Where the Snow Falls (Seasons of Betrayal #2)(35)

“That isn’t Kaz’s style.”

Vadim seemed to take those words in slower than he had the others, mulling over a response as he turned to give Violet another once-over. She could distinguish the similarities in his features to those of his sons’—Konstantin shared his father’s hard lines while Kolya shared the size and demeanor, obviously.

“You can sure tell where she comes from, no?”

Violet blinked, her mouth opening to ask what that was supposed to mean.

Konstantin’s earlier words kept her quiet.

“Like an olive,” Konstantin replied, chuckling.

Violet did look at Konstantin that time, silently questioning.

“You have a darker tone—olive, they call it,” he explained.

What?

“And you’re what—snow white?” Violet asked before she could stop herself.

Silence echoed in the room for a split second, making Violet realize she had opened her mouth before she was apparently supposed to.

It didn’t seem to matter.

Vadim’s heavy, thick laughter filled the office, and Konstantin sat back in his chair, grinning in that way of his that said she had managed to surprise him, once again.

“I can see why she might have caught his eye,” Vadim noted after his laughter died down. “Well…” His gaze traveled over Violet’s figure, never lingering for too long, but making sure he got his fill. “One reason, anyway.”

“Dad,” Konstantin murmured.

Vadim waved his son off. “Are you enjoying Chicago, girl?”

“Violet,” she said. “My name is Violet.”

“I know your name. It isn’t what I asked.”

“I like it just fine.”

Vadim, seemingly satisfied with her answer, turned his attention back to Konstantin. “Grisha is waiting at the door for me. I told him I wouldn’t be long, and you know how that bastard gets restless when I make him wait. Is everything set?”

“As well as it can be.”

“The order will be filled on time?”

“And in their hands early,” Konstantin replied just as fast.

“What about New York?” Vadim asked, his gaze sliding back to Violet for a quick moment.

Violet held her breath, waiting for Konstantin’s reply. While he had mostly brushed her questions off, and Kaz had yet to answer her text messages back—she suspected he had spent the morning on a plane—she figured Konstantin would be more likely to give his father a different response than he gave her.

“Nothing yet,” Konstantin replied. “Not that I know much—you wanted me here, hmm?”

Vadim’s hostile demeanor was back in a blink. “You know why that is.”

“Yet you allowed Kolya to—”

“Kolya is not like you. Finish up here and get the girl off the compound. Regardless of who she is or where she comes from, we don’t share secrets, even with friends.” With that, Vadim turned on his heel, making for the door. As he passed Violet’s spot, he said, “A pleasure, Violet, I’m sure.”

“And you …”

She still wasn’t sure what she should call him.

Vadim offered her a thin, cold smile, almost as if he could read her mind. He didn’t offer her a name to call him, though.

It reminded her of someone else—someone who also hadn’t thought she deserved the respect of calling him by his name.

Vasily Markovic.

Once Vadim was gone, and the office door closed, Konstantin sighed loudly.

“Well,” he drawled.

Violet looked at him. “What?”

He looked exhausted all of the sudden. Like that short conversation with his father had taken all of his patience, effort, and give a f*ck he had.

“Well,” Konstantin said again, chuckling, “you survived. That’s a mark for you.”

What had she missed?

Violet didn’t think she would get an answer even if she asked.





“Get off your phone.”

Kaz glanced up from the device and over at Kolya, who was seated in a window seat on the other side of the jet. Though his attention focused solely on the night sky outside, he had still known.

Kolya frowned. “I can smell your paranoia from here. Konstantin will look after her.”

He didn’t doubt it, but that didn’t make him worry any less. He could excuse it before because he was still in the city, still close enough that should there be a need, he could get to her. Now, he was thousands of feet in the air, and should she need him, he wouldn’t know for at least another two hours.

But still. The next best thing to Kolya was Konstantin, and should the need arise, Kaz didn’t doubt that he would handle any problem that came up.

“Your Italian, tell me of her.”

Kolya said ‘Italian’ like it was a foreign, mystical thing that he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around. “What do you want to know?”

“Anything. Everything. I just don’t see it. You know her from f*ck all, yet here you are, about to start a war with that father of yours for her.”

What the hell was he supposed to say to that?

Kaz had never considered how others might have felt about his relationship with Violet—he had only cared for her feelings on the matter. That was just the way it was.