In Dubai, Rosie D’Antonio has breakfast on the hotel terrace and thinks ahead to the morning’s planned meeting with Max Highfield, arranged by Henk before the Diamond Conference. Rosie intends to pretend she wants to cast Max in a film adaptation of one of her books, while Steve will pose as an important producer. Even with that plan in place, Rosie worries that Amy will remain in danger unless they can finally identify François Loubet.

Rosie’s thoughts are interrupted when Vasiliy Karpin approaches her table. Rosie immediately recognizes the Russian gangster and assumes he has come to kill her, especially because Amy is not there to protect her. Rosie stays calm and confrontational, but Vasiliy surprises her by sitting down peacefully.

Instead of threatening Rosie, Vasiliy explains that he has actually come to apologize. He produces a copy of Dead Men & Diamonds and asks Rosie to sign it for his sister-in-law, who is a devoted fan. Vasiliy says that weeks earlier, at a barbecue in Sochi, his sister-in-law warned him that if he killed Rosie, she would kill him in return, so he decided not to go through with it.

This revelation changes Rosie’s understanding of the threat around her. Vasiliy admits that he never informed anyone he had canceled the hit, because he orders and withdraws so many killings that keeping track would be a job in itself. When Rosie asks whether he hired Eddie Flood to kill her, Vasiliy says he has never heard of Eddie.

After Rosie signs the book, Vasiliy leaves on friendly terms and even offers to kill someone for her if she ever needs it. Once he is gone, Rosie reassesses what she saw the previous night: Eddie Flood hiding badly at the hotel. If Eddie is not in Dubai to kill Rosie, and not there to kill Amy, then Rosie is left with a new and troubling question about why Eddie is there at all.