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“Impressive,” I say, trying not to feel jealous or care. Dimitri lied to me. Because of him, people tried to kill me, but I can’t help it. The idea of Dimitri with anybody else is just plain wrong.
“Oh, that reminds me! Dimitri asked me to give you this.” She reaches into her pocket and takes out a folded-up piece of paper. “He made me promise not to read it. Annoyingly, I hate breaking promises to my brothers. That’s probably why he asked me to do it. So either I’m a sucker or a good person, right?”
She hands me the note, and I unfold it, reading Dimitri’s confident, clear script.Mila knows the score. She doesn’t want this marriage any more than I do. I’d never choose her, Lia. Destroy this note after reading it.
Ania looks at me closely, then probably reads my expression. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“I’m sorry…”
She sighs. “It’s fine. I just dance and spin and pretend not to see about a million things a day, anyway.”
As I begin to tear the note into small pieces, trying not to let that pesky hope flutter through me, Ania’s phone rings. “It’s Mikhail,” she says, then answers it. “Um, sure. I’ll ask.” She puts her hand over the phone, then says, “Yuri’s asking if you want your dinner here or in the main house. Yuri’s the butler, FYI.”
Being served by abutlerseems crazy to me. It’s getting late now; the sun is almost completely set, but with all the chaos, I forgot how hungry I was. When Ania reminds me, my belly gurgles with a hint of anger.
“What’s easier for them?” I ask.
“The main house, I guess,” Ania says, “but not by much. They can easily bring something over here. Or cook something for you here. It’s not an issue.”
Maybe not, but itfeelslike one, somehow. I’ve been preparing my own food since I was a teenager, making it in the orphanage or thehome,as they preferred to call it. Some workers there were kind and enjoyed cooking for the kids. Others didn’t give a damn.
“There’s plenty of food here,” I say. “I can rustle something up.”
“Are you sure? You’re welcome to eat with us.”
“I don’t want to…”
I was about to saybe a burden, but then I realized how insane that would sound. How am I being a burden after everything that happened?
“Who else will be there?” I ask.
“Mikhail, Mila, Dimitri, me… Yep, that’s it, and you.” Ania puts her ear to the phone when somebody says something. “It’s Dimitri. He wants to speak with you.”
Ania hands me the phone. I almost push it away and tell her I don’t want to talk to him. I want to sleep, forget, and go back to when he was just the broody, intense CEO and nothing else. Another part of me yearns to hear his voice, even if it’s only been a short while since I last saw him.
“Hello?” I say.
“Lia,” he says, with the same passion I feel, as though the short time apart has felt just as long for him. “You’re coming to eat with us, right?”
“I wasn’t sure…”
“I want to see you,” he says. “So if you don’t want to eat with us, I’ll come to the house. After, I’ve got to go back to the city.”
I get the message. This is our last chance to see each other until at least tomorrow.Tomorrowshouldn’t conjure up feelings and images of waiting for the rest of my life, but that’s what it feels like. Something immature pulses deep within, screaming at me to be with Dimitri.
“Okay,” I say, but I don’t want to make it too easy for him. “But don’t forget, we have to talk, Dimitri. About who you are. About what you’ve done.”
I hang up before he can reply, shocked at my boldness. Ania looks at me with the same sense of surprise, her eyebrow raised.
“This isn’t easy for me,” I tell her. “A few hours ago, I was a cleaner, a painter, that’s it. I was flirting with a CEO. That was an adventure, but I never thought I’d beshotat.”
Or that a man would kill to protect me.
“They’re not bad people,” Ania says.
“I don’t know anybody here,” I reply, my voice harsh.
Ania looks down, breaking eye contact and making me feel terrible, but it’s true. Even if I feel friendly with Ania, we met less than thirty minutes ago.
