“He disrespected you.”
“He called me plump, and you stabbed him in the leg.”
“Yes.” His tone is calm, as if it was just another day at the office. “And I’d do it again but worse. Do you understand me, Thea? No one speaks to you that way. No one gets to make you feel small. Not while I’m breathing.”
I stare at him. Whoisthis man, this terrifying, violent, utterly uncompromising man who just drove a pen into someone’s thigh because he insulted me?
“We didn’t win,” I whisper. “They didn’t believe us.”
He shakes his head and leans back against his seat. “Not all of them. But I saw doubt. Vlad, Petr, Ivan—I could see the doubt in their eyes. I’m sure they’re questioning Kolya now, even if only in their own minds. And that’s all we need at the moment.”
“That’s all?”
“For now. They’ll meet again to discuss matters. Between now and then, doubts will grow. Men will ask questions, dig into old records. I’m confident that, in time, enough of them will doubt Kolya’s side of the story.”
“And if they don’t?”
His expression hardens. “Then we’ll find another way.”
The limo pulls away from the curb, merging into traffic. Rain beats down steadily, drumming on the roof with metallic pangs.
Without thinking, I reach over and take his hand. He wraps his fingers around mine, giving me a gentle squeeze.
The meeting went by in a blur, and I’m having a hard time processing it. And there’s more. Regardless of what the council believes, I did something that I can’t take back.
I stood in front of them and claimed my name.
“Kolya was scared,” I say. “I could tell.”
He nods. “He blustered, gave them a story that he’d likely cooked up just in case the matter ever came to light. But it’s not going to hold.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because we have the truth on our side. And the council is not comprised of stupid men. They already have their doubts, and in time, they will cut through Kolya’s bullshit.”
At first blush, this is good news. Then a thought occurs to me. An implication.
The grim expression on Gabriel’s face makes it clear that he understands it, too.
“Then his only move is to kill us,” I say. “He knows I’m alive, and we did the work for him confirming who I am.”
Gabriel nods. “We’ve made him more desperate. And that means we’re going to have to be ready for his next move.”
I close my eyes and flash back to the meeting, the memory of Gabriel plunging that pen into Sasha’s leg, the howl of pain that followed.
It’s awful to think about, to know that he committed such horrible violence for me.
But in its own way, it’s reassuring. If that’s what he’d do to a man who only insultedme, then what else is he willing to do to keep me alive?
I turn to him.
“Thank you.”
He meets my gaze. “For what?”
“For…” I gesture helplessly. “For everything. For defending me. For believing that I could do this.”
He shakes his head. “Don’t thank me. You’re the one who did it. You made a choice that many would be too terrified to make.You looked a man who wants to kill you in the eye. That took courage.”