Page 169 of Ruthless Sin
“Sokolov confirmed Morozov is at the plantation. He was waiting for Sokolov to deliver me. He’s been waiting three years for that conversation. He won’t know Sokolov is dead until his men check in.”
Marco. “Pregnant one is stable. Gia has her in the medical wing. Baby’s heartbeat is strong.”
Izzy. “We have Sokolov’s body. His phone. I’m pulling the network now.”
Dante. “Morozov.”
Marco. “At the plantation. He does not know yet that Sokolov is dead.”
Dante’s hand turns the signet ring. Once. Twice.
“How long until he knows.”
Izzy. “Velikov shift change is at midnight. They’ll try Sokolov’s phone then. When he does not answer, the alarm goes up the chain. By dawn at the latest.”
“Stepan turn.”
Izzy. “I’m hitting him now. He’ll know within the hour. He’ll respond inside two. I can have him by tomorrow.”
“Boats.”
Renzo. “My river crew at the south landing by the night after next. Forty-eight hours from now.”
“Move it. We end this before he can call in reinforcements.”
Marco. “Dante.”
“In a few days. He gets the night to wait for Sokolov. He gets the morning to realize Sokolov is not coming. He gets the day after to feel the floor go out under him. Then we end him.”
I open my mouth.
I have been silent in this room for months.
I open my mouth and I speak.
Steady. Mine.
“Alexei will be in the dining room at dusk. He is always in the dining room at dusk. The seat at the head. The two lieutenantson either side. The dining room is over the basement and the basement is where he keeps the people he wants to break.”
The room goes still.
Cassia is the first to move. Her hand goes briefly to her belly. Her eyes find mine and hold.
Dante looks at me.
“How do you know.”
“Because my stepfather has a basement under every property he owns. The Moscow apartment had one. The Saint Petersburg house had one. The compound in Tver had one. He puts the dining room over the basement so the screams come up through the floor and the people at the table eat anyway. He learned it from his father. He told my mother on their wedding night that it was a Morozov family tradition. My mother told Yelena. Yelena told me.”
Dante doesn’t speak.
I keep going.
“The plantation he bought years ago. Yelena traced it. She had the schematic. The brick outbuilding is the storage. The basement under the dining room of the main house is the cell. Alexei is in the dining room above it. Always at dusk. Always at the head of the table. The seat to his left is empty. The seat to his right is the second lieutenant. The seat opposite Alexei is the one Yelena and I sat in growing up. The daughter’s seat.”
I stop.
I look at Dante.
