sunset, as if summoned

there, with a glass of something dark in one hand and the ghost of violence resting across his shoul

nted myself for hours, tracing the veins in the wood grain

nothing

ou want

," I said, fl

of his mouth. Not a smile. Somethi

past the untouched tray of food on the table like it didn

he edge of the rug, as if clos

retti. You remember the stories? End the Balkan trade war. Give your father

h I already felt the story

ught it meant something. He believed we could build a world w

ss in his th

ave our coordinates to the Albanian ca

d I swear the chandelier

utside Cluj," he continued. "B

he do that? Why would he

voice was sharp now. "Your father made promises with one hand

My skin was too tight f

l are," D

nstead, I whispered,

ink like the truth tast

you," he said

hammer in

your fathe

ut waiting fo

icked shut

armth draining from the air, and a sentence I could

iet judgment. I didn't bother trying to find sleep. Instead, I paced the length

the truth... then

nd the message had

cher and the suits always pressed, Viktor S

ken?" he ba

rved into northern Milan's richest hil

an armchair like a monarch at rest,

he said, like disc

demanded. "You knew

needed something. I gave him some

not a

ot yours

attered agai

wn white stone

umiliated," V

s glass in mock toast

urning to steel beneath t

ry the

ians didn't sting anymore.

orced. Every door coded in tech I couldn't breach. I wasn't just inside a hous

n't entir

th a scar just below his left temple. He

ios

nerve

ain, by the balcony that overlooked a forest too t

oked

fa

fr

ed toward the other end of t

al. Like we wer

sing under my skin. "What's y

dn't

e corner of his mout

disappearing into t

there, u

se he did

e he didn'

shifted

of the surveillance camera powere

was wa

had just

h part of the game I was playing