Alessandro turned his head to glance at him.
“What can you offer her, really?”
“Whatever you are thinking, stop thinking it,” Alessandro told him.
Konstantin smiled. “Recently I’ve had an occasion to visit the Siberian diamond mines. They have a saying there. ‘A man who finds a diamond never gets to keep it.’ Thank you for finding this diamond, Sasha.”
Alessandro pulled into the parking lot in front of the new Justice Center, parked, and looked at the prince. I almost took a step back. He’d gone into his Artisan mode, and his face was so cold.
“This isn’t the Imperium, Konstantin. And she isn’t a rock, she is a person. You’ve grown accustomed to thinking everything belongs to your family including people. It’s a bad habit. In this country people have freedom and a choice. Whatever choice she makes, I’ll help her realize it. If someone decides to block her path, I will remove them.”
Konstantin gave a theatrical shiver. “Very menacing.”
“1547.”
“Is that supposed to mean something?” Konstantin raised his eyebrows, but his pose shifted slightly.
“The code to the little wooden cabin your parents use in Berekhino when the pressure becomes too much and they want to hide and fish on Oka River. Consider your next move carefully.”
The screen went dark.
“I’ve looked up the Liudmilla incident,” Bern said. “Konstantin’s older brother had a fiancée who hung herself in her hotel room while on holiday with her family. She had a history of ‘mental instability’ according to Russian press. Make of that what you will.”
I crossed my arms and stared at the screen.
“The way he talks about you suggests he’s thought about this. It’s not a spur-of-the-moment thing.”
“Yep,” Runa said from the couch. “He watches you.”
“I caught that.” Prince Berezin had developed an unhealthy interest in me. No, it was more likely that the Russian Imperium developed an interest in me, which was bad any way you looked at it. I would have to figure out a good way to discourage it. Permanently.
A door slammed shut, and Arabella burst into the tower brandishing a piece of paper. “Four hundred and seventy-two thousand dollars?!”
Runa jerked upright. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Bern told her. “Go back to bed, baby.”
“Are you kidding right now? Is this a joke?” Arabella waved her arms.
Bern squinted at Arabella. “I told you to stop playing that gacha game. Spending real money on digital characters can only lead to trouble, especially considering the odds.”
“It’s not my gaming bill! It’s the bill from the Office of Records!”
Ouch.
“I’m going to kill Leon,” Arabella growled.
Bern put on his noise-cancelling headphones and stabbed his finger at the meeting room.
“Let’s talk in there.” I headed to the gaming room, texting Leon as I walked.
“Four hundred and seventy-two thousand dollars!” Arabella snarled.
Leon shrugged. “I thought it was rather reasonable.”
Arabella stared at him, and I wondered if her head would explode. My sister’s volume control had suffered a critical malfunction. She seemed to be communicating in declarative statements only.
“Look,” Leon said. “Twelve cars, two broken light poles, and a chunk of the parking lot that has to be repaved. We’re paying replacement cost for the cars based on the current market value. We’re giving them an option of taking a lump sum or a replacement vehicle. Most of them want the lump sum, which actually favors us . . .”
She planted her arms on the table and leaned forward. “That’s not the point.”
“They could have charged us for the building,” he said in his most reasonable tone.
“We shouldn’t be paying any of these costs. We did not cause this damage. Xavier, Gunderson, and Arkan are the ones who wrecked everything.”
“I checked with Sabrian,” I said. “We can sue Gunderson’s estate, but they would likely turn around and sue us for wrongful death. They won’t win, but it will be long and painful and will drag on forever, at the end of which we will be left with a bunch of legal fees. Unless we can get House Gunderson to pay them, but according to their credit reports, their financial situation could be better, so even if we did win, it would take years to—”
“We don’t have to sue Gunderson. Let the Keeper sue Gunderson.”
“It’s really difficult to talk to you when you’re like this,” Leon said.
“It’s very important that we maintain a cordial relationship with the Office of Records,” I said.
“Which person in this family is responsible for finances?” Arabella asked.
“You are,” I told her.
“Great. I’m so glad we got this cleared up. We are not paying this bill.”
“Yes, we are,” I said.
“It’s not our responsibility!”
“Mom was in danger. She went to the Office of Records. They kept her safe until I got there. Then we had a giant fight in the parking lot and the cars belonging to the employees of the Office of Records were damaged. Someone has to make them whole. Xavier and Gunderson aren’t going to do it.”
“Not our problem,” Arabella said. “The Office of Records should have protected Mom. It is their civic duty. They don’t get credit for not being assholes.”
“It’s like talking to a wall,” Leon said.
She turned her head and hit him with a death glare. “Did you even try to negotiate?”
“I did.”
“How did that go? Walk me through it.”
He shrugged. “I went in and met Michael. A somber looking dude. I told him that I was there on behalf of House Baylor to take care of the damages. He gave me a list. I looked at it. It seemed reasonable. I offered our apologies and told him we would handle it.”
“And what did he say?”
“Nothing. I think he might be mute.”
“He isn’t,” I said.
Arabella straightened. “I’m going to take that list, roll it into a tube, and shove it up Michael’s ass.”
“No!” Leon and I said at the same time.
“Yes.”
“Don’t do this,” I told her. “That is a direct order.”
“I don’t care.”
“Arabella, if you try to fight with him, he will kill you. He scares the shit out of me. He’s death and darkness.”
She raised her chin. “Good. I could use the exercise.”
Oh God. I knew that look. She wouldn’t listen to me. She wouldn’t listen to anyone right now. I needed serious backup.
I grabbed my phone and dialed Nevada. She picked up instantly. I switched the call to FaceTime. My sister was in the car, in the passenger seat.
“Arabella’s upset about the bill from the Office of Records and wants to confront Michael,” I snitched.
Nevada leaned into the phone. I flipped it, so the screen faced Arabella.
“You can’t do that,” Nevada said.
“Watch me.”
“If you do this, you will put the whole family in danger.”
“What is the Keeper going to do? Assault us? He’ll have to get in line.”
“Listen to me.” Nevada’s voice vibrated with authority. She sounded almost like Mom. “You’re having an emotional moment because you’re still upset about Mom being hurt and Linus falling into a coma. You want to punish someone for it, but the Keeper of Records can’t be that person. He didn’t hurt Mom. Michael didn’t hurt Mom. Michael actually saved Mom. And Catalina, and Cornelius. You aren’t being fair.”
“Well, it’s not fair that Mom got hurt, is it?” Some of the heat went out of Arabella’s voice.