Nikolai is standing by my front door when I walk up. “This better be good,” he says. “You know Lev will freak out if he wakes up and I’m not there.”
I roll my eyes. “I told you to replicate the basement at your place. That way, he’ll be more at ease when he sleeps over.”
“You want me to spend a fortune so that my French-inspired bedrooms can be remodeled to mimic that depressing basement?”
“That ‘depressing basement’ has a marble counter kitchenette, a king-sized bed, and built-in surround sound.”
“Lev doesn’t like the sun.”
Nikolai looks bored now. “He plays football with you in the yard. Pretty sure the sun’s around when that happens.”
“Football with me is the carrot I’m dangling to get him out of that basement.”
Nikolai sighs impatiently. “Why am I here at 3:00 A.M., little broth
