Yulian tilts his head back and laughs upon seeing him.
He does that a lot.
Laughs. Like a fucking idiot.
The husky sound echoes down the hall and into my ears, uninvited.
Something is said between them, but it’s camouflaged by the chatter surrounding me, and I don’t hear it.
As I slip closer, the man grabs Yulian’s arm and pulls him inside, the door slamming behind them.
I stop short, my shoes digging into the carpet.
Was that…Nikolai?
No. Certainly not. He wouldn’t have come here in the first place, and even if he did, he wouldn’t have locked Yulian in a room with him.
As if…what?
My fingers clench in my pocket, and my right eye twitches uncontrollably.
Just because Niko’s bi, he wouldn’t go for Yulian.
Right…?
I’m walking before my thoughts can catch up to my actions, but as I approach the room, the door swings open.
I back up against a wall, hidden by a group of people as the man who pulled Yulian into the room stumbles through the door across the hall.
He’s still wearing the mask, but I know it’s not Yulian. The height and body type are not the same.
Call it an annoying observation habit, but I’d recognize that prick anywhere, even if he’s behind layers of disguise.
After Yulian’s copycat goes into the other room, aslender guy, judging by the frame, who’s also wearing a mask, slips through the crowd and goes into that room.
I narrow my eyes on him as a sense of familiarity prickles me.
Hold on.
The lean body build, the perfect posture due to a decade and a half of continuous archery training…
Gareth?
Surely not. Why would he come here in disguise…?
But then again,why would I? Unlike him, I flew all the way from the other side of the ocean.
I remain still long after Gareth goes into the room. It’s so…unlike him. He’s the quintessential overachieving law student—meticulous about his image and how others see him and by far the least violent among us.
Though I shouldn’t be quick to label Gareth. Everyone has dark sides.
I stand in place, contemplating.
Considering my next course of action.
Yulian is clearly not sleeping with Niko. Because his copycat who pulled him into the room was not Nikolai—I only thought of that rationally now that my eyes aren’t covered in a red mist.
What I came to prevent isn’t happening, so I can leave.
