Page 29 of One For my Enemy

“Yes,” she replied coolly, and got back to work, typing a few sentences out in their shared Google Doc before smoothly picking up her phone.

SASHA:he looks like a little bitch

LEV:omg

LEV:you are ice cold

“Sasha, did you look over this part already?” Nirav asked, and she glanced up, innocently suppressing a smile.

“No, sorry,” she said. “Which part, again?”

“Might want to focus,” Eric grumbled under his breath.

“Might want to stop walking into doors,” Sasha suggested, tucking her phone away and resolving to tell Lev about it later.

II. 11

(Baby Viper.)

“How’s it going with Yaga’s daughter?” Roman asked, clipping Lev with his shoulder.

Lev looked up from his phone, groaning. “Can you not?”

“Rumor is there’s a meeting happening Friday,” Roman told him, “and we need details. You need to get close to her fast, Lev, or you’re just wasting your time.”

“I barely know her,” Lev informed his brother. “Are you reallythatunfamiliar with seduction, Roma? Because for reference, it tends to take longer than a few days for someone to reveal their family secrets,” he clarified, “much less whether they are or aren’t participating in a massive drug deal—”

“You’re on that fucking phone all day,” Roman scoffed. “What are you talking about if not her family or her job? Surely she’s givensomethingaway—”

“She’s very private,” Lev said, irritated. “And anyway, I really don’t think she’s involved. Well, maybe her older sisters are doing something,” he conceded with a grimace, “but I doubt she is. She’s really serious about school and working at the shop. I don’t think she’s invested in the illegal arms of the family business.”

That, it seemed, was precisely the wrong thing to say.

“Have you managed to forget what her sister did to our brother, Lev?” Roman demanded, and Lev flinched, picturing Dimitri’s unmoving face again; the blood that had spilled from his mouth while Marya Antonova had looked on, unfeeling.

“This girl is an Antonova,” Roman warned, as if he’d read Lev’s thoughts. “It’s in her family, in her blood. None of them can be trusted, Levka. Take care not to be fooled, or you’re just spitting in our brother’s face by carrying on with our enemy.”

“But Sasha’s not like Marya. She’s, I don’t know. Softer than that, I guess.” He tried to think of a way to put Sasha into words. “She’s closed off, sure, but she’s not actively hiding things—”

“Sasha is a baby viper,” Roman returned brusquely. “Marya’s full grown. That’s the only difference.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic, Roma? It’s been fairly quiet since Dima—”

Lev cleared his throat, trailing off.

“Nothing’s happened since Dima,” he amended, which was only another mistake.

“Yes, and silence is the most dangerous thing of all,” Roman snapped. “Don’t you know that much?”

He did.

He’d sat at his brother’s side that morning, in fact, and fidgeted in the silence.

“Fine,” Lev conceded tightly. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

“Do that,” Roman sniffed, turning to exit the warehouse.

II. 12

---