penthouse d

Anya's bedroom window, Manhattan glittered in restless patterns: headlights crawling down Fift

nket bunched around her hips, long past

aur blanket, one hand tucked beneath her cheek. A little

ince

nce Di

old. It was controlled. And something about that contr

ed onto

then to the faint glint of the city l

illingly, she l

five

ght that start

d smelled like

Laced through gold-trimmed centerpieces, spilling

t was navy silk, cut lower than she was used to, with thin gold straps that refused to sit still. Her mask

ike skin. The men-every one of them tall, clean-jawed, da

er felt more al

t's parents had insisted, said it would b

rade hosted by V

as free. The ju

o disappear gracefully-maybe fake an emergency, spill som

arble, a man stood with a drink in his

make him mysterious, but not so much that she couldn't see the curve of

as watch

. Not assess

bered swal

d prickled,

rst. But the burn

nto her side again, burying h

he floor like the party existed solely to give him space to move

emember how easy it

eed

hen, it hadn't

elt like

Anya's fingers. She tried to take a sip but could

elvet mask was no long

as m

ard

he way heads tilted subtly to track him. Even masked, he had gravity. Women no

n front of her, it wa

time?"

of something foreign in the vowels. Not an accent-more

at him. "Is i

ring, not crude. Just cata

the way the others do," he sai

be I just like to

e offered his han

"I don't even k

s the

to. His eyes did something far

breath

ok his

to quiet as they ste

ff formality. He moved like water-slow, fluid, confident-and she fo

at this," s

are

pping on your shoes

m. I can affor

prised. And his eyes

n-cedarwood and spice and the faintest trace of s

from here,

N

ways talk

night. Why waste

His fingers fle

ni

you. Walked back to the wall, sipped

: "Then what woul

he small of her ba

quartet dissolved into applau

d watching her-n

ger. Not wit

she was the most unexpected thin

ill in his arms, still breathless. Her li

aid, "Com

she

s. No name.

ays, to a private suite lit by nothing but a fireplace and city light thro

ld've be

, she f

ow what she was made of-but want

r neck, fingertips brushing her jaw as

houlders like it had been

nd again. His mouth moved over hers with a heat that built and broke and rebuilt.

the bed, she didn't

her feel like this-like she was a match b

ions. No

t s

t n

eyes when he whisper

awn, she

nst her ribs, fingers trembling as she zipped

d her, one arm outstret

dn't w

coul

oked at her like that again-like she

she

g. Into a cab. Into

ever saw

il

ouse was dark ex

p floor would have looked like any other office-clean lines, cold

hiskey untouched beside him, a sleek black folder o

t moved

The trusts arranged. The boa

ness side of the estat

was

Pet

t what he

s. No hunger. No desire to play games. She carried herself like someone

othere

what it meant to

kept pressing at a part of his

envelope from the bottom o

pt for Nikolai's handwriting on

pene

. Black-tie attendees. Masks and champagne. Th

erything. Especially events wher

with mild disinterest until one ph

ide angle. Blur

ar the staircase-stood a woman in a navy-blue sil

cur

en behind a si

shape of her mouth.

him lik

sta

o

could

it might rearrange itself and disprove his suspicion. B

dr

ha

ey

d those lips

he photos, the whiskey u

picture-five ye

n

ght hadn't bee

timing

was f

sleeping in th

e than just

i didn

city beyond the glass walls, seemed to ti

was

w

on in her shoulders. Even blurr

Pet

his memory like perfum

before dawn and too

me and the kind of night you don't talk about later. A night out of char

il

photo dow

ked it u

s trembled

n't tr

ev

was too neat. The

years

ni

h no name.

four, living

o

rls. H

ey

slowly, the air around him

poured the whiskey he

t in one

g time, jaw clenched, one hand g

her now. Wake her.

n you cornered in the dar

stay. Long enough for answer

ugh for.

nsibi

d his ribs like a

as his d

trol, legacy-was about to be torn open by a

at the photo

ars, Dimitri Volkov didn't k