The compound’s library was my favorite place to work. It was quiet, smelled faintly of old paper, and had the best view of the internal courtyard where Ivan and Giovanni took their afternoon strolls with their nanny, escorted by a rotating team of four armed guards. Balance.

I was finalizing a presentation on the legal holding structures we had just established when I noticed Viktor. He was sitting at a side desk, not monitoring the firewalls or reviewing patrol schedules, but looking at a ...