me, his voice colder than a Russian winter. “Touch my wife, and what my brother has done to you will suddenly look like fun.” I swallowed. His wife rolled her eyes. “He’s a little intense, but he means well.” She tried to shut the door, but he stopped it from closing with his foot, giving her a meaningful look to leave it open. She smiled innocently at him, like she’d behave. When he finally left, she waited with an impatient tap of her cheetah-print stilettos until he was far enough down the hall he wouldn’t notice, then she shut it. “I’m Gianna, by the way.” She walked toward me. “I’m sure you don’t go by Mikhailov?” I hesitated, not knowing what to expect from her considering her husband was terrifying, and her brother-in-law should be committed. Finally, I answered, “Mila.” “Nice to meet you, Mila.” She sat on the edge of the bed. “Where are you from?” “Miami.” “Oh, I adore Miami. I’ve never eaten better Cuban food anywhere else,” she said, adding with amusement, “but, then again, I haven’t exactly been to Cuba.” I stared at her. I wasn’t sure what kind of world I’d stepped into, and it was Starting to hurt my head. Gianna struggled with the rope on my wrist, murmuring in a language I thought was Italian. She was, so far, the nicest—if questionably sane— person I’d met since setting foot in Moscow. “He learned how to tie a knot in prison,” I said tonelessly. “Among other things, I’m sure,” she parried as if she was annoyed. “I wonder if he engaged in a threesome too.” She laughed at my blankly confused expression. “Sorry, that was just my aversion to prison nurses showing. It happens at the oddest times.” She finally freed a wrist before moving to the other, and I winced at the ache in my muscles as I lowered my arm to my side. “I’ve never known Ronan to tie a woman to a bed only to leave her there. I hope it’s just a phase.” I was beginning to understand crazy was just the norm around here. “We can only hope,” I said drily. Then, I added with unease, “Does his girlfriend live here?”