Are you sure?
Yes.
100%?
1000%
What do I get if I try and succeed?
My gun in your face.
Sounds hot. Might give it a try just for that.
Stay away from Nikolai.
Or what? You’ll make me? You’ll have to be here for that, you know.
Do you want me to come and kill you, is that it?
I have other things in mind, but coming here would be a fantastic start, yeah. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go get ready to woo Nikolai tomorrow.
Stop it.
Make me.
He reads it but doesn’t reply.
Great, back to the ghosting stage. What an amazing place to be in.
Yet a smile tugs at my lips because something has changed—I got under his skin, even temporarily.
Now, I need to delve deeper into that skin and stay there.
Like scar tissue, almost impossible to get rid of.
Guess I need to find a way to provoke him into coming here.
Even if I have to seduce the bull Nikolaifor it.
11
VAUGHN
Ididn’t mean to be here.
In fact, this is the last place I should be.
Logically.
Rationally.
If I consider this situation from every sensible perspective, I shouldn’t have allowed myself to jump on a plane and come to where that bastard lives.
And the most disturbing part is that I can’t find an explanation for my behavior.
I dug deep into my brain and came up empty—not too deep, though, because that would trigger impertinent thoughts and skeletons I’d rather not provoke.
Before I knew it, I found myself here.
