Page 57 of Dance of Madness

As if he’d knock.

“Yeah, come on in!”

I smile back at Vasilisa as best I can when she steps inside.

“Your father would like you in the study,” she says with a slightly apologetic twist of her lips.

I frown. “Now?”

She smiles weakly. “He has…a guest. I think he would like you to meet him.”

When she turns to leave, I jump out of bed to stop her. “Wait, who?”

She sighs, looking away before the glances back at me with a wary expression. “It's Mr. Debolsky, Milena.”

My whole face sours instantly, a cold sensation curdling in my chest.

“Oh,” I murmur, feeling numb.

Vasilisa shoots me a look. “He did…refuse a vodka when he came in?” she says slightly hopefully. “He mentioned that he doesn’t drink anymore.”

“Hip hip hoo-fucking-ray,” I grumble, putting a hoodie over my t-shirt and leggings.

Vasilisa clears her throat. “I think your father would like it if you dressed?—”

“Not happening. Not for that fucker,” I mutter.

Her eyebrow quirks up.

“I mean Leo,” I add with a grin, “not Papa.” I sigh. “I’ll be right down.”

“Da,I’ll go tell him,” she says with a soft smile.

I wait a full ten minutes before I go down to the study. The doors to Papa’s throne room are open, and when I step in, a dark cloud settles over me.

Fuck.

Leo Debolsky is sitting in one of the leather chairs across from the fireplace, legs crossed, a glass of what looks like Coke in his hand.

He sets his glass down when he sees me and stands, grinning widely like we’re old friends.

“You’ve grown up,” he says, eyes drifting over me in a way that makes my stomach knot. “Or maybe I didn't look closely enough before.”

I don't respond. I keep my eyes on Papa, who stands stone-faced behind his desk. Levka is there too, leaning against the bookcase like he’s settling in for a show.

“Leo was just saying,” Levka cuts in smoothly, “that he thought it was time we revisited the discussion we paused a few years ago.”

My heart drops.

“I don’t think it was so much a pause as it was anot interested,” I snap. Loudly.

The room goes quiet, and I suddenly realize that what I saidmighthave been better spokeninsidemy head. Raging dick-bag that he is, Leoisthe son of another Bratva family, and graciousness is expected to be extended to others in our world, especially when they’re powerful.

Oopsie.

When I glance at Papa, relief washes over me. He’s grinning widely, his eyes twinkling as they land on me. He gives me a slight raise of a brow and a deft nod.

Leo just chuckles at my strong response. “I can understand that, Milena. I was…” He sighs and shakes his head. “Less of a gentleman than I was raised to be, the last time we saw each other.”

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