Page 51 of Power's Fall
“Of course.” Montana couldn’t understand why Vadisk would even question that.
Vadisk scoffed, running a hand through his hair. “That’s nice of you, considering I’ve been an asshole since the moment we met.”
“Welllll,” Dahlia drawled, her eyes sparkling with mirth. “Not the entire time.”
Vadisk chuckled, despite his misery. “Very funny,Sonechko.”
She tilted her head. “I don’t know what that means. Do I want to?” she asked playfully.
Montana wasn’t sure, but he could almost swear Vadisk blushed slightly when he translated it for her. “It means little sun.”
Dahlia drew in a short breath, her smile suddenly giving the sun a run for its money on brightness.
“I think we need some time to regroup,” Vadisk suggested as he stood. “Take a breather from…all of this.”
Montana agreed. Between the interview, the argument, and the confession, he was done in. “I might go for a swim.”
Dahlia nodded. “I was thinking of taking a look at the footage I’ve captured so far. We missed our tour of Vorontsov Palace today.”
They’d postponed their filming when they were granted the interview with Izolda.
“Before you do that, do you mind contacting Sinaver?” Vadisk clearly didn’t like making the request, but at least he’d realized that was their next logical step.
“Of course,” Dahlia readily agreed.
“We’ll do the palace tomorrow and pick up with the rest of the itinerary as needed,” Vadisk said. “It’s important that we keep up the pretense until we hear from Sinaver.”
None of them seemed to be holding out much hope for the meeting. Montana wasn’t sure what their next move was if the man denied them an audience because, as of right now, Sinaver was their one and only lead.
ChapterNine
Vadisk and Dahlia lifted their heads at the sound of Montana’s voice as he entered the kitchen the next morning.
“What are you two up to?”
Dahlia pierced Montana with a look that made Vadisk want to laugh. Their wife was fierce for such a slight person. She was probably tall by most standards—he thought everyone was short—but standing between him and Montana, who were both taller, but also far broader and muscled, she seemed small, almost diminutive.
Her attitude was anything but shrinking. She was fearless and confident. He suspected she would keep both himself and Montana on their toes in this marriage.
“We’re adjusting our itinerary,” she said sternly.
Montana frowned, confusion marring his features. “I thought today was palace day.”
“It is,” she said, tapping her finger at her laptop screen. “It’s the rest of the itinerary that’s problematic.”
Montana glanced over her shoulder and sighed when he realized what she was pointing to. He gave them a rueful grin. “You don’t have to change your plans for me.”
“We shouldn’t have to change them at all,” Dahlia said firmly. “You should have said something when I was setting all of this up.”
She’d already been awake this morning when Vadisk came downstairs, scrolling through the rest of their itinerary. None of them were holding out much hope on an interview with Sinaver, which meant—until they came up with another approach or lead—they would have to continue visiting different parts of Crimea while filming for her channel. The itinerary had been set by the time he was added to this mission, since it had taken months of negotiation for Dahlia to get the rights to visit and film some of the locations on the list.
At the start, Vadisk had been determined to get in, get what they needed, and get the hell out. When he’d first learned of the Trinity Masters’ cover story for the three of them, he’d actually pictured long, boring days trekking all over the countryside and constantly looking over his shoulder.
True, he was definitely looking over his shoulder every time they left the villa, but what he hadn’t expected was to enjoy the time the three of them spent adventuring around. He’d had a genuinely good time hiking the Golitsyn trail, doing the wine tasting at Massandra, and even his small existential crisis on what it meant to be human at Buran-Kaya III.
Last night, he’d done a bit of research on the Vorontsov Palace, today’s destination, mainly so he could contribute to the conversations. He was constantly amazed by Dahlia’s insights and Montana’s intelligence. Especially now that he knew Montana was some sort of computer genius.
By comparison, he felt as if he had very little to add to their observations…of the sea, the mountainside, the wine-making process, and about a thousand other little things that he’d never even freaking heard of.