I

HOURS

is

s flicker down, she removes it immediately. "Sorry,"

off forgotten. Shaking the memories away, I notice she has her litt

wearing a black mourner's dress, her petite frame stooped with grief. But for ninety minutes, she's been

found fault with her," Nikit

find fault wi

thick layer of makeup under her eyes is an obvious attempt to hide that she'

n do

you might wish it, we aren't robots. We're allowed to have human emotio

old you n

in disappointment. "

at

ansition

ki. It's too soon for you to rese

what you are now, isn't it? Father is dead and Maksim is dead

ll developed our own coping mechanisms over the last t

iet. I retr

picks

ion. "Go home, Nikita. Go home and wipe all

hey haven't been shared. Maksim knew all of mine. And even as we lowered my brother into the

y meal. None of this bullshit pageantry, this 'showing the strong face o

now I

is

I am the don now," I say coldly

f your brothe

ling at how easily my tone hardens into frozen iron. "He would want

re turbulent. More erratic. Like the sky before a th

o what is ex

ike heat waves. "The Orlov men and their godforsaken rules," she grumbl

cream in

say ou

she should've expected. For a moment, we s

Ilya should move in with Moth

Excellent idea. It'll be good for Ilya to be closer to his gran

r viciously, losing my

istic outburst. "Ah-ha! So you

gry?" I demand. "You want me to blubber like a bab

-year-old nephew had been allowed to cry at his own father's funeral,"

interpreted

e, for Go

are being watched. Maksim didn't drop dead of a heart attack, Niki-he was murdered.

, I hate it when you're right." Straightening herself up, she fixes her ha

acy. It doesn't last long. Just one fleeting millisecond of contact befor

s mother-Cyrille, my brother

hen they see me coming. Cyrille gives me a shaky smile that b

here to ta

ead, realizing that can't be r

it will start to

. "My home was with your brother. Now that he's gone, I don't hav

you, Cyrille. You a

kes no comfort in it. With a bleak nod, she walks down the steps

as she looks me up and down. "I never thought I'd see you in this po

at a compliment

expect you to come home right away. But after the c

r. All I want right now is a strong

nger have a bachelor pad in the cit

n-bedroo