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NIKOLAI
The first thing I do upon arrival at my hotel is power up my laptop, open the video feed from Slava’s room, and check that my son is peacefully asleep.
He is. The car-shaped nightlight he likes us to leave on illuminates his sleeping features, revealing a tiny fist tucked underneath his sweetly rounded cheek. My heart thumps harder at the sight, a now-familiar ache spreading through my chest. I don’t understand it any more than I understand my growing obsession with his tutor, but I can’t deny it’s there, as real and concrete as my hatred for the woman who gave birth to him.
For Ksenia, and the entire Leonov viper clan.
Rage kindles in my stomach, and I wrench my thoughts away from them. Tomorrow will be soon enough to deal with their latest sabotage; tonight, I have more p
