I shielded the screen, entered my code, then reviewed my texts with him. I’d had no idea how much this man was going to mean to me. I added him as a contact: M Sevastyan, then I checked my voice mail. Mrs. Abernathy had left a reminder that I’d confirmed cleaning on the thirty-first.

I was listening to a message like that while flying on a private jet. Joke’s on you, Abernathy.

I asked Máxim, “Did I earn this for good behavior?”

“In case we get separated over the weekend, and you need to call.”

“When will we be separated? I thought we were all staying at the same place.” A lodge built around some historic manse, a location chosen by Natalie’s mother.

Máxim said, “You might go into the nearby town with Natalie and her best friend, Jessica. They’re your age. I suspect you’re about to make new friends.”

“Non-escort friends?”

“You said it; I didn’t.”

“Are they stiff? Or snobby? What if they don’t like me?”

“Natalie is very warm. I met Jessica on my last trip to Nebraska and found her to be . . . colorful. They’re going to love you.”

“Dmitri won’t be there?”

“Nyet.”

“I got the impression that he is pissed about this wedding.” The man had been blowing up Máxim’s phone as usual. Over the last two days, whenever Máxim had talked to him, he’d dragged me into his lap and stroked my hair, which seemed to soothe him. That close, I could hear Dmitri yelling in Russian, sounding enraged. Máxim would talk to him in a monotone, trying to calm his disturbed brother.

“He wants nothing good for Aleksandr,” Máxim said. “Marrying the lovely daughter of a legendary billionaire is quite a favorable turn for our older brother. But I’ve set my mind to mending the breach between Aleksandr and Dmitri. Someone recently told me I should lead by example.”

“I don’t know who said that, but she sounds like the smartest person in the world.”

“I’m beginning to suspect so.”

I tucked my boots under me on the couch. “How did Aleksandr meet Natalie?”

“Her father, Pavel Kovalev, adopted him when he was young, becoming my brother’s beloved mentor.”

“Aleksandr was adopted because he was separated from you and Dmitri?”

Máxim nodded, but still wouldn’t expand. “Kovalev never knew he had a biological child until Natalie searched for her birth parents. When the man discovered she was his, he dispatched Aleksandr to Nebraska to watch over her.”

“Why would she need to be watched over?”

“Kovalev was embroiled in a war against another mafiya boss, Travkin. The man learned of Natalie just when Kovalev did. Travkin put out a contract on Kovalev—and his birth daughter.”

What was I walking into? Had I jumped from the frying pan into the fire?

“Two weeks after Natalie arrived in Russia, a distant cousin decided to cash in, bringing a machine gun into Kovalev’s home. Desperate to protect Natalie and Aleksandr, Kovalev tried to talk down the man. The gun went off, spraying bullets. Aleksandr could have saved either Kovalev or Natalie.”

“He had to choose?” I understood how quickly a pistol could go off. I couldn’t imagine a machine gun.

Máxim nodded. “Aleksandr tackled Natalie to the ground. Kovalev died in front of her.”

“She saw him die? And she only got to know him for half a month?” That poor girl! Though I only had impressions of my father, for two decades I’d known that I was loved by him. “What happened to the contract? Is she still in danger?”

“Not at all. My brother walked into Travkin’s favorite haunt, right in the middle of all the man’s muscle, and shot the fuck in the face.”

“You realize you couldn’t sound prouder.”

“I know.”

Máxim would have zero problems with what I’d accidentally done to Julia.

“Any man who would target an innocent girl like Natalie deserved what he got and worse.”

Máxim, meet Edward. “Is there worse than being shot in the face?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them. I knew the answer. What was worse than being stabbed? Being butchered.

Máxim stilled, his tone growing icy. “You have no idea.”

I almost shivered at his expression.

“After that, Kovalev’s billion-dollar syndicate was in chaos, and Aleksandr didn’t know who he could trust among Kovalev’s men. He took Natalie into hiding, calling on me to help secure her father’s lands and operations in Russia,” Máxim said. “If not for the man’s death, I would not be at this wedding.”

“Why?”

“In a time of trouble, I was a ready resource. Aleksandr saw that I could be an ally, and that I hold no true malice toward him.”

“I don’t understand why you would. Just because he left home?”

“It’s not a pretty story. One best told at another time.” He pinned me with his gaze. “Are you having second thoughts about this weekend?”

“I recall having first thoughts, but was a victim of your ‘persuasion.’ ”

His lids went heavy, the bulge in his pants growing. “Don’t remind me. I can’t touch that memory without getting hard as a rock.” He exhaled. “Too late. Have you ever been fucked in a plane?”