Page 186 of Mile High Ruin

“They didn’t say. I only heard enough to know your name and Petrov’s were being mentioned together.”

Mila looks down at the table. “My brother wouldn’t have taken kindly to that.”

There’s something in her tone that makes my skin prickle.

“No,” I say. “He wouldn’t.”

The photograph on Vadim’s desk flashes through my mind. “I met him one time.”

Both of them look at me.

“At a club,” I continue. “After my first flight with Vadim. I didn’t know who he was.”

Daniel watches me carefully. “He approached you?”

“Yes.”

“What did he ask?”

“Nothing that seemed unusual at the time. What I did for work. Where I traveled. He guessed I was a flight attendant.”

Mila’s expression grows tighter. “And you never told Vadim?”

I look at her. “No.”

I should have told him the moment I recognized Viktor’s photograph. Instead, I stood beside Vadim in his study and pretended the face meant nothing to me.

Nothing. That was what I said.

I’d been afraid of what would happen if he knew, especially after everything with the tracker, but now the lie feels much worse than the truth ever could have. Because if his men already know somebody saw me with Petrov, then Vadim will hear about it from them.

He’s never going to believe me now.

The thought creates a hollow ache beneath my ribs.

I hate that it matters so much. I hate that after everything I saw tonight, after watching him shoot Camille without hesitation, part of me is still more frightened of losing his trust than I am of what he might do with the truth.

Mila shifts in her chair.

“Then what?” I say. “You just decided you were leaving tonight?”

“Well actually,” Daniel says, looking sheepish. “The birthday was a part of it.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“I wanted you to suggest the celebration,” Mila says.

For a moment I simply stare at her. “You wanted me to suggest it?”

She nods. “I knew if the idea came from me, Vadim would ask why. If it came from you, he’d agree because you wanted it,” she says.

My stomach sinks slowly. “You kept mentioning that nobody made a big deal about your birthday.”

“Yes.”

“You told me you didn’t really celebrate.”

“I knew you would feel bad.”