I know I can’t tell Serena what happened, not the shooting at the boutique, not what’s going on with Katya and Aleksei, and certainly not what took place in the stables. But it’s killing me, chewing me up from the inside.
The next day, I knock on my door to warn Niko I’m coming out, in case he needs to stash away whatever criminal business he has scattered across the hallway. I pull the door open and step out, my eyes, as they always do, darts toward the lift, braced to see the goons waiting there.
They aren’t there. I blink twice. The hallway stretches empty. Even Niko isn’t in his usual spot by my door, not to guard me, but to block me from going upstairs to Aleksei. The corridor feels empty, quiet in a way that makes the back of my neck prickle. I could take the lift now, reach him be
