Page 125 of Mile High Ruin

That makes Nadia even less pleased. “Now.”

Anya goes to her mother without argument.

Nadia takes her hand, still keeping her other arm around Mila. She looks at me. “We’ll talk later.”

Then her gaze moves briefly to Sloane. There is enough dislike in that single look to make Sloane straighten.

I know that look too. Questions are coming. Many of them.

Fortunately, Nadia chooses not to ask them here. She takes Anya and Mila and leaves through the west corridor without another word.

Sloane watches them go. Then she looks at me. “What was that?”

I turn away. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

She’s standing just inside the room with her arms folded, chin lifted, and that infuriatingly composed expression she wears when she has decided she’s angry enough to become fearless. “That clearly was not nothing.”

I keep walking.

She follows. “Who was the woman?”

“My sister.”

“And the other one?”

“Also my sister.”

“You have two sisters?” she asks.

“Yes.”

“And the little girl is your niece,” she says.

“You already established that.”

“She did, actually.”

I continue toward the study.

Sloane keeps pace beside me. “Why did your sister look at me like I had broken into the house?”

“She does that.”

“To everyone?”

“No.”

“Excellent.”

I open the study door.

She comes in behind me.

I stop and look at her. “You do realize following me into rooms does not require an invitation in your mind.”

“You do realize taking people to secret compounds doesn’t exactly encourage normal boundaries,” she shoots back.

“This is my home.”