Page 120 of Boardroom Mask

So I keep my mouth shut and change the song.

Thankfully, we get to Westgate Recovery Center before she has the chance to ask any follow-up questions. It’s a good visit with her brother. Since their parents died, Gideon has had more than his fair share of troubles, but speaking of lights at the ends of various tunnels, it feels like he’s about to enter his happiness era. He’s gained weight, filled out, and there’s life in his eyes again. We hang out in the common room for a while, laughing like old times until visiting hours are over and it’s time to head back home.

We push through the double doors into the parking lot, and I’m mid-sentence about grabbing dinner on the way home when Rae stops walking.

I follow her gaze… and then I freeze, too.

Kir Lazarev is leaning against a black sedan, scrolling on his phone.

Rae pales beside me. Her hand finds my forearm and squeezes.

I know whyshe’sconfused. Kir is her boss. Or was. Then is again? I’m actually not clear on the details. More to the point, he’s the son of the man who bought her at auction and is slowly dismantling her life. Kir showing up at her brother’s rehab facility, unannounced, is a violation of every boundary she has left.

But my stomach is dropping for an entirely different reason.

Because I know without having to ask that Kir isn’t here for Rae. He’s here forme.

Something happened after we were texting this morning. Something bad enough to make him drive two hours north and track my location to a recovery center in Saugerties.

Kir pockets his phone as we approach. He looks at Rae first.

“Kir,” Rae blurts. “What are you doing here?”

“Visiting a friend,” he says.

It’s a terrible lie. He’s not even trying. His attention is already sliding off Rae and landing on me, and the difference between the two looks is so obvious that I’m surprised Rae doesn’t notice right away.

What he gave Rae was flat, polite, and meaningless.

What he’s giving me is a flashing red alarm.

My pulse kicks up hard.

“Jillian Pierce, right?” Kir extends his hand. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

I intentionally refuse to shake it. “Who are you?” I ask, keeping my tone blunt and flat, because Rae is standing right next to me and she cannot know that I’ve had this man’s belt around my throat and his penis inside me.

“Kir Lazarev. Rae’s boss. Well—” He grins. “One of them, anyway.”

He pockets his hand. We all stand there. The wind picks up and sends a gust of dead leaves skittering across the asphalt. I can feel Rae beside me, panicking, confused, trying to figure out what she’s looking at. And I’m glaring at Kir, and Kir is glaring at me, and to Rae it probably reads as mutual hostility. Hate at first sight.

That’s not quite what’s going on.

What happened?my eyes ask.

Not here,his eyes say back.

“We should get going,” Rae interjects, her hand finding my elbow. “Long drive back.”

“Of course.” Kir steps aside and gestures toward Rae’s beat-up Honda with an air of mock gallantry. “Drive safe, ladies.” His gaze locks onto mine. “Highlydangerous roads out here.”

Then he’s folding himself into the black sedan, and the engine comes to life, and he pulls away through the bare winter trees.

Rae’s breath fogs in the cold. “What thefuckwas that?”

I watch the empty road where Kir’s car was a second ago. My heart is going a mile a minute. Whatever spooked him enough to show up here was something he couldn’t say in front of Rae, which means it’s bad. Really bad.

“… Jilly?”