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“A birthday party.”

He stares at me. I know. It sounds absurd when said aloud.

“Nikolai, I swear I didn’t know,” she says, her voice rushed and high in a way I have never heard from her. “I thought you had allowed it. She made it sound as if everything was already arranged, and then we reached the house and Anya got out of the car, and I had no idea she was hiding there. None.”

I close my eyes for one second. “Hiding where?”

“In the car,” Irina says. “In the back, behind the seat. Like some kind of—I don’t even know. It was all Elara. She planned the entire thing. She made me look like a fool, and Kirill didn’t know either, and I swear to you, Nikolai, I would never have taken Anya if I had known you said no. Elara is a manipulative little b⁠—”

“Enough.”

And then something else she said catches my attention. Kirill is there too? This is bad, really bad. For once, Sergei’s warning comes back to haunt me.

“Where is Elara?”

“Seriously, you’re still asking about her? I was tricked, Nikolai. Tricked.”

Before I can tell her to make sure she doesn’t lose sight of Anya, in the background, faint but perfectly clear, I hear Elara say, “Oh, please grow up.”

Irina snaps away from the phone, “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Elara says. “You’re acting like I forged state documents. We’re at a child’s birthday party.”

“You hid Anya in my car.”

“Yes, and I said I’m sorry about that part.”

“That part?”

“Yes, Irina, that specific part.”

“Elara Bennett, don’t speak to me as if I’m the unreasonable one.”

“Then stop auditioning for the role,” Elle says.

I put my phone away from my ear to make sure I’m hearing the exchange properly. “Put Elara on the phone,” I say.

Irina exhales sharply. “Gladly. Perhaps she can explain to you why she decided to abduct your daughter in my car.”

From somewhere closer, Elara says, “Abduct is such a strong word for someone who knew she was in the car. And for the record, you didn’t even notice she was hiding. You were so caught up in your phone.”

“That’s not true,” Irina says in a high-pitched whine. “Stop accusing me. You tricked me, missy. Everything else is secondary.”

There’s a muffled sound, then the phone changes hands.

Elara’s voice comes through, closer now and far too calm for a woman who has just committed the most reckless act anyone in my house has attempted in years.

“Hi.”

I stare ahead through the windshield as the driver cuts across another lane. “Don’t say hi to me.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t say okay either.”

There’s a brief pause.

Then she says, “Understood.”