless aggression.

He shot a look over his shoulder at the byki. “Fucking finally, da?”

The two men snickered.

When my long-time friend finally turned back to me, I didn’t recognize a single part of him. “Yes, I think you finally seeing it for yourself will work much better for me.”

I moved back again, sensing I needed to put as much distance between us as possible. “Seeing what for myself?”

He smirked. “What Sergei was too naïve to see for years. He only recently wised up, the old fool.” He held his trunk-like arms out to the side, palms skyward. “Behold the future of Russia.”

Was this man demented? What the hell was he talking about?

Dimitri walked along the wooden bar, dragging his hand across the smooth surface, skirting right past the exact stool Nico bent me over a mere three weeks ago. It already feels like a lifetime has passed since then.

“Times have changed, Alexia. And men like your father can’t keep up. His era of leadership is falling by the wayside, and men like me have to step up in order to safeguard our country’s future.”

I slowly wound my way around a table, keeping a chair in front of me. “You’re not a politician. What do you think you’re going to be able to do?”

He laughed manically. Nothing like the sound I’d grown so accustomed to over the years. “It is Russia, kotyonok. The land where criminals literally run the country. Do you not think your father has had influence with every major political agenda in Russia since he became vor? His compound holds more secrets than the Pentagon or the Vatican.”

I never would have thought that Dimitri was capable of hurting me, but I knew I needed to get the hell out of here. Only problem was, there was no way in hell I’d reach the exit before Dimitri or one of the byki caught me.

My gun.

Was upstairs in my purse in Nico’s office.

“So, this is all about you wanting to become vor?” I asked, knowing I needed him to keep talking for as long as I could.

“Hardly. It cannot be questioned that I earned my place in the organization. Because of that, I made the Voiny what it is today, all on my own.”

He was behind the Voiny uprising?

All this time, it was Dimitri who’d been threatening my father’s life? How can this be? This man had been my…friend. My only friend for so long.

He smirked again as I reacted to that admission. “But taking your father’s seat? As vor?” He shook his head. “That’s my goddamned birthright.”

“What do you mean?”

He pulled a whiskey bottle from behind the bar, the same bottle of Saluzzo Reserve that Nico had opened for me the day of the stool sex. Dimitri yanked the cork out and drank straight from the bottle. With a disgusted twist of his mouth, he launched it at the wall behind the bar, shattering it.

I jumped at the sound, my hand automatically covering my belly in a gesture of protection.

“These fucking Americans and their rotgut whiskey,” he roared. “I’m so sick of this motherfucking country!”

I wanted to scream, “Then leave it! We don’t want you here!”

But I knew it probably wasn’t wise to upset an already deranged, and possibly homicidal, man.

He reached around the bar again and snagged an expensive bottle of vodka. After chugging down several drinks, he sighed. “Much fucking better.” He pointed to me with the bottle. “What do you say we bring your father out for this next part, da? Or should I say…our father.”

Had I just heard him correctly? He couldn’t have actually meant…?

Dimitri truly was insane.

He murmured something I couldn’t hear to one of the byki. The bodyguard stomped across the taproom, past me, and through a door that led to the room where the liquor was made and stored. The humongous copper vats were back there, whirring away as they distilled the alcohol that would eventually be served in this very room.

Moments later, the byki returned, dragging a limping man with him. He dropped the man to the floor like a sack of potatoes, mere feet from me. It was clear the man was injured and maybe not even fully conscious because he barely made a noise when his body hit the hardwood floor with a resounding thud.

The byki yanked off the black hood covering the injured man’s face before returning to his position by the door.

A scream rose up my throat and filled the room when I got a look at the captive’s face.

Dimitri glowered down at his boss. “Hello, Batya.”