disappears.”
It would have been just as easy for him to have Christian repeat back everything he had told him, and probably more, but he wanted to bring their doubts to the forefront first. Every single one of them had had a suspicion about Vasily ever since the man became the boss, but the fear of what Vasily might have done prevented them from ever stepping forward.
Now, they had the freedom, and Kaz had merely spun the web.
As he had told Igor, Kaz said, “Call him, see if he answers. What reason would he have not to?”
Except, now, Kaz suspected with some certainty that his father knew he was back in the city. And as smart as he was, he had to know only one thing would drag him back to a city where he was being hunted.
Boris dug his phone out of his pocket, dialing the number and putting it on speaker before laying the device on the table.
It rang once.
Twice.
Three times, but then the phone went to voice mail.
Someone else called ... then a third ... even a fourth, yet not once did Vasily answer the phone.
His non-answer told them everything they needed to know.
One by one, each of the men sank back into their chairs, turning to face him. Kaz didn’t allow himself to revel in it … not yet.
There was still too much work to do.
“For now,” he declared, “the Italians live. Vasily is the priority.”
“And what about him?” Boris asked, gesturing with a tilt of his head to Christian.
“I’m sure we can find something fun to do with him.”
Perhaps they could cut off his ears, remove his eyes, and rip his tongue from his mouth to mail off as gifts to Alberto.
Hear no evil … Speak no evil … See no evil.
It felt appropriate.
“And make no mistake,” Kaz went on, “the Italians will answer for their part in Gavrill’s death, but Violet is off-limits to you. If that is a problem for anyone in this room, I will gladly send you on your way right behind Igor. Do not doubt me on this.”
Silence followed.
“Glad we’re in agreement. Now,” Kaz said, folding his hands on the table, “what do you have for me?”
A heartbeat or maybe two later, envelopes were lifted from pockets and set on the table before him.
“Pickle?”
Amelia huddled on the edge of the couch with an afghan blanket tossed around her shoulders, refusing even to look at Konstantin when he posed the question. It had come off as innocent, but an edge of humor lingered in his tone. Just enough to say he enjoyed pestering Amelia with his constant chatter.
And he did talk.
A lot.
A lot more than Violet had heard him chat since she had met him, actually.
“You know,” Konstantin began conversationally, “it’s only polite to answer someone when they ask you a—”
“Would you shut up?” Amelia barked.
Violet snickered into the book she was reading but didn’t even bother to hide the fact she was closely watching the two over the edges of the pages. Frankly, it was the most entertainment she’d had since Kaz had up and left without so much as a word.
And really, she was less likely to be pissed off—or rather, let the anger she did feel fester more than it was—if she focused on what was directly at hand.
Like Konstantin’s sudden need to bother his … captive.
Well, Violet guessed that was what Amelia was.
Her former friend didn’t have much to say to her, even when she tried striking up a conversation. When Violet attempted to question Konstantin on what he was doing with Amelia, or what would happen, she received another one of his many blank looks that essentially told her fuck all.
“What’s going to happen when you go back to New York, huh?”
Violet met Amelia’s gaze at the question. “Why do you care?”
“I don’t, but you do, and that’s interesting.” Amelia’s fiery stare slid toward Konstantin. “More interesting than he is.”
“Liar,” Konstantin said, waving a pickle in Amelia’s direction. “I am greatly amusing.”
Even Violet lifted her brow at that one. “Greatly is a bit of a stretch.”
“No one asked you. You only need to be interesting to one man, and that isn’t me.”
Violet stared at Konstantin for a long while, taking in his words. She was coming to find with him, a person needed to listen to what he did say because it was often what they weren’t expecting, but it was a lot more than what he simply offered.
In other words, she took nothing he gave at