CHAPTER 23: VULNERABILITY
They spend three days in the Brooklyn house before reality intrudes in the form of a phone call. Kozlov wants to meet with Dante to discuss territory agreements. The new landscape after Viktor's retreat needs to be negotiated. Power needs to be redistributed. Everything needs to be reorganized now that the war has ended. "I have to go," Dante says reluctantly. It's evening, and they're in the kitchen again, and Elara has begun to understand that kitchens are where real conversations happen for him. Where vulnerability is allowed. "How long?" she asks. "A few hours," he says. "Maybe longer. It depends on how much negotiating Kozlov wants to do." "I'll be here," she says. He kisses her like he's trying to store enough of her to last while he's gone. When he leaves, the house feels emp
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