Page 206 of Mile High Ruin

Anton looks away.

I almost admire her ability to remain impossible at moments when any sensible person would become quiet.

Almost.

“You are not walking anywhere alone.”

“I was not asking permission.”

There it is. The same fire. The same woman. For one second, it makes something inside me ache.

Then I remember Mila.

Petrov.

The footage.

I harden again. “You are coming with us.”

Her expression closes. “No.”

I step closer, and she steps back immediately.

That movement stops me.

Months ago, I would have closed the distance anyway. Months ago, I would have taken her by the wrist and put her in the car while she cursed me.

Now there is a child between us.

Maybe mine. Maybe not.

The thought changes everything and nothing at once.

I exhale slowly. “Fine.”

She blinks.

Anton looks at me. I ignore him.

“You can go to the hospital,” I tell her.

Her face shifts with surprise. Then suspicion.

“Just like that?”

“No,” I say, “I’m coming you.

Her expression changes from anger to disbelief. “You’re what?”

“You heard me.”

“I don’t need you at the hospital.”

“That is unfortunate.”

She stares at me, and if circumstances were different I would almost enjoy the familiar irritation gathering in her face, except nothing about tonight feels familiar anymore, not after finding her again, not after discovering the child beneath that coat, not while Mila’s absence sits between us like something neither of us can safely touch.

“You don’t get to decide this,” she says.