A VO

catered to women who needed to look expensive without actually being expensive. The o

sion?" she as

I kept my voice neutral, but the wom

boyf

ing lik

ll designer labels, all slightly worn butt beautifully maintaine

ng of thing my character, Anastasia Sokolova would wear. It cost more than I wanted to spend, but wh

three hundred

re for the makeup. By the time I returned to my apartment, the afternno

nastasia. Hair swept up in an elegant chignon. Makeup sub

made my legs look longe

t for to

he mirror, I barel

So fuckin

o grab the moment I returned. Passport, cash, change

Uber, too traceable. A regular Mo

city scroll past my window. The lights, the crowds, the endless sprawl of concrete and am

tal chandeliers, gilded mirrors, waiters in crisp white shirts moving like s

, lifted my chin, and walke

e: Fake it unt

ître d' in perfect Russian. "I h

ded. "Of course. Mr. Romanov is

es, filled with carefully constructed lies and late-night con

ina. It will

w's elite, oligarchs and their mistresses, businessmen sealing deals over wine t

, broad-shouldered in an expensive charcoal suit. Dark hair cut short. Even f

Romanov," the maî

stood an

ck

caught in

stice. He was tall, easily six-foot-three, with sharp Slavic features

was almost intimidating. Like a

what made me stopped. The eye

o run. No need for the real estate

coldness melted into som

remembered from their audio calls. Deep, slightly acc

take the hand he offered. His grip was firm,

r G

t my voice didn't shake. "It's so g

the kind of old-world courtesy that shoul

ble. Both wore suits. Both had the kind of alert stillnes

Damien que

t seems excessive, but in my line of work, you can't be

Da

d smoothly. "I unde

g. Damn-what kind of "import-export

ed, my body languag

e liberty of ordering a bottle of Château Marga

d in passing two months ago. The fact that he'd retained it, that he'd thought to ord

job D

ight. Tonight I was Anastasia,

ghtful," I said w

ne with practice elegance, and dis

he said, his ice-blue

" I echoed, touchin