Page 199 of Lethal Legacy

“Roman won’t let them—”

“All it takes is one of the children. Do you understand? The Orlovs will take the children. How long do you think Roman will hold out when they start carving up those kids? How long willyou? You know what they do to little girls.” He grips my hand. “If you’re not here, they’ve got nothing, just like before. You must gonow,Darya. And forget about taking Papa. They’re watching him.” He takes an envelope out of his pocket. “I’ve explained it all in here. There’s a ticket inside. Can you get your passport?”

I nod weakly.

“Follow the instructions in the envelope. I’ll find you. Trust me, Darya.”

Two of Roman’s security men begin to approach us. They’re staring at Alexei’s bent head, frowning as they speak into their earpieces, making a beeline for us. “Go,” I whisper to him, slipping the envelope into my clutch. “I’ll handle them.”

“Promise me,” he mutters. For a moment his lone eye meets mine. It’s dark, and so full of shadows it makes me want to cry. Worse, his face is lined in white scars, the remnants of torture I can imagine all too well.

But Alexei is still in there. He’s still my brother.

And I believe him.

I promise, I mouth silently.

Aloud, I say, “Yes, I know who you mean. She’s in the room at the end, just down there.” I force myself to smile and laugh. “No, she won’t think you’re forward. Go on, ask her out.” I turn toward the guards, still smiling, as Alexei moves off down the corridor. “So cute. He really likes one of the cocktail waitresses, but he was too scared to ask her out.” I let my brow crease in concern. “Is everything okay? You guys look worried.”

“Sure, everything’s fine.” One of the guys gives me a hard look. He nods at the other one, who moves down the corridor after Alexei.

I’m pretty sure he’ll be too late. The powder room at the end has an exit onto the fire escape.

I walk back to the ballroom, so unbalanced I feel like I might bounce off the walls on either side.

59

ROMAN

Ipromised myself I’d let her run.

But that was before I saw her in that damn gown.

Before I felt her hot, silk-clad curves under my hands, and the need to take her one last time took my breath away.

Darya Petrovsky is the star of the ball.

It gave me a savage pride to face the press with her on my arm. To watch her confront Inger and hold her own with the Russian elite. To hold her on the dance floor, knowing that every man in the room wished he was me.

It’s a wonder I made it into that office before I ripped her dress off.

Seeing Inger glaring at me, I give her an evil smile. I probably shouldn’t take so much satisfaction in knowing that Darya and I were fucking loudly enough to leave Inger in no doubt of what we’re doing. To leaveanyonein any doubt. Then again, it’s hardly like anybody in this room can afford to get offended by anything I do.

I own every single one of them, one way or another.

Ofelia comes out of the powder room and heads over to Matvei, smiling shyly. The kid just spent five minutes almost pissing his pants as he stuttered out a request for Ofelia to come to tea with his mother tomorrow. It was a very proper invitation, and despite his red-faced nerves, he looked me in the eye and shook my hand when he asked. I had a moment where I genuinely considered scaring the shit out of him just for the hell of it. I’m clearly losing the killer edge, however. In the end, I just gave my permission and told him to send a car for her at ten.

That means Darya is alone in that powder room.

Telling myself I’m just concerned for her safety, I head across the dance floor, smirking at Inger’s thunderous expression as I pass her.

Oh, just wait. The show hasn’t even begun yet.

I catch Darya just as she’s coming out of the corridor. One look at her face wipes the smile off my own. She’s holding her clutch with both hands, so tightly her knuckles are white.

“What happened?” I ask tersely, my eyes traveling all over the corridor.

“Listen, Roman.” Her eyes dart away from mine, and her lips are entirely bloodless. “You need to ask Nikolai why he was taking photographs of Masha last summer. Ofelia and Mickey said he was filming her, and when Mickey hacked his phone, there was a stack of photographs and footage of her on there.”

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